"Good morning," a woman's voice entered a dark room. In her mid-60s, the woman walked inside and opened the blankets of the window. As the sunrays entered, they lit up the whole room, revealing her silver-gray hair and face. Wearing reading glasses and a yellow house dress duster while holding a folding fan, she tapped the boy on the bed who seemed to be in a deep sleep.
"Ian! Wake up already, you're about an hour and a half late to school!" But the boy didn't wake up. Scratching her forehead, she grabbed the blanket that covered the boy's whole body.
The boy wore blue boxer shorts without a T-shirt. He felt the warmth of the sunlight. Slim but not too thin, the boy stood around 163 cm tall. He tried to cover his head with the pillow and continued sleeping, as if he didn't hear anything at all.
Shaking her head, the woman spoke again. "Tsk… what? Are you not going to school again?" the woman asked. "You need to pass this year, you need to help yourself. Come on, get up!" Ian finally woke up.
Ian's POV
What? Another day, another boring life. I am so tired of this. I want to sleep forever. Like what? Going to school, study all day, sleep, and repeat again—life sucks. The sun's heat… I think it's already around 10 a.m. Okay, fine, let's do this one more time. "K, fine, I'll get up, just give me at least 5 more minutes?" I asked.
That woman is Aunt Marie. She adopted me when I was 10 years old after my parents died in a car accident. Since that day, she has taken care of me. She's a good person, although I am a bit of a headache. She never hated me and always supported me. I appreciate her for never giving up on me. I want to give her payback when I get enough money. At least for now, let me sleep, Aunt Marie.
"Alright, your food is getting cold," she replied.
I sat on my bed, still hungover from last night's party. I'll never get drunk again. For a moment, I spaced out, only to be interrupted when my phone suddenly rang.
Selene? At first glance, I saw the name on my phone screen. I picked up the phone to check again as my eyes were still blurred. I saw the name of who was calling me—it really was Selene, my childhood friend, the only friend I actually had.
As I answered the call, I stood up to get my uniform. "He- Hello? Hi, I'm on my way—" I spoke.
"The hell are you doing?" she shouted on the phone so loud my eardrum almost exploded. I put the phone away from my ear just not to hear her. I only caught bits of shouting and complaining about how late I was on the first day of school.
I am in college now, studying journalism. I love reading history books. I love reading any books that I find interesting. I have a habit of visiting bookstores before I go to school. I always stop by any bookstore to find new books.
As I walked along the street, I saw an old bookstore just across. I could see that the bookstore contained many old and interesting books, considering its vintage exterior design and small space. There was an overloaded trash can beside it.
Old branches of vines and leaves crawled across its wall. The antique wooden door looked like it would crash if I put too much pressure on it when opening. Nicely carved marks on the door gave it an ancient vibe. The doorknob was bronze and shaped like a fox's head.
As I walked closer to the door, I noticed something. The store actually looked like the head of a fox as well. Hmm, that's interesting. Is this a new store? I always walked this street. As I remembered, this was a vacant lot, and there had been no building here. I thought this must be a new bookstore.
I'll find out what kind of books they have inside. As I entered the store, a bit of dust welcomed me. I quickly walked around, making a quick tour inside. There wasn't a single person here other than me and the old man at the cashier.
He was a bit weird, though. He didn't pay attention to me. He continued reading the newspaper while sipping from the teacup he held.
The old man looked in his mid-80s. His thin gray hair made him look like he had gone through a lot in life. I could see he was having a hard time reading the newspaper. His face was almost an inch from the paper.
I continued walking toward the center. There were so many books. All of them with different styles, as if they had come from different timelines and worlds.
I tried to pick one book. This one looked normal, with plain black leather as the cover. I opened it to see what it contained. Surprisingly, the book contained different characters that looked like letters. I didn't understand anything at all. Turning the pages one by one, I didn't know what language it was—or if it was even an earthly language.
This is not even Chinese or Japanese. As a student in journalism, I was a bit familiar with different languages, but this one was completely different—totally different characters. I returned it, my thoughts filled with confusion. I checked other books only to see that all of them were different.
Until I saw another book. This one was odd. Slightly covered with a thin layer of dust, I picked it up from a small table where it sat alone—the table shaped like a tail. The book was covered in thick brown leather, marked with strange characters I didn't recognize at all. It was heavy when I picked it up. The cover was awesome—it had carvings of an image that looked like a nine-tailed fox pressed into the leather.