Book of Gay

The Library

"Hey Rachel." I greet the current librarian at the local public library and she smiles at me as I walk through the front doors. Her dimples showing on her worn, but optimistic, face and her shoulder length brown curls bouncing just a little from her turning to look over at me. 

"Good afternoon Sean, are you done with the books you got yesterday already?" She asks and I nod sheepishly, making her chuckle while she takes the books from me. "Why am I not surprised?" She says and shakes her head with another smile.

"You know it's the only thing I have to do," I say and laugh "You should just be surprised that I haven't read the entire library yet." 

"We both know you won't even touch the autobiographies, you and your father have always hated that section." Rachel says fondly and I inwardly flinch, she sees this and her smile fades "I'm so sorry, Sean."

"Don't worry about it." I say with a forced smile and turn to go find my dad's favorite book, I keep it hidden in different places so no one else can touch it.

I walk up the staircase that leads to the second level of the library then I start walking to the back book cases. When I get to the very last one I bend down and reach in behind the shelf. It takes a while to wiggle the novel out, but when I have it I smile and sit cross legged with my treasure in my lap.

"Hey, Prince Elijah, It's been a while." I say and gently caress the cover, "I'm sorry that I'm the only one that reads your story now, I'm sure you'd rather see someone else's face." I whisper as I open to the first page. 
In short the story is about a young Prince that's held hostage after being taken by some thieves. Throughout all of the horrible things the thieves do to him in the time that they have him, the Prince remains serene and unfazed by their torture. You see, Elijah was raised to believe that his one true love would find him and save him from anything and everything, be it a man or a woman, they would save him. Therefore he stays calm and waits, even if no one shows up for him in the end. 

I stay up here and read for what seems like hours and when I finally put the novel down to stretch out my limbs a little, I look out a window and see it's already dark outside. Blinking in confusion I look at my phone and see that it's only noon and to make matters even worse I'm... glowing? Not like a pregnancy glow or even one people just naturally get, I look like a freaking glow stick. After staring at my hands and body for about five minutes I see that my skin is actually dissolving and becoming transparent. 

"What the hell is going on?!" I shout, but my voice sounds far off and the book on the floor opens and starts pulling me into it. I start to panic even more than I already was and try to run away, not that, that works considering the pull is overpowering. I scream and the sound fades along with me as I vanish into the pages.

When I come to again I blink back the drowsiness and slowly sit up, "What just happened?" I mutter to myself then look around, my eyes widening at the sight of my surroundings. I had expected to see dusty bookshelves and peach colored walls, but instead I see an endless forest all around me. Standing up shakily I hear something that sounds vaguely like civilization to my right. Completely ignoring every instinct that is telling me not to go over there, I do anyways. 

As I get closer to the noise a kind of pub starts coming into view. The building itself looks fairly good, but the foundation looks like it's starting to get a little tired. The overall atmosphere feels pleasant, but not quite welcoming, then it clicks. 

"Oh my God, I'm inside the story!" I whisper in realization after studying the pub a little longer and, of course, every little detail is the same as in the novel. I also take a moment to look down at myself and I see that I'm now dressed as a ratty pocket picker. My tanned skinny legs shoved into torn cloth pants, my shirt no better, and my nicely cut brown hair turned shaggy and greasy. "Great, just great." I whine and make my way towards building.