Book.

I returned the book and walked away, exploring the bookselfs filled with thousands of pages.

I looked at a large sign hanging, History. Is what's happening now considered History? I don't know. But it's definitely not Biology, Astronomy, or Geography. Maybe Magic is the most appropriate. Something related to the supernatural and mystery.

I walked towards that genre. I quickly scanned the titles there. My eyes stopped on one book. I grabbed the thick book titled Collection of Legends and Mysterious Creatures in the World from the top shelf, flipping through it quickly. Looking for something that caught my attention.

My eyes quickly scanned the pages looking for a strange word. Like this: Ogopogo? A strange name.

I opened another page, I found another strange name. Chupacabra? What is this?

And lastly I found Doppelganger. It reminded me of ginger bread. Here it says that Doppelganger is a ghost that looks very similar to someone, but not in the form of a shadow or reflection. It can also be called an evil twin. Furthermore, it is said that they bring bad luck.

I read the rest quickly and concluded: this is the supernatural version of cloning.

I closed the book and sighed. Does this mean anything?

According to Rafael, there's nothing on the internet either. Assuming he's searching correctly, then isn't all this was pointless? Even if there is a book about this fenomena, it would probably be a rare book. Yes, definitely a very rare book. I've never heard anything about strange fenomena like this.

I approached the librarian's desk and opened the drawer. Inside there was a notebook, bunch of paper clip, and some bookmarks. My eyes were drawn to something covered by the book. It was the key, the object I was looking for.

I took it.

I turned to the door behind me and used the key. It was the storage room door, where special books are stored. At least that's what I heard.

I opened the door and the cold air hit me. It seemed that the room was purposely cooled. What does cold air do for books? I don't know, but in front of me was a room not too large, the size of my room. But the whole wall was filled with rare thick books.

I heard that it takes special permission to borrow one of these books. I smiled thinly, Mai would be envious if she knew I entered this room.

I looked at the books. I quickly read their titles. Still nothing caught my attention. But eventually my eyes stopped on a black-covered book. The title was Hollow.

I took it. I don't know why, but I felt there was something in that book. So I left the room then sat at the table, ready to read it.

Judging from the paper, it was a fairly old book. It might have been made several decades ago. There was only the title Hollow written in large font, no author name.

I opened the first page. Judging from the total black cover, I never expected it to be a picture book. The first impression when I saw it: the illustrations were too terrifying for a picture book. Like they were drawn with a pencil, the lines were not neat.

There was a sun shaped like a combination of squares and triangles that seemed familiar at the top. Then there was a picture of a bald child who looked terrified. Maybe the illustrator was lazy, but the bald child didn't have a face - just as flat as a wall.

I furrowed my brow as I noticed strange sentences underneath. I read them out loud.

"Asita... isir unufi. Asita isir unufi. Atela rema aksai, itia loota. Itia loota?"

What is this? Maybe some kind of mantra or foreign language? As I turned the next page, a folded sheet of paper fell out of the book.

I was going to grab it but I stopped. My hand, it looked like it was fading. Suddenly my heart raced. I looked at my other hand--the one holding the book, it was the same, fading. With uneven breath I looked around. I wanted to scream but something was blocking my mouth.

The book I was holding fell to the floor. Both of my hands, I couldn't see them. Then my body... slowly also faded. I almost screamed in fear as my entire body disappeared.

Luckily, a few seconds later my body became visible again. Slowly, the color of my body became clearer and I returned back to normal.

That's when I realized my surroundings were different now. Because this is a library and it's supposed to be quiet, I almost didn't notice that it had become full of people!

What happened?

I looked at each of those people one by one. Some were happily reading while leaning against the wall. Some were reading at a table while taking notes. Some were searching for books on the shelves. And I don't know what else they were doing. The number was in the tens. No, dozens.

"... lex."

"Hello, earth to Alex. Are you listening?" From beside me came the familiar voice. I immediately turned my head.

I saw her there, still the same. Her face was still expressionless, her body still small and short. And behind her glasses, she was still looking at me with a blank stare.

"Mai!" I exclaimed immediately.

"I seem to have underestimated you," Mai said. "I didn't expect you to find the answer yourself."

"What?"

"This book." Mai held up a black-covered book in her hand, the book I was reading earlier. "This book is what brought you back here. Freed from the strange phenomenon called Hollow."

"Hollow? The one we experienced?" I said.

"Yes," Mai replied, opened the book. "You seem to have not read it yet. That means you've only seen the pictures and the writing in it, right?"

I nodded.

"This is the incantation to drive it away," she continued. "If you read it, the magic or curse or whatever word you use to refer to the strangeness we experienced, will be gone."

Is that so? But wait a moment.

"But you..." I said, remembering what happened before.

"I read this book around a year ago," Mai said. "I remember this writing because I didn't understand its meaning, so I read it repeatedly. Without realizing it, I memorized it. Although I initially forgot, when I was in front of the electronic store, I remembered everything. The symbol of the TV station broadcasting the news at that time is similar to this image of the sun. Look."

I blinked. That's true. No wonder it felt familiar.

"At that time of course I wanted to tell you," Mai said. "But I didn't expect to disappear right away."

"I understand," I said.

"I'm not lying," Mai said. "The proof is that I'm here and this book is in my hand. I thought maybe you needed help, so maybe I could find something if I read it again."

"I understand, thank you," I said. "Besides, I didn't mean to say you were lying."

Mai nodded. "Looks like I did something unnecessary. Maybe I should return the book again." Mai looked at the black-covered book in her hand.

"Mai." A slender woman appeared behind Mai. Maybe her age is the same as my mom's, around late thirty or forty. Her face looked very similar to Mai's, she also wore glasses, but she was different. Unlike Mai's expressionless face, it was clear that she wore a worried expression.

"Why are you talking to yourself?"

***