Today was… odd. Really odd.
I woke up a little earlier than usual, which was probably a good thing because Jake’s text from last night kept nagging at me. “Meet me at the bookstore.” Why? What was so important that it couldn’t wait for us to meet at our usual spots? I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to shift again.
So, I got dressed, grabbed a quick bite, and headed out. The walk to the bookstore felt longer than usual, like time had slowed down just to keep me in suspense. The neighborhood was quieter than usual too. No joggers, no cars rolling by, not even the usual sounds of dogs barking in the distance. Just… silence. The sky was a muted gray, thick with clouds that made everything seem a bit off.
When I reached the bookstore, the door was wide open this time, not just ajar like yesterday. Jake was standing inside, flipping through the same book I saw him with a couple of days ago. It looked old—ancient, even. The cover was faded, and the pages were yellowed at the edges, but the strange symbols and diagrams inside were clear as day.
“Check this out,” he said without even looking up.
I stepped closer, but I didn’t really know what I was looking at. The symbols were completely unfamiliar—nothing like any language or script I’d ever seen. But as I stared at the pages, a weird sensation came over me, like I’d seen them before. Or maybe, somehow, I understood them? It was a fleeting feeling, but it was there.
Jake finally looked up at me. “You’ve noticed things, haven’t you?”
He didn’t need to explain. I knew exactly what he meant. The strange people, the bizarre events, the unsettling feeling that the world isn’t quite what it appears to be. I nodded, still trying to process what was happening. He closed the book and handed it to me.
“You’re not imagining it. There’s something going on beneath the surface of everything we see,” he said, almost casually, like he was telling me the sky was blue. “This book… it’s connected to it. To them.”
“Them?” I asked, confused.
“The people you’ve been noticing. The woman under the oak tree. The guy in the shimmering cloak. They’re not like us,” he said. “Well, not entirely.”
I wanted to ask more, but just as Jake was about to continue, the bell above the bookstore door chimed. We both turned to see who had come in, but the doorway was empty. No one had walked in. At least, not that we could see. The door was just swinging back and forth as if someone—or something—had pushed it.
Jake stiffened. “We need to leave.”
Without another word, we stepped out of the bookstore, and Jake locked the door behind us, his hands moving a little too fast, like he knew something was about to happen. We walked for a bit, neither of us saying much, until we got back to the main street. Jake glanced at me, his expression serious. “Whatever you do, don’t go back there. Not alone.”
I nodded, still not sure what exactly had just happened. The rest of the day felt like a blur. Work was the same as always, but I couldn’t focus. My mind kept drifting back to that book, to Jake’s words, to the empty doorway.
What’s more, I can’t stop thinking about the people Jake mentioned. The woman under the oak tree. The guy in the shimmering cloak. Who are they? Or, maybe more accurately, what are they?
I thought I was just noticing odd things because I was paying more attention. But now, I’m starting to think there’s a lot more to this than I realized. It’s like I’ve been pulled into something I didn’t even know existed. A hidden world, right beneath the surface of my ordinary life.
Jake says I shouldn’t go back to the bookstore, but I know I’ll have to. There’s something waiting there. Something I need to understand.
Tomorrow, maybe.
