Chapter 1
Henry was a simple person, he woke up in the morning, got ready, went to his job at the bookstore he worked at, came home, ate dinner, and then went to bed. His life was as uneventful as a worm but he was quite content with his routine he had settled into.
Until him.
Henry’s newest fascination. It tended to happen every few months, Henry would notice someone new in a place he frequently went to, and he would be fixated on the person for a while. The young man who walked into his bookstore that first day had caught his attention immediately. He looked as if he was a character from an old book that consisted of rainy days, cloudy skies, dark dusty libraries, and old abandoned castles. He was an odd thing to look at. Slim and tall, his face sharp. His fingers were long and bony but had a sort of elegance to them as they skimmed past pages of a book. His eyes, emerald glinting behind tiny, old-fashioned, round steel rimmed glasses, were quick and bright as they flicked over the spines of the books. His clothes, a long black trench coat, a white button up shirt tucked into black slacks, made him look sort of pretentious. And last of all, his hair, it was the thing that made him the most eye catching. Red unruly curls fell around his face making his skin look like porcelain, it wasn’t short, but it wasn’t too long either.
He was now at the second shelf, grazing the spines of the books slowly as his eyes slowed in their fast pursuit of whatever he was after.
Henry eyed the man as discreetly as possible, but he had a suspicion that the red head knew he was staring. He couldn’t really help it though; it was hard not to stare at someone so unconventionally beautiful.
Finally, after stooping to a crouch, out of the view of Henry, the man popped up with a small black book that was only about an inch in width. Henry straightened up as the man turned around and strode across the bookstore over to him. He laid the book down on the desk and his pink lips quirked up in a small friendly smile.
“I’d like to buy this book.” He says his voice was deep and had a slight accent to it that Henry couldn’t put his finger on.
Henry nodded almost mechanically, intimidated by the confident air the man in front of him held. “That’ll be 3.99.” He says and watches as the man slipped a hand into one of the deep pockets of his trench coat. He pulled out a small black wallet and handed Henry a five-dollar bill. “Do you want a bag?” He asks as he ripped the receipt off the machine and opened the little book to insert the little piece of paper. He hesitated a moment though when he saw that the page he had opened to had a heavily designed pentacle on it. He closed the book quickly as he flicked his blue gaze back to the odd man who looked back at him innocently.
“No, thank you.” The man said kindly as he grabbed the book.
“Alright, have a nice day.” Henry says.
“You too.” He says as he turned away then but stopped for a second and turned back around. “Say, would you mind if I asked your name?”
Henry regarded him with an amused gaze. “It’s Henry.”
“Ah, well, I’m Alric.” The man says with a tight nervous smile and Henry raises an eyebrow, giving him a look. “I – I am going to leave now, bye, Henry.”
“Okay?” Henry said in confusion as Alric turned on his heel and practically ran out of the door, his coat billowing behind him rather dramatically.
Henry sat in his bookstore for the longest time mulling over the odd encounter he had had with that young man. When it was time to close the store he went over to the place Alric had been looking for the book and frowned when all he found were fantasy books. He even checked for the small space that should have been there since a book was taken but all he found was a tightly packed shelf.
He stood up and looked around in confusion, where did that man get that book? He knew he had a witchcraft section but that was towards the back of the store, no where near where that man had been. He started to think that the man had brought the book himself and acted as if he had found it there but that wouldn’t make sense. How did the book even have a price tag if it wasn’t from the store? How did he have it in the system if it wasn’t from his store?
Henry shook his head as he tried to slow down the questions cluttering his brain. He looked at the shelf again and frowned, the book must have been set there by some other person who didn’t want to put it back on the shelf. That was the only logical answer and the only thing that made enough sense to him. He shook his head once again as he walked away and continued to close the shop up.
What a weird day, he thought to himself as he drove home.
