Readers

2.The shop, the killer, the floor

The road wasn't any different from the last times I went to this bookshop. Surrounded by noise, big crowds and air what you couldn't really call an air with all those chemicals inside it. To make my trip more interesting I turned around the corner on a narrow alley I haven't gone through lately. This street didn't stand out among other streets, but after a while, I was the only one on this street. There weren't any cars, and all people had cryptically disappeared from both sides of the street. It neither surprised me, nor scared, but the feeling was a bit strange. Even now, still standing and observing strangely empty street, I realized that I have to continue walking or I won't get on time for a dinner. My intention was interrupted after two little steps because I saw something that didn't belong here. Well, at least 'doesn't belong' is the only one word I can describe what I see. Reasons to not to belong there are 1) this street is narrow, and not many people come here like somewhere else in the city, 2) a month ago (I think it was month ago), when I was walking down this street, it wasn't there and 3) it didn't look similar to any of its sort.

Even it was strange it was there, the strangest thing was – it was pulling me toward itself somehow. It is impossible to describe this feeling in words, but as much as I wanted this strange and amazing feeling to disappear, it just got stronger. The wind blew in my back like even nature wanted to help a magnet that was pulling me toward this magical bookstore.

I call all bookstores magical, but this one looked really like one and even raised some magical feeling inside me. I don't know whether it's me or this strange 'magic' as I call it, but I started to make small steps towards the store. As I crossed the street, I didn't bother looking on my right or left, because I knew no car will disturb my walk, and I couldn't take my eyes off the bookstore. It was the most beautiful bookstore I've ever seen. The store has an old-fashioned arrangement and I like it. I could bet all furniture in this bookstore was antique and I won't even think about books. As I got closer to the store, I was searching for a trifle behind the show-window that will make me go away, but everything was too perfect in this store, so I had no reason to not to push down the door handle and come in. There were deathlike silence and deathly loneliness. All my eyes could see that far were only books, antique furniture, and no price-lists or any other sign that something was selling.

I decided to walk around and to inspect books without making the smallest noise. I took the nearest book and confirmed my suspicions that I can't buy anything in there because there wasn't a price on a book cover. This strange discovery was torturing my mind only for a short moment because I noticed a new strangeness – there weren't visible any identical books. This fact made me think that this could be a library, but it was denied by a word 'Store' that was written on the store show-window. These two discoveries were enough for me to want to leave, but I couldn't force my legs to move towards the door.

And why do I always have to be so curious?

I was trying to make my curious side to leave until I realized it's pointless because I'm already on the store's – or whatever in the hell this place is – side. I turned to the door to observe the front of the store from this point of view and when I turned back I wasn't alone anymore. There was a man standing in front of me who wasn't there thirty seconds ago, but I tried not to think about it. The man was dressed in a black suit and his hands are hidden behind his back what made him really suspicious. He could be around forty years old, but nobody can believe my guess about age because I'm really bad at guessing ages. The man neither moves nor makes any sounds; he simply stares at me and waits for me to do something. I understood that the man won't start the conversation so I took this important thing in my hands.

"You have a really beautiful bookstore!" It isn't the worse conversation for the beginning. "You opened it recently?"

"This store has always been here," the man simply replied still waiting for me to do something else than talk.

I tried to act as if his words neither surprised me nor scared. But 'always' is a very wide concept. I looked over my memories about the time I walked down this street, and I'm absolutely sure that this store wasn't then there. I could never walk by such beautiful bookstore like this one.

"I was walking down this street a month ago– " I don't know why, but my voice cracked. I believe in everything supernatural, of course, but right now I don't see any explanation of what's happening. "–I don't remember seeing this bookstore."

The stranger never took his eyes off me. He was ready to attack at any moment, and I can swear he has something in his arms behind his back.

I didn't let the stranger answer, but it didn't seem that he even wanted to.

"What's in your hands?" My question was definitely rude, but right now I didn't care about it.

The man dropped his gaze for the first time in a while and showed me a sword that was in his hands. I was feeling better seeing that it wasn't an ordinary sword. It was similar to the Shadowhunters' seraph blade from this TV show, the only difference was that this weapon that lied perfectly in man's arm wasn't glowing.

"That one?" He asked. "Oh, just a trifle it is!" Nobody has ever spoken to me in such threatening way like he did, even not my mother!

I backed away a bit and descended in my thoughts. A store such beautiful like nowhere else? A store that's always been here? A man with a sword in his hands? This must be a joke. I've always wanted more tension in my life, but that is just a little bit too much. I could hope that all this has some magical explanation, but I don't want to die with such thought in my head.

I backed away a little more for my safety, but the man wasn't staying in his place either. The stranger made steps towards me slowly, not taking his eyes off his blade.

"Who sent you?" he calmly asked. Lifting his gaze up and seeing my confused expression he continued:

"Well, there must be somebody who's sent you!" He was still getting closer to me, and I realized I won't get out of this place alive.

"Esselts? Weedoghs? Maybe even Armals?"

I couldn't talk. Why did I have to go down this street? Why did I have to go in there? Why couldn't I stop my curiosity? This store reminds me of those plants that eat flies. It attracts with its smell and appearance and then pulls flies in a death trap. Right now, I'm in a death trap and not only smell and appearance attracted me, it was something like a magnetic force pulling me to this store. I stopped thinking about flies-eating plants and turned my attention to more important things like – how to get out of there. There is a door behind me, but I have no idea how far it is; the man is standing in front of me two meters away. If I could surprise him and get to the door, the only thing I'll have to do is to open the door and get on the street. My plan wasn't brilliant, but that's everything that can save me.

The door was farther than I thought, but I could get to them before he caught me. I was almost safe, I just had to push down the doorknob and run, but this plan crashed. The door was locked. I had no clue how this might happened, but now I'm locked in a strange store with an unknown man who is possibly a killer.

The man's laugh after my unsuccessful run made him more similar to a killer. Not after a long time, I was pressed against the door, and the sword felt uncomfortable on my skin.

"You didn't answer on my–" the man turned his head quickly to the side and his hand that was holding the sword relaxed a bit. If I had some fighting skills, maybe I could surprise and overcome him, but unfortunately, I had none of those skills. The man kept silent as if he was listening to somebody I couldn't see. Now I started to overthink who of us is going insane: me after all those events or him – according to his actions or both of us after everything that had happened.

"Couldn't you tell me sooner?" The stranger scared me and I held my breath. The man lowered the sword and was a meter away a second later.

The sword wasn't visible in his hands anymore, and his expression had changed from threatening to soft. Nothing of this helped me. My blood pressure was rising, legs wobbling and soon I felt the "soft" touch of the floor. The last I heard before I blacked out was man cursing at something invisible.

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