Genesis

CHAPTER 21 I'll See You in My Dreams

It was relatively early on a Saturday night, if I was back in Bradford, that is. In Bradford, I had friends. Lots of friends. In Eden, I had a boyfriend, his twin sister, and the sycophants who pretended to want to be my friend because of my boyfriend and his twin sister. Jane, Peggie and Annie would still be out. I certainly couldn't talk to Jennie about anything. I needed Joan. She'd help me forget what a wonderful time I'd just had with Michael and the excoriation I was in for when Ty found out.

I needed something hardcore; some Runaways, Joan Jett's teenage girl band. I jammed my earbuds in and began my private head concert with "Fantasies". It was a little slow, but the guitar was heavy and loud and just what I needed. I pounded my fluffy pillow to make a divot for my head and crawled under the covers.

The blaring rock and roll drowned out any warm and fuzzy thoughts I'd had about Michael as I concentrated on the angst-ridden lyrics. Song after song filled my head but sleep eluded me.

I opened my eyes to find myself in Ty's house, sitting all alone on the sofa in the formal living room. What am I doing here? Where's Ty? I sat for a few minutes but no one came around, so I got up and walked through the dining room to the kitchen. No one. I went to the front door to see if my car was in the driveway. I was surprised to see a driveway filled with cars, although mine wasn't among them. Where was everyone? I continued to roam the expansive first floor, only to find room after room empty. When I came upon the library, I ventured in and took a seat in Mr. Gregory's tall leather chair which was tucked neatly behind his large mahogany desk. The shelves on either side of the room reached from floor to ceiling and were stuffed with thousands of books.

After contemplating my situation for a while, I rose from the comfortable leather chair to examine the comprehensive collection. As I ran my fingers over volume after volume, my progress was halted by something that was protruding slightly. It was blue. Using my index finger, I tilted it cautiously toward me to get a better look. Peering over the top, I could see that it contained pages. It was a book. Unlike all the rich, leather-bound editions sitting perfectly on the many shelves, however, this felt like it was made of glass or maybe ceramic. I pulled it out a little more. Upon closer inspection, the cover looked like it could be made of sapphire and it was adorned on the back with a golden Star of David with Hebrew symbols in its center and in four of the six outer triangles. It was magnificent. I removed it and returned to the desk.

Carefully, I opened it, feeling the soft vellum pages, turning each one reverently. It took me a minute or so to realize that I should be reading it from back to front. Flipping to the last ― or rather, first ― page, I saw the words, "Sefer Raziel HaMalakh" in an Old English font, the Hebrew characters written underneath. Full-color illustrations adorned the left side of every page with what I surmised was the corresponding text on the right. Interspersed with the text were many unfamiliar symbols. I had never seen anything like this.

Totally engrossed in what appeared to be a grimoire, I was slightly startled when, in my peripheral vision, I thought I saw someone pass by the door.

"Hello?" I called out. No one answered. I closed the book and returned it to its place. Once at the door, I looked right, then left. No one. Since I had come from the right, I decided to go left, in search of the person I thought I saw. As I rounded the corner at the end of the hallway, I saw the figure again at the end of yet another hallway. It was a little girl.

"Hey. Wait up," I yelled, but she disappeared again around the corner. I ran down the long hallway and, as I did, it seemed to get longer. The faster I ran, the further away the end seemed to be. Finally winded, I stopped and leaned against the wall to catch my breath.