The Bookshop Girl of Wnztar
Written by: Collette Cottingham
The Bookshop Girl of Wnztar
I saw a rabbit hop through the evening frost. I stopped. I realized the night had gone quiet. I was surrounded by an eerie silence.
I scanned my surroundings. I was the only person out on this frozen night. Why was the rabbit out? Don’t they hibernate or something? Why did the universe guide me here?
“Bang” I swirled around to see a book shop. The bang had come from there. I walked over and grasped the door handle. I glanced through the window in the door.
The people inside were frozen in time. The only person moving was an older man circling a younger woman. He was emotional and yet happy. Tears were running down his face. “What was lost has been found. The impossible was now possible.”
I didn’t understand his words, but I knew he was one of us…or one of us who had stumbled into darkness.
“Bang” echoed through the night. The eerie quiet was lifted. The hustle and bustle of the city danced around me.
He was headed for the door. I pulled my hood over my head and stepped into a dark corner. He headed off quickly into the frozen night. I choose not to follow.
Instead I turned my attention to her. Soft brown hair pulled into a ponytail. Young vibrant skin, she had to be around nineteen. Why was she important to him?
“Can I help you find anything?”
Her voice was sweet and gentle, “No thank you, I am just browsing.”
I stared at her from the edge of a book, “why are you important, who are you?” I needed a closer inspection. I snapped my fingers. The night became still. I walked up and stared into her frozen brown eyes. I didn’t have much time…She was not familiar to me in this lifetime.
I looked over her skin…nothing. I lifted her shirt. I scanned her right side…nothing, the left side…oh my, there it was…the mark. I quickly dropped her red shirt and snapped my fingers.
She was startled to find me right in front of her. “Do you have any books on time travel?”
“Yes, right this way”
I zoned into her senses, her energy was strong, vast and knowledgeable. I bit my lip and began an idol conversation with her. I needed to get deep into her mind. I had to find out who she was. Someone has already found her, why was she important to him?
The universe brought me here for a reason. This was going to be my place until I solved the mystery of the book shop girl.