The Changeling: A Quest For Time

Chapter 9: The Climb

“Careful!” Prakash shouted as he saw Anita’s unsteady steps.

“This is way too wobbly.” Anita cursed at the book that she was using to climb up.

Unlike the first row, their luck depleted even further as they gazed at the row of short but thick books. Even if they were to somehow incline it on the wall, it was still too short. They couldn’t reach half the height to the next higher row with these books.

Their only hope lay on a thin but long notebook but, it was practically stacked on the leftmost end with one side being the wall of the shelf column and the other was a row of thick books.

The couple lost their track of time as they pulled out the thin book and carefully dragged it to the right side. Even the slightest mistake on their part would make the book tilt and fall down, out of the bookshelf. That would spell the end for them.

As the thin book was brought to the right side, the couple faced another problem, the gap between the books and the wall was too large. If they used the books as the anchor then when the thin book is inclined from there, it wouldn't reach their desired height. Moreover, they couldn’t find any heavy objects nearer to the wall that they could use as an anchor to support the book.

The thick book at the right extreme of the row of thick books was far too heavy for them to even budge it in the slightest.

“What kind of idiots would buy such thick books for a one-year-old kid?” Prakash cursed.

“Stop complaining. It was us who bought them in the first place.” Anita said in a self-deprecating manner.

“I’ll be the anchor and hold the book from slipping. You climb up first.” Prakash said as he began to pull at the bottom of the thin book.

“How will you climb up then? There won't be anyone to anchor it for you.” Anita said as she helped to pull at the base of the book.

Once the inclination of the book was at a sufficient angle so that they would be able to scale upon it and also reached a suitable height, the couple stopped pulling at the base. Prakash stood near the base of the book and held it in place so that it wouldn't further slip down.

“Climb along the middle otherwise, there’s a greater chance that the book may tilt to the sides due to an imbalance of weight,” Prakash said as he gazed at the tear-filled eyes of Anita.

“I’ll find some other way, don’t worry. Just reach to the aid of Akash in time.” Prakash said as tears streamed out of his eyes.

“Mmm,” Anita nodded as she hugged Prakash once and scaled up the thin book along its middle. The book was so thin that it began to bend a little the further Anita went up.

There were about 8 centimetres left to reach the top of the thin book and then she had to jump a little to climb a vertical height of 6 centimetres to the next higher row.

Anita took a deep breath as she suddenly sprinted. She knew that if she were to slowly climb up, then the thin book would further bend and she would no longer be able to reach the higher row.

As she sprinted, Anita reached the top of the book within a second, threw her refill, and then jumped up. Her refill smoothly fell on the floor of the third row as her hands also caught onto the edges of the floor.

Anita swung her body a few times as one of her legs could finally reach the floor and she managed to pull herself up. Anita took a moment to recollect her bearings as she looked at the row of books to see if there was any book that was suitable for her use.

There was a long book with spiral binding whose top was actually bent in a perpendicular angle as it touched the ceiling since its height exceeded the vertical height of the row. The spiral of the book was actually just a centimetre inside the edge of the shelf and it was sandwiched by books on both sides.

Anita immediately began to climb up by making use of the spiral and easily reached the top. She inserted her refill in the gaps between two rings of the spiral so that it peeked out at an inclined angle. Anita then held the floor of the fourth row and propped herself up and successfully reached the floor of the fourth row (the top-most row). She then lay her body on the floor in a sleeping position, stretched her hand downwards and caught hold of the tip of the refill that peeked out from below.

She then pulled the refill towards her when she heard a series of cluttering sounds. They were the very same sounds that she had been hearing for quite some time.

Her hand snapped in the direction of the noise when her pupils dilated in shock. They weren’t normal ants that she had encountered till now. In her current location, on a wooden surface surrounded by rows of books, the ants in front of her were even more terrifying. They were a shade of white and were only as big as her enclosed fists but, she couldn’t underestimate their threat.

“Termites!” Anita’s gaze became solemn as she saw tens of thousands of termites coming in and out of numerous books that were obviously laden with numerous holes.

It was a dead end. Any book that she could make use of was full of termites. Touching them would practically spell doom for her. They could very well collapse the foundations of the bookshelf soon with their numbers.

She was currently standing in the right extreme column of the fourth row. Anita began to travel towards the column to her left so that she might be able to find an intact book there. That was what she had hoped.

The termites had already drilled through the wooden walls separating each column to such an extent that even she could creep through it, except that she had to either kill them or sweep them away first before she could enter.

Anita gripped her refill, crouched low and sprinted straight towards the hole. It would take her too much time if she tried to clean the area surrounding the hole and then safely enter it.

Many white objects collided with her as Anita jumped through the hole and entered into the other column. Anita instantly sprang up from her position, swatted all the termites that were nonchalantly climbing over her body and dashed to a safer place.

“Yes!” Anita exclaimed in joy as she saw many beautiful contours that were carved into the walls of the shelf that had reached all the way to the top of the shelf, obviously they were carved by the termites.

One of these contours actually proceeded towards the top of the shelf near the outer edges of the column. She would finally be able to reach to the top of the wooden shelf by making use of it, soon.

“I’m coming son,” Anita muttered to herself as she began to climb the wall using the contours that were carved by the termites as her footing.

There were still termites that were moving about in the contours and whenever Anita’s hands or legs blocked their paths, they would change their directions, like a river that flows around a rock and moved on with their respective tasks.

As she proceeded to climb up, the width of the contours began to steadily decrease and also became coarser and less reinforced. They were obviously still in the creation process of the termites. When she was less than half-way to her destination, the widths of the contours were only as wide as her thumb, significantly increasing the difficulty of her climb.

Anita could no longer feel any sensation from her fingers as they looked swollen but she still persisted. With the refill clutched between the joints of her limbs, Anita slowly climbed forth. The termites that were initially going about in the contours seemed to have suddenly vanished. They were no longer in her vicinity. She didn't have the spare attention to notice their movements.

30 centimetres, 25 centimetres, 18 centimetres, 12 centimetres, 4 centimetres, Anita was finally within an arm's reach to the ceiling as she heard a loud sound. It felt as if a sheet of metal was abruptly ripped apart.

'Hook' 'Hook' 'H-Hook'

“Dammit!”

“Oh no,” Anita despaired as she heard a flutter of wings followed by what was supposed to be Diana’s cursing. Just from the sound of her voice, Anita could figure out that Diana was well past her physical and mental limits.

'Thud'

Just when Anita had touched the ceiling and was a second away from climbing up, something heavy seemed to fall on the top of the bookshelf whose impact created powerful shockwaves that coursed through its entire surface.

“Nooooo” Anita wailed as she lost her grip due to the shockwave and began to fall down. Her body impacted on the wooden surface and resulted in her losing consciousness. A faint trace of tears streamed out from her eyes as her body lay limp; a small stream of purple blood coagulated on the wooden floor around her head.

The final thought that reverberated in her mind was ‘Water’. This thought seemed to have completely suppressed her thoughts about her son.

…

Thunder reverberated throughout the skies as flashes of lightning went off. A few minutes later, a torrent of downpour descended. There was a pitter-patter of sounds as droplets of water began to fall down and strong winds accompanied it outside.

Rainwater started to seep in through the open windows and fell upon the surface of the bookshelf.

The small puddle of water that formed on the top of the shelf seemed to have found a gap that had apparently been opened by the termites and seeped through it. The termites were no longer in the entire shelf due to them sensing the upcoming rain long in advance.

A trickle of water slowly flowed towards her and soaked her bloodied body in it. Everywhere the water touched around, her injuries seemed to be healing.

Sometime later, Anita subconsciously scooped out a mouthful of water with her hands and drunk them in one gulp. She proceeded to take a few more mouthfuls and then fell motionless.

…

In the second row, there was a bloodied figure with the tip of a refill lodged in its back and had apparently fainted. It looked like a scarecrow as its body hung on the shaft. The figure lay motionless in a pose where it seemed to be trying to remove the refill that had pierced its back.

A small stream of water slowly trickled near the figure.