Chapter 7 - (MEMORIES)

(MEMORIES)

There is a book store in this town, although most don't know about it, its been part of Ridgewood town for the longest of time. The store has never allowed guests to visit the store, just customers. But for the first time ever, the bookstore allowed a ten-year-old looking child named Nathaniel to enter its walls through the front door. James looked at Nathaniel with teary eyes and said, "Hello Nathaniel, welcome to our bookstore. This bookstore is very different from the one's you see normally. Some call it, 'The big Secret of Ridgewood Town' and others don't really remember their encounter with the bookstore. But it's a magical place that you can only come into when your at your worst.

We only allow customers into the bookstore, that's why they never ever remember this place. But it's somewhere in their minds.

"You are our very first guest Nathaniel. I'm James. I am mostly in charge of identifying the books which our customers want, and this is my grandma. She is in charge of the whole bookstore and its operations. So, do you know the difference between a customer and a guest Nathaniel?" James exclaimed amazed by the mere sight of Nathaniel, and with a solemn smile Nathaniel shook his head left and right to signal the fact that he did not have an answer for James. James smiled at Nathaniel's gesture and proceeded to ask the child another question, he said, "Which kind of book did you have in mind? or do you want to explore our store first before you can make a choice?" and with full excitement Nathaniel held onto James shirt tightly and said, "can you choose a book for me James?" James looked at the hand that Nathaniel held onto him with and agreed with a fully happy face.

James walked towards a wall which was right opposite him and said, "How about I take you to the 'Salvage room'? I am sure we can find a book that will suit you best." Nathaniel obliged of course with a smile on his face. Just when James guided Nathaniel to the wall, there was a door which suddenly appeared in front of them, and with upmost care, James held Nathaniel closer to him in order to assure him of his safety, and they walk into the door.

There was a beautiful place inside the door.

It looked like they were in a completely different world, another realm to be more specific, the atmosphere of the whole place was cheerful, yet there was a lot of emotions which you felt indefinitely. The sky had a pinkish colour, with clouds as beautiful as the first snow in winter. Although everything looked beautiful around them, there was a barrier which existed proximately ten-miles away from them, and right across the barrier was a place which had dark clouds with the sky having a violet type of colour. The place looked abandoned for some reason.

"A place for our imagination to flourish!!" James shouted as Nathaniel slowly left his shirt, amazed by the beauty he was witnessing. Nathaniel proceeded to ask James about the existence of the Salvage room and James spoke politely and said, "The memories you give away as you experience new things live in this realm, it's a perfectly balanced place for memories and regrets to coexist in harmony. But you see, there are some memories which people disguise as regrets in order to forget them and those memories can be a problem sometimes. Anyway, this place help memories stay alive, what would you be if the memories of you were to disappear from the world one day?"

James took a step closer to Nathaniel, looked him in the eyes and said, "Now, what is the most fearful memory you have Nathaniel?" and as Nathaniel stood in front of James, the sky started to change its colour, growing greyer by the minute, and Nathaniel spoke. He said, "I could never recall this moment James, but, ...