小嫂子的味道

Pushing two big wooden doors backward, I opened them as a CREAK sound followed; they were the doors of the library.

I made my first step in and looked around, I saw some students sitting with others studying. The windows were huge at the back of the library and gave a magnificent outstanding look while bringing in a powerful light into the library

On the floor was a comfy and thick carpet that made the sound of people walking not to disturb students who were focused on reading in the library, all the books in the library were properly organized in alphabetic order. It was easier for students to find a specific book without wasting their time looking for it.

Different types of wooden pieces of furniture existed in the library, each of the wooden pieces served a different purpose, high chairs and tables were for the comfort of tall students.

Wide chairs found near the huge windows were meant for those who would like to read with a natural light coming from the windows, Along with other diverse pieces of furniture existed and each one served an important duty.

The library smell was different. I could smell new ideas as I stepped in, the powerful smell of information and magic from the books that lay on different shelves that were to be read, The antique smell of the pages of old books, the untouched books lying on the shelves, the smell of the dust coming from these books.

A feeling of amusement sprung up in my system upon seeing this sight; the library was amazing in itself, up until this moment I had only seen these kinds of libraries in novels, but now I was gazing upon one of those with my own eyes.

Aside from a librarian who was sitting at a desk near the entrance, the big room didn\'t contain much of students. Only 10 to 15 students were here, reading the books they wanted.

Though it was not like the rest of the student body was ignorant of this library, nope. Students did come when they wanted a book that was required in their classes or when they just wanted to explore new information.

The twist in this was most of them took the books with them to read comfortably at the dorms; since it was allowed to borrow books as long as they return them within a week.

My purpose for coming here today was the same; I want to borrow a book. I wandered across the big and tall bookshelves as I searched for that specific book.

This was not my first time here, I found out that book the last time I came here hence I knew where it was placed. A couple of minutes later I found the book I desired.

The book was a bit large in size compared to normal books, its cover was made up of leather that was dyed in a shade of leaf green and the title of the book was engraved on it.

Taking it back with me I smacked it on the librarian\'s desk; a vague cloud of dust formed around the book as I did so.

"I want to borrow this," I said to the librarian.

He was a man who seemed to be in his mid-forties; he was on the skinny side, wore a brown robe, and a pair of round glasses covering his eyes. He was reading his own pocket-sized book when I arrived.

Closing the book in his hands he put it on the desk. Then he took my book in his hands and skimmed through it, all while analyzing it with his gaze. "Hmm, you do have an unusual taste. What use you have of this book anyway?" he asked, looking up at me.

"It\'s for research purposes; I like these types of books."

"I see. Well, I won\'t bother as long as you return it on time. But I want this book back in one piece, if you damaged it in any way then you will have to pay for it."

"Of course, I will return it and won\'t damage it."

He then took out a piece of paper and a pen; the paper contained a list of names—names of the books as well as of the students. He picked up the pen and wrote down the title of my book on the paper, and then he stopped.

"What\'s your name?"

"It\'s Zero, Zero Blanks."

Continuing his unfinished work he copied down my name beside the title of the book, then today\'s date alongside my name.

"You can take it now, make sure to return it within a week from today onwards," he said, handing over the book to me.

"Thank you very much," I greeted as I took the book from him and then left the library.

I went back to my dorm room and kept the book on my desk. Throwing myself onto the bed—without even changing my school uniform—I gazed at the ceiling above me.

I am thinking of all sorts of things right now—things that were important for the future, yet at the same time, my mind was completely blank.

I was feeling two very strong emotions right now. One was to do everything I can to avoid my death in the future—this one was a survival instinct I\'m sure, and the other was the emotion of regret; telling me to not go down the path I did in the past and make the same mistake.

These two emotions were strong and completely opposite of each other, but equally balanced at the same time and were contradicting each other. Hence, the result was neutral.

But deep inside I know, that eventually one of these emotions will win over the other. And I also know which one it will be...…just like the last time.

I gradually close my eyes, and my vision turned pitch black. Then I remembered a face, a face from my past. This hit me with a wave of nostalgia but the self-resentment hit even harder.

I recognized the face very well, it was of someone dear to me. This was the only person I truly cared about in my former life, yet, after a certain event, I did the exact opposite of what they told me to do.

I stretched out my hand to grab the person but my eyes opened and their face vanished from my sight.

I wanted them to be here, maybe then I could\'ve walked on a different path. But, they were not here; I was alone and the only person I could rely on is myself.

As expected, one emotion won. Hence it was decided what I had to do now.