The Forest

Library on the corner hid many secrets. There were those small ones – a picture of a woman used as a bookmark, a phone number written on the margins, a recipe for a cake, a receipt left from a night in a hotel room, a letter or a dried flower hidden away. But then there were those big secrets, much darker and harder to understand. Those were not to be spoken of by any means. Tilia, the town`s librarian, kept those little secrets safe in a box as her own personal treasures. Every time someone would return a book, she would inspect it thoroughly, hoping to find a little piece of that person`s life left over among the pages. She would always be a little disappointed when the book had nothing in it. She would resent the person who returned it. Tilia used to think that the best stories are those written by great writers. But ever since she started working at the library she realized that the really great stories come from regular people and their lives. It was her hobby to look up through the library windows to the windows of apartments and make up stories about those who live in them. Some of them she knew and she knew their secrets but she still imagined different lives for them. She lived in an apartment above the library, as many of the librarians did before her. It was a small apartment, with one room serving as bedroom, kitchen and living room and one separate room (more of a corner, really) serving as a bathroom. The room was modest, to say the least, but for her it was perfect. That was the first place she ever lived alone, without her parents. She would miss them sometimes – her mom`s cooking especially – but she enjoyed her freedom. Linden was a small town, and everybody knew everybody – and gossiped about everybody. Her neighbors were also her parents’ friends and acquaintances so she couldn’t get too crazy. Mrs. Caddie was like a gargoyle on her window. She would stand there all day, collecting data for gossiping. If she could, she would stretch her neck even further to see what people were carrying or hear what they were talking about on their phones. As if her neck wasn`t long enough or her ears big enough. Mrs. Caddie didn`t care about the weather – Tilia thought that she would be a great reporter, if she cared about things that really matter. The worst thing about Mrs. Caddie though, is that she lived right across the street from Tilia`s apartment. Then there was Mr. Cross, who hated any kind of noise. His idea of noise was a giggle, or a TV turned on with volume just above the hearing spectrum of a bat. That`s what people called him – the bat. He was a tall, well-dressed, middle aged man who was Tilia`s father`s coworker. He was always serious and didn`t care much for jokes or children. Mr. Cross reported her to her father a couple of times already because there was music coming from her apartment. Luckily, Tilia wasn`t the kind of person who liked to host house parties – not that she had any space for it either – so she didn`t have much trouble with her nosy neighbors. Her best friend, Maria, understood her situation and would often invite her to her own apartment. Maria was an editor for Linden Daily. She was a breath of fresh air in a small town where being too different is usually frowned upon. Maria loved to change her hair color and wear loud, colorful clothes. When she walked down the street people couldn`t help but stare. And even though she was quite petite, she evoked admiration in people as no one knew what she would do next. Tilia and Maria were best friends since childhood despite the fact that they were so different – or maybe because of that. They complimented each other perfectly. Tilia was a quiet person who didn`t care much for standing out. The only thing about her that stood out were her piercing green eyes that she inherited from a grandmother she never met. That particularly cloudy morning she was getting ready to meet Maria for a coffee in a nearby café called The Lime before work. It was early September but autumn cold was already sneaking around, showing itself only occasionally just to make sure no one forgot it`s coming soon. She grabbed her coat and ran out, down the stairs and on the street. Wind was blowing so hard that it made her squint as she walked down the sidewalk. She walked by Princess Bakery slowly, enjoying the smell of fresh croissants. It followed her all the way to the café and made her feel hungry. She could see Maria through large windows, flirting with the waiter. She was wearing a yellow pantsuit with red high heels and a matching purse taking Tilia`s seat. `Hey Tili!` she yelled as Tilia was walking in. She smiled and waved at her. `Hey! ` said Tilia and as she took off her coat, some of her hair got caught up around one of the buttons pulling her head backwards. She blushed and started untangling it, looking around to see if anyone noticed. The café was mostly empty, with just one couple sitting in a far corner and they were too busy looking at each other to care about her. She loved that café precisely for the fact that it wasn`t as popular as some of the others in Linden. It looked cozy with comfortable furniture and a mix of wood and stone on the walls. It reminded her of her library. `I ordered you some coffee. ` Maria said while stirring her vanilla cappuccino. `Did you want sugar this time? ` she asked `No, I don`t feel like it this morning. ` Tilia said. She could never quite decide how she liked her coffee best so she would change her mind to suit her current mood. `I just heard an amazing gossip. Mayor`s grandson is coming to town! ` she said `Really? How do you know that? ` Tilia`s eyes widened. ` I have my sources. Tina, the one with long legs and…` Maria started her story. ` Yeah, I know, go on. ` ` Well, she overheard the mayor talking on the phone with him. Are you excited? ` she asked, leaning over the table. ` No, why would I be excited? ` Tilia tried to keep it together but her smile gave her away, she couldn`t contain it. ` Okay, yeah, a little bit. ` Last Christmas she met the mayor`s grandson on a Christmas party. They spent hours just talking and she promised to call him the next morning but when she woke up she couldn`t bring herself to do it and he left town soon after. Ever since then she was hoping that he would find a way to reach her but as an entire year almost passed and there was no word from him, she thought she missed her chance. ` Maybe you two can finish what you started. ` Maria said. ` Yeah, I don`t know. He probably doesn`t even remember me. ` ` We`ll see. But he looked pretty interested that night. Will you call him? ` she asked. ` No, I think I`ll wait to see what happens if we meet again. ` Maria grinned. ` Fine. You don`t have to be excited. I`ll be excited for you. ` ` Fine. I don`t want to get disappointed.` said Tilia but she couldn`t stop her heart from beating faster and that glimpse of hope waking up inside of her. She dreamed about him for almost a year. How he would call her. How he would send her a letter, or come knocking at her door and confess his undying love to her. She felt like a heroine in some romantic movie ever since that night. That Christmas party it seemed like she really was. His eyes sparkled in the Christmas lights and he didn`t talk to anyone but her. That`s what she was waiting for her entire life. A love story like the ones from her books. That`s why she couldn`t help herself. She was excited. Her love story may be closer to happening. Her imagination ran wild but she didn`t want Maria to know. ` So, when are you sending one of your stories in for publishing? ` asked Maria, finally giving up. ` As soon as I write a perfect one. ` she said. They soon had to go and as they stepped out into the chilly morning the rain started to fall. *** It was almost eight o` clock and Tilia was about to close the library for the day. Skies were getting darker. Wet streets were almost deserted, only a couple of people were still out, but even they were rushing back home. Street lights started glowing, one by one, inviting flies to their warmth. Leaning on her hand, Tilia watched people turning on their lamps, fighting the darkness. She kept looking at her wrist watch, checking to see if the clock is even moving. She put some papers in order, collected her things, looked around to see if anyone forgot something. And as she was finally standing up to lock the doors, an old man opened them and slipped into the library. `Hello Tilia!` said Mr. Grimm, taking off his navy blue hat, revealing a head of almost blindingly white hair. ` Oh… Good evening mayor! ` Mr. Grimm smiled. He was a nice old man. On Sundays he would bring candy and fruit to children in hospital and every Christmas he pretended to be a Santa and gave them gifts. He even helped some poor people by giving them loans and he never asked for his money back. Mr. Grim and Tilia`s grandmother used to be friends. He would sometimes stare at Tilia`s eyes in a way that made her feel that there was something more between them. But people gossiped about him, as small town people usually do. There were whispers that he did something bad in his past and now he is trying to fix it by being nice and helping others. No one dared to say anything to him, though, because no matter how kind of a man he was, he always had that something that made people respect and fear him at the same time. `I`m sorry for coming this late. I just need to borrow something. I won`t be long.` he said and walked over to the shelves, smiling at her before turning around to look at books. `Sure thing, mayor.` she said and sighed. She watched him run his thin, yellowish fingers over book covers, almost breathing in the smell of stories. He read most of them. It felt like he was saying hi to old, never forgotten friends and worlds. Tilia always admired how he treated books, like they were real people, and not just words on a page. Mr. Grimm walked away slowly, deeper into the library and shadows of the rows swallowed his tall, willowy body. Tilia sat in her big chair, dug her nose into the fabric and took a deep breath. It gave her some comfort, it made her feel safe. As she was finishing up some work, she heard a loud bang coming from somewhere deep inside the library. For a moment she froze. She was unsure what to do. But another bang and a scream made her run towards the place where the sound came from. What she saw next would haunt her thoughts forever. Mr. Grimm was laying on the floor, colorless, his blue eyes opened wide in terror. His stomach was ripped and blood was soaking the green carpet. He looked at her and tried to reach out and with his last breath he said: `Find the book. ` It was then when she finally noticed that he was clutching a bronze, ornate key.