Episode 4.5: The Main Character, The Reader and The Author's Advocate

Episode 4.5

The Main Character, The Reader and The Author's Advocate

Out in the hallway, Enoch catches up and falls into stride next to Jennifer. Everyone else is already in class. Jennifer has made up her mind. She and Enoch are going to the library. "We're going to have to leave now. I can't go after school; I've got a date with Angus Keller..." Jennifer rambles to her reader as she increases her speed. "We're going to have to sneak out of school and I know just the place..." Jennifer is so consumed by her thoughts that she doesn't even notice Enoch trying to get her attention.

Enoch suddenly jumps in front of her, Jennifer manages to stop right before walking into him. She puts her hands on her hips. She throws him a what-are-you-doing? -look and he whisper-answers with, "You have to stop making so much noise while walking, someone's going to see us."

She rolls her eyes, but then nods her head – she didn't know she was walking... loudly?

Jennifer walks around Enoch, but then quickly realizes that he's not following her anymore and stops. She looks at him and beckons him to follow, but he suddenly shakes his head, she throws him a scowl.

"What now?" She whispers.

"I've never skipped school," His whispered words becomes audible once he nears.

"What happened to adventure? It's just once! Come on!” Jennifer says, but before she can even finish, he presses a hand over her mouth. His eyes widen with fear. He glances up and down the hallway.

"Fine, I'll come. Just don't get us caught," he whispers next.

"O-kay," Is all she says in reply, but the statement comes out more like a question than an answer.

Enoch is strange, she thinks to herself as they walk in silence and in no time, Jennifer has lead Enoch off the school grounds without so much as a hitch.

***

As they walk down the main road to the library on the corner, Enoch can't help but think about this strange girl. He steals a glance at her as she walks briskly beside him. Her brunette ponytail sways back and forth as she lengthens her short strides to match Enoch's. She has tanned skin and hazel eyes, those eyes... it's like they can look right through bone and brick, straight through to the secret inside.

She catches him looking at her and Enoch quickly looks away. He's not usually like this, he doesn't usually follow random girls or skip school with them, but she's different, there's something special about her.

"You've got a lot of admirers," Enoch says in an attempt to make conversation. "You had a lot of flowers yesterday."

"It's from family mostly. Marsha Day isn't limited to love interests," She says and looks off into the distance, in the direction they're walking.

"As I've said before, Mecha Falls is an old, historic little town," The girl says, seemingly to no one and everyone at the same time, even though there's on one other than Enoch with her.

"Most of the original buildings have fallen apart over the years, rotted or caved in and what not... mostly because of the harsh weather changes. There are a few original buildings still left, the school with the Weppler mansion, crypt, church and the Weppler Arch being the most renowned, but the library is another such building. Marsha Weppler loved to read and some say that she even wrote herself, but none of her works have ever been recovered as proof." She stops in front of a large building. "Here we are. Welcome to the central station to all the worlds, the highway to anywhere – welcome to the library."

She walks up a few steps and stops in front of the library's front door. She looks at Enoch with a very baud smile. Enoch enjoys seeing someone else's eyes light up at the sight of a library, it makes him feel a little less weird for doing exactly the same.

Once he's pulled his eyes away from her reaction, he admirers the large stone building himself. The library towers above them like a guard. Enoch can almost hear the books whispering their stories through the hairline fractures in the stone.

"The stones were cut out of the mountains on the East," She says as she looks at the building in awe. "It's rather poetic actually – building the strongest fortress to protect the most fragile of materials."

"You still haven't introduced yourself," Enoch says and she turns her hazel gaze on him – there's something soft in her eyes.

"I haven't," She answers and slowly walks into the large building, Enoch follows her. Before he does anything, he takes in a deep breath, it smells like home. It's the smell of emotion tapped between two covers – it's the smell of literature.

"What an adventure," she muses as she takes in the spectacular view. It's the smell of adventure.

The roof of the library is about five stories up and decorated with stone carvings that Enoch can't quite make out. Rows upon rows of bookshelves, stacked two stories high, then a balcony and stairs to the second level and more bookshelves. This is what paradise looks like.

The girl signals for Enoch to follow and he does, all while still looking around – bending his neck in every which way to absorb as much as possible.

He follows her all the way to the back of the library. She places her school bag on one of the windowsills, the stained-glass window looks out on rows of houses. Enoch takes off his backpack as well and loosens his school tie, he's still getting used to wearing a school uniform.

For a second something outside attracts his attention and he takes a step closer to the window. Enoch looks at a curious sparrow on the other side of the window, it's almost as though it's looking in. Just as suddenly as it had landed, it's off again. Next, Enoch looks at the small houses and thinks back on his former home – he thought he'd go positively mad in a small town, but, so far, it's not as bad as he'd imagined. It has only been a week, though, and there will be lots of time for madness to set in.

Suddenly something shoves him from behind, followed by a boo!

He turns around, it's the girl. The librarian shushes her from behind the desk, but the girl doesn't seem fazed.

"I have two brothers. You're going to have to do a lot more than that if you want to scare me..." Enoch says with an unimpressed smile. She rolls her eyes and walks over to a desk, placing the books she'd gathered on top.

"Great, there are two more of him," She says and he takes out his phone while walking closer, acting like he didn't hear her. He opens the photo he'd taken of the Morse code and places his phone on the table for her to see, as he does so he glances at the time. They have another few hours before school ends.

It takes them about an hour of flipping through books to find the actual code and then another hour to figure out how to decipher it, but once the argument about how to go about it has been settled they still had a good two and a half hours left to decode and discuss its content fully.

The letter Reads:

Dear Ms Hudstone

I contact you with a story, a warning and a prediction of what lies ahead, if my warnings aren't met.

Once there was a man with binoculars. He used them to look at specific things, birds mainly. He would watch them for hours and forget the rest of the world. One day he watched a bird playing in a birdbath, its bright little feathers glowing in the sun, but, because he disregarded his surroundings and reality completely and focused on one thing so intently, he did not see the cat sneaking up. Rather morbid, but it makes my point none the less. He still has his binoculars, there was no need to disregard them, but from then on, he looked around too.

In this instance you are the bird watcher and the bird. I fear, Ms Hudstone, that you are too focused on yourself and the little bubble around you that you do not see the cat approaching. It is time you look around and see what outcomes your actions are producing in the people and world around you. 

Heed my warning, for if you don't you shall surely lose all you hold dear. You are being misled by your own perception of the world around you, you do not see what is truly happening. If you continue on like this, your closest friends will turn on you, your family will dismiss you and, if you ignore this, you will not see the cat until it's too late. Ms Hudstone, there is still time to change the outcome, but not for long.

Kind regards,

The Author's Advocate

After having deciphered the letter Enoch walks away rather disappointed and takes a seat in the windowsill next to the girl's bag. She was right, it was just a prank. Enoch really thought there was something more to this, but it was probably just his reader's imagination getting ahead of him once again. But, at least he knows her surname now – Hudstone.

Tap-tap-tap. Enoch turns around and finds a sparrow tapping on the glass with its beak. The little bird hops to the other side of the window, right opposite the girl's bag, and taps again. Enoch looks at the girl and notices something strange. She isn't moving, she's still seated behind the desk. She's frozen and completely quiet, she might as well have been a statue.

Enoch gets up and walks back to her, as he nears, he can hear her muttering something under her breath, but can't make out what.

"Everything okay?" Enoch asks and it's as though she realizes that there's still someone with her.

"I don't know," She says in a broken voice. Is she shaking? "The last few days there have been things... I don't know how, I don't know what or who, but this... it can't be real."

"It's a prank," Enoch says and takes a seat next to her. "The way I see it is... it's mystery solved. We've decoded it. Someone went through a lot of trouble to mess with you and they knew exactly what to say to do so. It can only be someone you know..."

"You're right," She says before he can even finish and then she looks out into the distance again. "I have to find out who, or my name isn't Jennifer Penelope Hudstone! I shall get to the bottom of this, just you watch!" Enoch smiles at the strange remark, she really is weird, but at least he knows her name now.

Enoch looks at his watch, school had ended a few minutes ago. Why does it feel like he's forgetting something? He looks back at the girl. Wasn't there something happening after school? Then it hits him.

"You have to go," He tells Jennifer and she looks at him quizzically. "Jenny, remember Angus..."

Jennifer leaps up, almost knocking over the table in the process. The grabs the piece of paper on which they'd decoded the letter and shoves it in her backpack.

"For all that is good and green, Penelope! I knew you'd forget, you silly girl!" She says as she slings on her backpack. She yells a thank you over her shoulder to Enoch as she practically runs out of the library and he bursts out laughing, only to be shushed within seconds.

Enoch looks out the window again, the sparrow is still there. It looks like it's looking in. The little bird twists its head from side to side and then leaps off, flying away swiftly.

Jennifer Hudstone, he thinks, what an interesting name.

Enoch can't quite understand her yet. It's clear that she likes to talk to herself and that's a little strange, but, in the end, everyone does strange things from time to time.

She's different, there's definitely something special about her.

***

Jennifer speed-walks down the road and heads straight for The Grind. Once inside she doesn't search long before spotting Angus, seated in the far corner. He stands up just as she is about to sit down.

"Sorry I'm late," Jennifer starts to say, but she's so out of breath that she's not sure if Angus heard her. She hands him back the black light. He flips it over in the palm of his hand and looks at it longingly, before Jennifer can say anything else she finds Angus looking at her.

"Thanks," They did have a wonderful childhood together, she understands why he would miss it, some days she catches herself missing it too, but before she can say anything...

"Why don't you like me?" Angus asks rather directly. Jennifer can't believe her ears; the world seems to topple.

"Who ever said I don't like you?" Jennifer breathes out so quietly that not even the best eavesdropper would've heard, but her words light up Angus's eyes. "I'm practically in love with you," She says before she can catch herself. Her words shock even her own heart and when she looks up she can see Angus coming in for a kiss, but she places her hand over his mouth and stops him.

"I said practically. That means almost, but not yet," She says out of pure panic and he laughs it off. She's glad that at least he thinks it's funny. She's not sure why she feels this way...

"Coffee?" Angus asks with a smile and she nods. Why is he looking at her like that? She wants to tell him to stop it, to stop looking at her entirely, but before she can Angus leaves and Jennifer takes a seat.

Jennifer has always believed that her story would be one of teen romance, but there has never been anything to substantiate her theories. All she has to go off is that she's a teenager, there's a boy and the main setting is a school. A logical conclusion would be that the main plotline would be that of young love, but, if that were the case, why did she stop Angus? Could it be that her author has much more in store for her than a teen fling? The thought scares Jennifer much more than a date with Angus ever could. She would rather continue to believe that her story was one among thousands of other teen romance stories than ponder the thought of the possibility of not knowing what her author has in store.

***

That night Jennifer lay awake in bed.

Pondering over the day's events. Pondering over their findings. Pondering over her and Angus's conversations. They had a wonderful afternoon and caught up on everything. She told him about the Author's Advocate letter and talked over her suspect list with him – she knows that he's not the one pranking her. She told him about the new kid and how her mother had invited him and his entire family over for brunch the next day... Angus did check his phone more than she would've liked. Jennifer knows that she's a grandma like that and prefers that people did not text mid coffee date, but that's okay.

Ever since the library, that's where her thoughts lead her. No matter where she starts, her thoughts always end there. Back to the place of book and stone.

"I like to go to the library, it's silly really," She says and pulls the blankets up to under her chin at the thought. “I want to see where I am in the real world and I'd like to imagine that my writer will protect me in a place like that." Images of large stone walls flash through her mind, strict librarians with glasses sliding down their long noses and people like Enoch roaming from shelf to shelf.

"I'd like to think that all characters want to know where their stories are being guarded, don't you? I'm not like most characters, but if they were like me... I like to imagine that they'd wonder about the same things too, it makes me feel less alone. It doesn't make me feel like the only book on a shelf."

Jennifer lets out a long sigh as exhaustion starts to set in. Her eyes droop shut and her body starts feeling heavy, but before she manages to drift off to sleep, a single thought occurs. She'll have to remember to correct Enoch tomorrow. She doesn't like being called Jenny.

Her eyes shoot open. She never told him her name.