I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, and then remembering everything, ran outside my door expecting to find myself in a forest. It was with no small relief that I found the familiar staircase I was now used to there, the old wood leading downstairs.
Never had I been happier to see those stairs, to touch their familiar wood and feel the hard surface against my skin.
Thoughts of the rest of my family came to mind— my parents and my little sister.
At the speed of light, I rushed into my one year old sister's room and looked into her cot, where she lay calmly asleep. I picked her up and held her to my chest, nearly moving to tears as I felt the little warm body in my hands, the familiar scent of her baby oil filling my nostrils. My father rushed in after me, his eyes threatening as they moved around every part of the room and finally rested upon me.
"You?" He probed, stepping into the room and gently shutting the door behind him. "I heard you run down the stairs and almost thought it was someone else."
"No, Dad." I replied, still holding my sister to myself. "It was only a nightmare."
His eyebrow was raised quizzically as I gave her back to him. At the same time, my mother came in and without thinking, I rushed into her arms. We stood there for a while before my father joined in, all of us in one big family hug.
"It has been quite a while since we last had that." My mother noted.
"Indeed." My father agreed, and I laughed with them, talking for a while about everything except the book and the weird dream I had.
When it was all over, I left them and returned to my room, grateful for life as I knew it. I had been dissatisfied, ashamed that I had no friends, and lonely. Now, I was thankful. At least I had my family.
As soon as I was back in my room, I checked under my bed and found the book resting there, still the way I left it.
"I finally see why Old Miss Penny said this book was for people aged twenty-one and above." I muttered to myself, reaching out to take it. "That was quite a dream, no… a nightmare, and I have had enough for one night."
I pulled it out and slipped it in my bag, intending to return it to the library.
Three hours later, I was on my way walking there through the lonely streets of my city. I got into the Library, hid the book in my shirt, and checked in the Library's log, writing the time and the date.
My eyes went to the last time I was in this library, and immediately I knew there was something wrong somewhere.
I just had to find it…
The log had columns for book, date, and time.
The last time I had been in this library according to the log was on the fourth of April, at ten fifty-six AM.
Now, I was here again, and I had just signed in on the log that I came in on the sixth of April, at nine forty-three AM.
There was a different , younger librarian around, not the Old Miss Penny I was used to, but I still asked her what the date was.
"Why? It is the 6th of April."
"Should it not be the 5th? I came in here yesterday." I replied, catching myself in time before adding that I had stolen a book I was about to sneak back in.
"No. I was here yesterday and I am sure you did not come in the entire time. Are you sure you are okay?" She asked, a genuine look of concern on her face.
I wanted to tell her I was not, but I only ran outside of the library.
If one day, one entire day was missing in my life, then indeed, that dream… that nightmare… My room, Erimlin the Tree, the Five Elves and the cave they dwelled in…
All of that had been real.
I had indeed gone back in time when I read the book.
My heart thumped in my chest. If they had been real, then the Other Five were coming for me.
I began to panic, trying to find a way to return to the Five Elves. As fast as I could, I began to run back home to say the curse on page 898. I needed to find them and speak to them again.
Soon, my house was visible in the distance, and I felt as though I could heave a sigh of relief. It was still morning, with the cool morning breeze moving about and the bright white clouds hiding the sun. My chest was heaving up and down, tired, and I sat on a bench to rest.
I stopped to catch my breath, and then sat up, looking into the sky. A single, small dark cloud was moving across, and I stared at it in wonder.
It moved slowly until it was close to the sun, and then it stopped over it, darkening the earth. Watching it closely, I paused, looking intensely at it as its colour changed gradually from black to red.
"Red?" Someone near me asked. "A red cloud?"
Immediately, I was aware that I was not seeing things. Everyone else was looking at a red cloud.
Like pouring oil, a line came from the cloud as though it was being poured onto the earth, and I heard a woman screaming.
"The Other Five." I realised that.
They were here for me. The Five Elves had said they wanted to kill me.
I rushed into my room and locked the door behind me, my hands shaking as I struggled to find page eight hundred and ninety eight.
"Through minutes, and hours, and days, and years,
Through time of wars, and joys and tears
As the hourglass turns in dancing spheres
I will turn back time a thousand years."
Nothing happened when I finished saying the curse, and painfully,
I remembered the instruction.
To be said in front of a mirror at midnight.