When Forever Ends (Part 1: A Game of Chess)

III

-‹§›-

T h r e e

As before, the hallway was empty and the metal door commanded all attention. Nothing seemed to have changed since we'd been in there last.

"Let's do this," I brandished the key before me, leading the way.

When I reached the door, I fitted the key into the lock. I turned it, expecting a soft snick and so was unprepared for the loud click and the noisy rattle of the chain falling off.

"Hurry!" I whispered urgently. "Someone will have heard that!" The "someone" I was referring to was the librarian.

I opened the door carefully and a blast of cool air that had a moldy, earthy smell hit our faces.

I ushered each of my friends into the dark space beyond, then shut the door behind us.

I fumbled for the light switch in the pitch black darkness for a moment before flicking on the lights.

Before us was a vast storage room lit only by a few bare lightbulbs that were too close to the door to illuminate the far wall.

Near the door were stacks of old newsprint and reference books. Behind that was something large and lumpy covered by a worn tarp. The space beyond was filled with row after row of tall metal shelves lined with many different odds and ends from movie reels, to paintbrushes, to spare lightbulbs (which were, for some reason, a deep shade of purple).

"Alright, guys, looks like we've got our work cut out for us!" I tried to sound excited.

I had mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it was entirely possible that there was information about Earth here. On the other hand, it would take days to go through everything. There were more things with words here than in the main part of the library!

"To keep things simple, why don't we just look through the stuff at the front here for now?"

My friends mumbled their agreement, no doubt discouraged by the daunting task that lay ahead.

Then the search began.

•••

After a couple of hours, we found a tattered old book with yellowed pages that crumbled slightly at our touch. It was hidden under a pile of ancient school textbooks. The cover had "Destroy" stamped on it and otherwise bore a single word: Earth. Our old home.

We looked through it, of course, but most of the pages disintegrated almost as soon as we touched them. There had also been a huge chunk missing, from the back of the book. In the end, the only thing we could salvage, the only thing that didn't crumble, was a half sheet of paper stuffed hastily in the middle.

It stood out from the rest of the book because the paper wasn't yellow, or even old. In fact, it had yesterday's date written at the top! We didn't have the chance to read it, though, because at that moment, we heard voices coming down the hall in our direction.

"Hu-OWW!" The first thing we could make out was accompanied by the clanking of the chain and a thud.

"Quick! Hide!" Sofie hissed, jamming the paper into my pocket and flipping off the lights. "We're not supposed to be here! If they catch me-us here... Never mind. Just hide!"

We all scrambled to find a nook, box, shelf, anything to hide us from whoever was approaching. Maya stowed behind a stack of yellowing newspapers. Will found a space under the bottom shelf of a rack covered with old photographs. Sofie tucked herself into an empty cardboard box. I hid beneath the weathered old tarp that looked as if it had seen better years and found a small hole I could watch through. Something sharp jabbed into the small of my back, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment.

I froze as the door opened and a shaft of light spilled into the dark storeroom.

"Wow, what a mess," a deep male voice came from the doorway.

"Yeah," said another, also male. "You sure it's here?"

"If I wasn't, we wouldn't be here," said the first voice. "Start lookin'." They began clomping around the room, shoving stacks of outdated books and newsprint out of their path.

After a few minutes, one called to the other, "Here it is! Funny, 'cause it's not where you said it would be."

"Yeah," the other man said, lumbering over to join his buddy. "Where's all th' books that was s'posed to be on it?"

We found the Earth book under some textbooks, I thought. Could that be what they're looking for?

"I didn't know it'd jus' be sittin' here on th' floor," he said. I watched him bend over and pick up what looked like a large book. He opened the cover and cried out in exasperation.

"IT'S ALL GONE!" he roared. "ALL TH' PAGES IS CRUMBLED!"

So they were looking for the Earth book, I realized.

The angry man was still stomping around in frustration when he suddenly stopped and spoke in a normal tone. "Someone must'ave been lookin' at it. Books don't crumble by theirselves that often, even thems as old as this one." He cast his gaze suspiciously around the room. His eyes fell on an object at his feet, hidden from my sight.

"Well what does we have here?" he stooped to pick it up. "It look like I were right 'bout some'un readin' it," he held up the item. It was Sofie's book bag. He glanced in the direction of my hiding place and I realized my foot was sticking out from beneath the tarp.

I made the mistake of quickly pulling it out of sight.

"...An' they's still here," he grinned and began to thump towards me.

I reached behind me and felt around for something, anything, to defend myself with. I was terrified and my hand shook. As the man got closer and closer, I began imagining what horrible things he would do to me.

My hand finally found something: a large, smooth button. With no other option, I pressed it, hoping with all the hope I had that it would take me somewhere else. In a way, it did.

I felt a buzzing vibration behind me and got up to see what it was, not caring now if the men saw me or not. I turned around, throwing the tarp off to the side, and saw a giant funnel shaped contraption, wide at the top and narrowing at the bottom. It was attached to a wide base that had a large red button on it marked "Emergencies Only".

I thought that this situation definitely qualified as an emergency.

Then the droning began.

It was low at first, and tinny from disuse, but I instantly knew what the contraption was from that sound.

It was a hurricane siren. An older model than the one now installed on the town hall, but the sound was unmistakable. Our town was plagued with hurricanes every summer, so hurricane sirens were vital. They were designed to be really loud so everyone in town could hear them and know to get indoors. there was no risk of the buildings getting damaged because they had all been designed to withstand the strongest winds known to humankind.

My friends emerged from their hiding places to see what was going on as the low droning turned into a bone-jarringly loud wail that caused everyone to plug their ears.

I crouched down to the ground as if that would stifle the agony of the siren's shriek which now invaded my consciousness. All I knew was the ear-shattering cry which I wished desperately would stop. I remember a vague glimpse of my friends writhing on the floor and came to realize that I was doing the same.

Somewhere in the chaos, one of the men staggered over to me and whacked me hard on the head with a crowbar.

My head began to feel very strange, as if someone were squeezing and pulling it at the same time, and my vision began to turn fuzzy.

Then, as I began to drift into unconsciousness, I heard a laugh, and the man bent over me.

"G'night!" he said, and he and his buddy both burst into laughter.

I didn't hear them. I was lost to the blackness of my mind.