People often have many questions, but not enough answers. A thirst for knowledge, but no way to explore it. What if I told you there’s a journal that has an answer for anything and everything? Describing it is easy enough. It’s a small black book with a golden owl seal on its front. It holds pages that are rough like papyrus, but still neatly nestled between both covers.
At the beginning of my day, a storm had decided to awaken me outside my window. The ringing of my alarm clock came soon after, pestering me to stand up from my bed. I took a glance outside my window and saw the city, covered in rain with the slightest beam of sunlight. “Same as yesterday,” I joked to myself. After dragging myself out of my room, I grabbed my red vest and umbrella and headed for the door. As I walked out of my apartment, I looked up at the sky to see if there were any signs of the rain letting up; sure enough, it didn’t look like it. I sighed at the thought that I was going to have to ride up the hill to school and back in the rain. Looking at my watch, I quickly climbed on my bike and rode to school. While pedaling, I remembered I had a science test today. “I forgot to study,” I groaned. I walked to class, not caring if I was late or not because it wouldn’t really matter.
Walking into class, I noticed that there was no one there. I was confused for a moment until I heard, “It’s Tuesday, Felix,”. I turned around to see Amber, the longest standing friend I had. Amber and I had known each other since I moved here, so we had a pretty good relationship. I had come to learn she was a very fearless girl. Such moments like riding large roller coasters had me screaming, but she was bored. Though that’s probably what I like most about her… well, maybe other than her lack of boundaries. As I drifted off in my own mind, she called to me. “Felix? Felix!” I had started to pay attention after she had snapped at me, “My bad, spaced out again.” “Never any change huh?” she replied. “Nope, not at all, but disregarding that, where is everybody?” I asked, “I told you, it’s Tuesday. Everyone had gone to the library.”
“My bad, I—forgot,” I replied with a friendly smile. She rolled her eyes as we walked down the narrow hall of lockers to the library. “Go ahead and pick out a book to read, Felix,” said Ms. Rouge as she sat back down. I walked through the many shelves of books to choose from, but most of them were either really beaten up or really big. I didn’t really feel like reading a whole lot today, so I just took the smallest non-beaten-up book I could find. As I pulled up a chair, I noticed I had grabbed what looked like a small notebook. It didn’t have a title or any sort of description. The only thing I could find was a gold feather on what should have been the front.
As I opened the front page, it was surprisingly blank. I kept flipping page after page, but still nothing. Then I got to the end of the pages and saw more signatures than I could count: Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, John Hancock, William Shakespeare, Michelangelo—the list goes on. Looking through name after name, I got an eerie feeling. Then the bell rang. “Check out your books,” Ms. Rouge said, calling for the class.
After leaving my corner of the library, I ran over to the front desk, clutching the mysterious book in hand. As I handed it to the librarian, she started observing it from all sides. “Is this book yours?” she asked. “No,” I replied, “I found it in the history corner.” The librarian looked at the book and handed it back to me. “Here, you can have it,” she said. I gave her a nervously blank look, only being able to reply with; “Sure… thanks.” After taking the book from her hands, I had begun to leave, only just noticing how dimly lit the library was; the smell of old paper thick in the air and the many dust motes floating like tiny sprites. The silence I heard as I left, it felt like the very shelves were listening.
I was still skeptical, but maybe I could use it to my advantage. I hadn’t studied, so I wasn’t prepared for my test, but maybe using the book wouldn’t be so bad. I sat down as my science teacher passed out the tests. When he got to me, I started writing. “Here goes nothing,” I said to myself, turning to a page. I felt a cold chill running down my spine as I flipped over the jagged yellow pages. I slowly grabbed my pen and began pressing the wet ink onto the paper, spelling out the first question. Once I was done, my words disappeared, seeping into the pages.
A few seconds later, ink started spelling out an answer: “793” was written on the page before slowly fading away. I jotted down the response and kept going, using the pages to get every problem’s answer until finally, “I’m done,” I said in relief. I walked over to Mr. G and turned in my test. While walking up the hall toward history class, I started to question myself. “Was I cheating?” I felt a bit guilty, but I kept walking. After finishing all my classes for the day, Mr. G wanted to see me in his office. “Hey, Felix, come on in,” said Mr. Logan as I took a step in. “Did I do something wrong?” I asked. “No, no,” he replied. “I wanted to see you because you got the highest grade in class.” “What do you mean, sir?” I said, looking confused. Mr. G handed me a piece of paper; it was my test. I turned it over in anticipation. I had passed, but more than that; everything was right.
