Lies We Haunt: Shadows of Deception

Chapter 1

                                            To those who crave love as much as I do.

                         

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I woke up from a bad dream. Gripping my bedsheet, I sat up, droplets of sweat shining bright as the sun shone from the window. A light breeze brushed past my hair.

I am fine. It's just a bad dream. Everything is fine.

These words I have to remind myself. Again. And again. Nothing is helping.

I can't even tell anyone what is happening to me. I kept hearing whispers when I was alone.

I cringed at the sound of wind coming through a broken window. I have meaning to replace it but I forget with everything happening in my life.

Dragging myself from bed is quite hard on a day like this. It would be nice if he was here with me. His warmth, laughter, smell, and presence calm me down. But life is always not nice. Sometimes it takes from you. And that too in a very bad way.

As I move toward the kitchen to get myself a coffee, a rustling sound comes from behind the counter of the kitchen. I froze and stood there as I caught the nasty, decaying smell.

I moved my legs toward it. Slowly. My heart pounded loudly as I approached the kitchen counter -There it was the source of the smell- a rat whose inside was gutted out and flies buzzing around it. I removed it with a heavy heart.

I don't like this house. Everything about it screams Death. Decay. Emptiness.

I thought coming to a new town would help me forget my past life. However, it did help as I enjoyed my day quite peacefully, working in a bookshop, helping people find their new journey. But when I came home I felt emptiness in my heart.

I opened the door of my bookshop and a woody, rusty, calming smell caught me. This is what makes me happy.

In omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro.

(Everywhere I have sought peace and not found it, except in a corner with a book.)

I always love this quote by Thomas Kempis. And now it's my mantra to live.

I heard shop bell ding and Mrs. Dalloway walked through the door.

"Hello, good morning Serene. How are you today? Isn't it a lovely day? Spirited for Christmas?" She said looking at me and giving me some bread to eat. She is always generous to me. Like a mother which I never had.

"Yes, Mrs. Dalloway. The weather is nice and chilly. You know me I am always excited for Christmas. My lovely month and also good for my shop. You know what I mean." I said laughingly.

"Yes, darling we all know how much you love this shop. We love you too. I came here today to tell you that there is a new officer in town. You might want to see him. He is cute. And a gentlemen."

"Mrs . Dalloway, you are making me shy. Well, I may or may not say hello to him. Because I don't want to make you sad. "

"You better not. Gooday" she left saying or should I say dropping this bomb on me. I can't say no to her and I don't to meet anyone. Just yet.

I sat down on my chair. Then dropped my forehead against the table and scrolled down my phone to his picture. I miss him.

Sighing deeply I moved my body to rearrange the new one that came last week through shipment. It had my favorite author Dicken, Tolstoy, S.T. Gibson, and more.

Removing each book and carefully placing it in place is such a relaxing job. I could do it the whole day. As I was placing the book a book that I felt I did not order caught my attention.

Its title read "Wishes Can Come True" The cover of that book is golden and looks rusty and has some scratches on its front.

Whoever treated this book with so much cruelty should burn in hell. I placed it on my table carefully. It's leather bound and looked as ordinary as it can be. I felt something stir up inside me as I touched it. It's odd for a book to feel heavy.

Everything inside my shop is still, no sound coming from outside as it should in the afternoon because there is so much hustle and bustle around this time.

I looked up strangely I heard those voices again. Those muffled voices feel like its calling me.

As I reached out again to touch those brown leather, slowly turning its page, a tingling shot up my army making me dizzy felt like the wind started blowing. It's captivating me on the first page it's written.

"Wishes don't fill by itself

You have to sacrifice something in

Return"

And in pencil, someone wrote a note

"To get what your heart desires you had to sacrifice something precious, think carefully before you make a WISH"

As I read those words a bright like shone through it blinding me with its sudden impact I closed that book suddenly. And pushed it away from me. It felt overwhelming. I don't want to remember or even want to know what this book is capable of.

I put it inside my desk drawer and slumped inside my chair. I need coffee. This is not happening again. I don't want any of this ominous event in my life again.

If my uncle knew that I put this book in a drawer he would give a lecture about what I had done was wrong and that I needed to know more about that book and its capability and blah blah blah.

My uncle Benjamin is a marvelous wizard and a historian who love to spend his time searching for ancient manuscripts and spending his time giving a lecture to those poor souls in Oxford who chose him as his mentor.

I just wanted to live my life like an ordinary girl who sells books in a small town.

But that can't happen now why because something has just happened. Something magical. Something which I never wanted in my life again.

Well, it's nothing. What happens if it's a Fu....g magical book? Nobody knows if I won't tell a soul.

I put that feeling in the back of my head and moved on with my day. People came and bought books for their loved ones as presents. It was a hectic day. I am on my way to close my shop.

Suddenly, the creaky door swings open as the bell jingles, making me realize someone has come. I said to whoever it was "Shop time is closed, come next day" and I resumed my work.

A tap came on the door, I looked up a chill ran down through my spine as a guy strolled into my dimly lit bookshop, a mysterious air hanging around him like an invisible cloak. Still, I recognize a faint aura around him. Vampire.

(Whispering to myself I said)

Well, isn't this a surprise?

He scanned me with a brooding confidence and walked towards me. He smiled, it was a pleasant smile which I did not expect at all.

"Hello, I know I am late but you see my friend's birthday is today and I forgot to buy her a present and she loves books. So can you please help me this time?"

I looked at him scanning him as he was talking like it is common for a witch and vampire to talk this smoothly. And I said to him "You do know where you are right now mister" raising my eyebrow at him.

"Today is a bad day," I said to myself. 

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next chapter next week. please stay tuned if you love this story. 

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