Chapter 3

I haven't celebrated my birthday in a while. It brings with itself a reminder of times best forgotten.

With a worsening mood i step into the elevator from a excessively lit corridor, into a elevator filled with an unnaturally cheerful music. Thinking of the coming day i brace myself for the sudden acceleration. Seconds later, taking a deep breath, i step outside the elevator into a crowded street.

By no means am i a social person but the sight of people comfort me. It's a chore talking to others but i find comfort in a crowd. It makes me feel like we are all participants in the same misery. Brings a smile to my face really.

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Like clockwork i arrive at work and approach the old wood doors. I greet the doorman-cum-security as i approach the authentication scanner.

"Good Morning, Hank." and all i get back is a downward nod, which is not that surprising as the Hank's have not been updated for almost three decades now, i remember the company who made them go bankrupt back in the day. Something something Dynamics. I guess this is all our budget can afford.

I enter the door as the scanner signals green, and take a whiff of the comforting scent of ink on paper. Who still uses paper in this day and age you say?

One of the last surviving public access libraries in the world. It is a shame most of the people who do visit us treat it as more of a museum than a library. Personally i find comfort in the physical feedback of touching and flipping a page but the most important reason, we even get visitors and the reason i requested to work here, is the silence.

The tranquil stagnant silence of the oil in ink and a forest of papers.

My job in the mornings are several hours of staring into nothingness or giving a tour of the place to visiting students, which must be quite novel to kids nowadays. The sight of an adult talking and walking with them in person. Whenever i give the tours i throw in some old jokes every now and then only to be greeted by a wall of confusion.

The only other visitors we get are the people who work at the scientific research company on the upper floors. This library is just a pet project of theirs i guess. They all carry the same look with their white coats and despondent faces. I don't know what they do up there but they are the quiet sort. Since i don't have any visitors yet might as well take a seat. I haven't been feeling all that energetic lately i guess the years are catching up to me.

I release a sigh as i take a seat behind the reception desk and felt a rumble in my stomach.

"Damn, what was in those eggs." i cursed as i felt my stomach.

Wait.

That was not my stomach.

And that was my last thought as i felt the ground start shaking and a shearing pain in my head and then, nothing.

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