Episode 10: Foggy Unravelling

That night I resolved to find out what it all meant. As foolish as I was, I didn’t seem to feel the least bit scared of the truth. I stayed up late after dinner to go through grandpa’s journal, pages after pages of which, unfortunately, were bulshit rumours of werewolves. Just local superstitions without any evidences.

I rolled my eyes flipping through the pages, disappointment washing over me when something caught my eye. Ley lines. “The town of Meadows is located on ley lines and has always been a treasure trove for inquisitive minds through decades,” the entry read.

I quickly scrounged for my phone through my ruffled messy covers and the books on folklores of Meadow Town for additional research. The clock on the phone read 02:15. I opened my browser and typed in ley lines and I waited. Network here was seriously shitty.

After what seemed like forever, the search results appeared. “Ley line,” it said, “are lines of energy running through earth, often causing different paranormal phenomena.”

I got back to the journal which had a map of Meadow Town. It was marked with the ley lines which seemed to be heavily concentrated in the forest region. There were a few other paper cuts of some people going missing and some mysteriously appearing from the forest. The papers dated back to the 1950s. Grandpa's youth time for sure. I had to ask him. But how could I without raising suspicions?

So, I slept on it and in the morning decided to take help from the local library. I swallowed down my breakfast in a hurry. Mom eyed me warily and for the hundredth time I sighed about how lucky Joanne was.

I muttered a quick goodbye and left after giving grandpa a kiss.

The library was on the other side of the town. The town was divided by the falls that joined the river. The only way across was a cramped-for-most-part-of-the-day bridge. I was allowed to take Dad's car today but I had to get mine own soon. That reminded me that I had to get a day job.

I frowned at myself in the rear view mirror. I had to give up my job as an illustrator when I came here. I only had a handful of freelance works since then.

The crowd on the bridge started to clear and I drove forward. For one minuscule second I let my eyes drift to the far off falls and just before the memories of that night could hit me, I was gone. Once I had crossed the bridge, the library wasn’t far off.

Larry had texted me the directions this morning. To his credit, he isn’t the nosy type, precisely the reason why I chose to ask him over Joanne.

I parked the car in an empty, dusty spot infront of the building and stared at what was undoubtedly one of the oldest buildings of the town. The Town Bookstore since 1800 was inscribed on the wall.

I shook the fear of the building collapsing out my head and made my way through the door. A lady as old as the building itself welcomed me in with a lovely smile. I stared at her and wondered how her fragile, little body could take in the weight of this giant library. I had little doubt that she had read all the books present there. Her expression told me that she was used to receiving this look. She smiled at me patiently and then said, “Have you come to apply for the job little Ella?”

“You know me?” I asked, shocked.

“And you know me,” she smiled. “Ofcourse, you don’t remember. How silly of me. You were so very little when we last met. Although I don’t see you've changed much.”

Strange. I couldn't possibly forget someone like her. I walked closer to her desk and said, “If I did remember you, I would probably say 'likewise'”.

She laughed. “I missed you dear.” Surprisingly, the words made me feel so warm and happy.

I looked at the hiring flyers on the desk. It stated the need of a librarian. “Are you retiring?” I asked.

“No but I could use a hand. Now do you want this job or not?”

She didn’t seem to have that many candidates. I eyed the pay on the flyer once more and replied, “I came for some information but a job will be fine too.”

“You start from tomorrow. So, you can look up whatever you came for today.”

“Thank you, Ms. - ,” I searched for a badge or a nameplate but there were none.

“Oh, just call me Granny like you used to,” she smiled kindly again. I smiled back.

I looked up for books on ley lines and news about the missing people on one of the library computers. One headline read Mysterious Disappearances and Appearances.

The article gave an account of two people that had turned up out of nowhere - an old, withered man in 1958 and a lady in her mid thirties long before that. The man had died in the Meadow Town hospital but there was nothing about the woman other than a photograph which looked strangely familiar.

I surfed through the disappearances section where it talked of three people. Two travelers who had gone missing while hiking and one local. The two travelers were said to have come to Meadow Town on an invitation from a local businessman and had gone missing while sight seeing. The businessman was reported missing two days later.

The search I had embarked upon, seemed to get messier. And I hadn’t gotten anywhere near to figuring out Will’s real identity. None of the articles about this town said anything about the sighting of the people with unusual features like I had seen. My only shot at the truth and the only proof of my sanity was Will. I had to find him.