A Scary Story for Those Who Hate Being Scared

The Book Shop

I walk in a small four storied building, Anne and Michael walk ahead of Gavin and I. I watch them book it to the fantasy section and smile at my own pun.

"What?" Gavin smiles at me when he notices my smile.

"Oh uh.. inside joke" I smile

"With yourself?" Gavin laughs.

I just laugh and head over to look at some history books.

Gavin looks at the classic titles on the other side of the same shelf. I glance at him through the shelves a couple times, he has a soft smile on his face as he fingers through an old Sherlock Holmes novel. I watch his eyes, they're lit up as he reads through a couple pages, but the bags underneath his eyes reveal his long nights of studying. His parents wanted him to become a successful businessman and made him take on three hours of straight studying during the summer. Gavin chose to spend his days with us and his nights studying, it was sweet but must be exhausting.

I bite my lip and look away as he closes the book. He starts to walk around to my side so I quickly walk to the side he'd been on.

"El?" he peeks around and I quickly snatch the Sherlock Holmes book he was looking at. He looks back into the classics aisle "oh hey" he chuckles "journals are on the fourth floor" he points up.

"Okay!" I smile and hide the book between my purse and hip.

Gavin looks at me for a second then smiles "come on" he leads the way and I grab a complementary book bag as I pass them. I stick the book in the bag then quickly catch up to him and walk upstairs.

I spot Michael and Anne looking at the mystery books on the second floor. As I continue climbing the stairs it once again dawns on me why we are here. I can't help but slow my pace and my heart beats a bit faster, partially from climbing so many steep stairs, partially because of the challenge that lies ahead.

We finally reach the fourth floor which smells of old books. I take a deep breath in and close my eyes, I loved the smell. With another deep breath I get a whiff of Gavin's cologne, another smell I love. I don't quite know how to describe either smell, neither too strong or too weak, both fresh and crisp, and both put me in my happy place.

"Coming?" Gavin chuckles.

"Oh sorry" I open my eyes and blush a bit.

"You okay?" he looks at me, genuine concern in his eyes.

"Just... I don't like being scared..." I sigh "I don't want to give myself nightmares by writing this book"

Gavin smiles and walks over to me again "the author of all people should know their creations aren't real"

I look at him, unconvinced.

"Come on El" he slides his hand into mine "we won't let the monsters get you"

My heart skips a beat and I freak out a bit as my hands start to sweat. "We?" I look at him.

"Yeah, Anne, Michael, and I" he smiles and squeezes my hand "this way" he lets my hand go and walks towards the back.

I sigh and follow him. He leads me to a small shelf of old books with no titles. I pick one out gingerly and open it. The pages are blank, tinted yellow from age.  Some pages were missing so I put it back. I look through a few more before picking up the largest one that lays on top of the others. The cover was a simple brown with delicate gold accents in each of the corners. On the back name shines in gold,

"Frankenstein?" Gavin laughs "oh that's just perfect!"

I smile "could've belonged to to the actual guy"

"He's fictional doofus" Anne says as she  and Michael walk up

"No der" I laugh and stand up "quite a coincidence though"

"It's an actual last name" Michael nods.

I nod a bit and look at the journal  "I can't believe you guys are making me do this, and naturally my favorite of the journals belonged to a monster"

"Frankenstein wasn't the monster though!" Gavin protests.

"You know what I meant" I smile

"I think it's perfect" Anne nods

"Me too" Michael smiles, holding his three new mysteries close to his chest.

"Me three" Gavin smiles.

I roll my eyes "you guys ready?" I put the journal in my bag

"Yep!" they all say in unison.

We all head down stairs and purchase our things. I fall back as we walk down the street, getting lost in thought, staring at the journal.

I sigh inwardly, this is gonna be quite an adventure, I think to myself.