The Elevator

The fire arrows

Erica: No, this is a violation of personal space even for me!

Nadia: He's my brother, I'm entitled to know if he has a secret, I care about him.

Erica: I don't doubt it, but after all, you're not going to find anything that's going to tell you that secret.

Nadia: I was hoping for a diary she used to have.. To see his messages if he's forgotten his cell phone home.

Erica: Nadia, shame on you.

Nadia: You're right, I'll try to be more discreet... Did you study for your test?

Erica: Yes, I didn't do anything else all day.

Nadia: You know what I'm saying? Since you need some rest, let's have some fun. Let's go to the living room. I can put a movie on TV so we can watch.

I agreed excitedly. I love movies. We went to the living room and Nadia put on a recently released movie. I've been staring at the screen, and from the very first few minutes, I realize it's going to be infinitely boring. My eyes went away and started wandering around the place.

On the couch, the seats, in the huge library. It's brownish red, like most furniture in this house, the books on it are countless, you think they'll break the shelves by their weight. I'm trying to read some of the titles to figure out what this is about, but I can't.

Most are with elaborate and calligraphic titles, but also illegible at the same time. It is not of a specified size. I saw bigger and smaller. The number of pages also varies.

Nadia: Stupid movie after all, huh?

Erica: Yes, there are better..

Nadia: What are you looking at?

Erica: Your library.

Nadia: It's pretty impressive, isn't it? The books there could be over a hundred.

Erica: Wow..! Who reads so much?

Nadia: My father and my brother have followed in his footing. Dad thinks the books are fully educational. Even the most seemingly lame has something to offer you as a form of energy. That's why he tried from an early age to turn me and Orpheus into them. He even had my mother read a lot of them, so my brother even now continued to read almost daily, I over time got tired of it and stopped like Mom didn't find it a particularly compatible hobby.

I listened very carefully. It's true that you can draw something from every book, message or life lesson.

Nadia: Do you want to take a closer look?

Erica: Sure.

We get off the couch to get closer. At last I could better observe these titles. I expected to see something profound and complicated so that it would come into harmony with the elaborate writing, but no. Most titles were one-word.

Things like feelings of rage, hatred and other unrelated stuff like word, message, thing. I take the word into my own hands and process  it. The cover is soft but also stable at the same time.

Erica: Can I?

I say making a move to open it.

Nadia: Of course!

I was browsing the pages fast. It's big, about 250. I looked at the back cover to read the summary, but there was nothing there except the << word >> written again. Monochrome book, the back cover was yellow and the letters in gold black.

I was opening the front page, the author's résumé. The fire arrows... I don't know what you're talking about. Was that the author's name? Obviously, it's a nickname. I have to admit, it was pretty artistic. Nadia was looking at a really huge book.

It was one of the greatest Greek dictionaries. I left the word behind and got the <thing> it was painted red, the author was the fire arrows, had no summary; I got my hands on all these books and the < rage > and the < message > and < hate> all was the same.

Monochrome, deep blue, dark gray and emerald green. The gold-and-black letters are tangled between the highway of color as a crossing, contrast and necessary. Who is this writer who has made such a success to have him on all shelves and I don't know him?

Looking for answers, I got up on my noses to see a book protruding. Bigger than the others and by far the most important. Someone had read it recently, probably, because it was slightly pulled out. I tried to see the title. It must be the author's biography.

I reach out my arms to catch it, pull its edge and fall to the floor abruptly.

Nadia: Be careful! 

She left the dictionary straight away and came to open the book together.

Orpheus: What are you doing there?

Hello! Please vote for the chapters, you will make me very happy, those who already vote for me, or even just reading my story, I want you to know that you give me a huge amount of joy and courage to continue. Writing is my refuge. The elevator is a creation to which I have added all my love and is also my first complete book here on wattpad I hope you have as much fun as you read it as when I wrote it.

Kristiana Palli