The Door to Tomorrow

Joseph's Journal

The well-lit Library contained books as far as the eye could see. I was surprised that it was considered a room, to be honest. It was a fancy one, too. Rows of tall bookshelves covered the carpeted floor, and there were reading tables everywhere. As I walked past one of the bookshelves, I noticed a few books about psychics here and there.

Our group reached the middle of the room when we saw a single black book sitting on one of the tables. Next to it was a brown messenger bag. The book had a folded piece of paper sitting on top, which I picked up and read. The note was written in perfect calligraphy and looked exactly like the handwriting from Narrator's drawing.

"It says 'Read me, there's more where this came from'," I informed the others.

"What is it, though?" Robin asked.

I reached for the book and inspected the hardcover. "I think this is what we need to answer those quiz questions. I guess this is for me since I'm going to take that quiz."

I recalled what Mr. Peterson had told Narrator earlier: "He has to read the material for the quiz, after all". I couldn't get over how intimidating his stare was. That image was burned into the back of my mind. I had seen the face of the person who was holding me captive, and it really bothered me. I wanted to hear his reason for capturing me.

I opened the book and read the first page. "Hmm. This says 'journal one, written 1970 through 1971'." I turned the page and found a journal entry just as I expected. It was lengthy, but it seemed important. The kids asked me to read that first entry to them, so I did what they asked.

"My name is Joseph. When I was 7 years old, my mom died in a tragic accident. My busy dad immediately took care of me, but I didn't get the privilege of living with him. Instead, he dumped me off at one of his giant mansions. He hired a complete staff of caretakers for me, but being the only child in that house felt so lonely. I never spent a single day with any of his three other children. I never even saw the house my multi-millionaire father lived in. 

He visited me a few times a month, but that was the most interaction we had. That is, until one day we finally sat down together and had a normal conversation. I didn't realize at the time, but I really loved him. Fast forward a few months, and we found ourselves spending more time together. It was a late night after a day of play, and my dad started telling me that he never planned to have any of us kids around. He let me know that we all had different mothers, and even so, he loved all of us. 

But the conversation kept digging deeper. I became confused when he told me he didn't want to get too attached to me. He said I was destined to live a 'special' life; one that I couldn't live with him. Eventually, Dad told me that he was 'sending me away'. My 7-year-old self was obviously frightened, if not devastated. 'Wait! Why? Did I do something wrong?' I asked. According to him, I did nothing wrong, but he somehow knew that my life served a very specific purpose. 'I won't be there to watch over you, and I don't know what choices you'll make, but I know for a fact that you are the only one who can change my friend's life. I'm sending you away because I want you to help him and his family'. That was his only reason, really. He told me it was okay to make mistakes along the way, and that he will always love me. When I asked if we would ever see each other again, he said 'No...I don't think so', and wept. 

After his long speech, I fell asleep in his arms. The next day I woke up on a park bench in a small suburban town I was unfamiliar with. He really did send me away. I'm now twenty years old, and to this day, I still don't know if I'm living my life the way I should be. I just hope Dad is proud of me."

"I wonder what happened to him..." I sighed. I didn't know how to feel about what I had just read. This guy Joseph had a nice father, unlike me, but he just dumped his kid off somewhere. It didn't make any damn sense. I needed to know why Joseph couldn't help his dad's friend otherwise.

"Do you guys want me to read the next page, too?" I offered. They said yes, and I kept going.

"I was sent to an orphanage with nothing except the clothes on my back and a tiny notebook I found in my pocket. Dad definitely put it there. I could barely read, so I held onto it until I could finally decipher the messages within it. I never told another soul about my young father or his final words before our departure. 

When other children asked about my early childhood, I simply told them I didn't remember. Sometimes I would cry myself to sleep. When someone like him says your life has a purpose, it means something. That message was a heavy burden to carry, especially for someone my age. I lived my life believing that I existed to help one person, but as I got older, I realized life couldn't possibly be that simple. 

When I was about eight, I tried making sense of the notepad again. I hoped to find instructions on how to live my whole life, but all I found was our friend's name and picture, a short note from my dad, and a passage reading, 'I have a feeling that you might make a huge mistake one day. I'm willing to take responsibility for that, though. Even if we never meet again, just know that I forgive you'. I've been obsessing over that message for years now. I just don't know what it means. I'm sorry, Dad."

"This is really sad," Hina acknowledged.

"I hope he was able to help his dad's friend, at least," Trevor added.

"If Joseph was twenty when he wrote this, then that means he's forty-seven today if he's alive," I commented, hoping I wasn't reading the diary of a dead man.

"What does that part say at the bottom?" Marina asked me.

"Oh, I didn't see this," I lied, then read those last few sentences. "When I was nine, I was adopted by a rich couple. Even after I met them, I lived my life strictly by my father's words. The family made me more materialistic, but maybe that was a part of Dad's plan all along." With that, I was about ready to close the book. I wanted to read the rest of it in peace.

"Will you read to us again later?" Hina inquired.

After she asked, I closed the journal. "I dunno, maybe," I began. "I'm the only one who actually needs to read this though. So if I read ahead, I won't fill you guys in. Look, I just want to read these as quickly as possible so we can all get the hell out of here." I was just telling them the truth, save for the last part. There was no way I was going to screw up my bright financial future just to save a few gullible kids. Every man for himself, I thought.

I picked up the messenger bag and placed the book inside. Then I turned around and moved along, roaming toward the back of the room as the others followed.

I was the first to reach the back of the Library. As I walked past the last bookshelf, I glanced to my left and noticed something on the wall. I stopped abruptly. Every one of my muscles tensed up as I stared at the left wall, amazed. I had never seen anything like that.