Vanna

three - Off The Hinge

I couldn’t bring myself to ask my father about the picture in the back of the book. I guess part of me wanted to keep it to myself. I’m well aware that Father knew about the picture already, but part of me wanted to keep the fact that I knew about it too, a secret. I wanted to keep the intimate moment to myself.

I started scouring all the books for more about the serpent, but I was upset when I came up short handed. There was no other book in this entire room that held any sort of knowledge about the serpent that had swayed Eve and begun to corrupt my mind.

I sat on the center couch staring at the only door in this room that leads to the outside world. It was taunting me and sometimes it drove me off the wall. If I wasn’t reading I was usually watching the door waiting for Father. But, today I felt this weird emotion inside of me and my eyes moved to slits. This emotion was unfavorable to me, but I wasn’t sure how to turn it off.

Rancid thoughts ran across my mind and they weren’t going to cease. I didn’t understand why I had to stay in this room. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t see the world. I wanted that darned door to disappear completely.

I jumped and my glare turned to a look of surprise as the door clicked open. I moved behind the chair waiting for my father to walk in.

I was even more surprised when after five minutes no one had walked through. Had I done this? Was my will strong enough to open the door?

I tipped-toed my way over to the slightly ajar door. My eye scanned through the crack to the other side. It looked like some sort of corridor. I could see some other Angels walking around with scrolls in their arms. I jumped back when I saw my father approaching.

I quickly turned around and grabbed a random book off the shelf. I shifted into the loveseat and pretended to be busy.

“Vanna? Did someone come in?” My fathers' tone was laced with slight concern and worry.

“What do you mean?” I asked as if I was super engrossed into this book.

“The door was cracked. Did you go out?” His words were more panicked than before.

“No Father, I’ve been reading. I didn't know the door was open. No one came in, it was just me and the books all day.”

“Very well then. What are you reading dear?”

I looked to the title and it read, Human Reproduction.

Oh, sweet Angels.

How ironic I grab a book I hadn’t read. I quicked skimmed the back in hopes it’d give me some knowledge, but there was avail.

“Human Reproduction,” I mumbled.

“Ah, Human Reproduction. Quite an odd book for you to read.”

“Oh, I just grabbed a random book. Sometimes I close my eyes and pull out a random book to read. I only just started this when you walked in,” I rambled on.

I watched as my father walked along the wall of books. His delicate fingers plucked the serpent book from its little nest between the Odyssey by Homer and Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

“Father, will you tell me about the Serpent?”

I sat up ready to catch anything he was about to say. I wasn’t solicitous about missing a single detail.

“The Serpent,” he lifted his eyebrow inquiry.

“Yes. Father, I understand Adam and Eve, who they were and why they did what they did, but the Serpent just makes my mind roll.”

A small smile spread across his face and his eyes lit up.

“He is a story for another time my Vanna.”

I frowned when he walked out of the main room leaving me without an answer.

I guess I couldn’t say I was left with nil. Father had said ‘he’, so in cessation, I’ve drawn that the man in the back of the book is the serpent.

If that was to be true, it only raised more questions rather than answering them.

What had I seen when I touched the book page? Why was I so drawn to this character? Why couldn’t I get him out of my head?

I just didn’t understand why I was so infatuated by him. I also didn’t understand why my father wouldn’t tell me anything. What was he trying to keep from me?

I also couldn’t forget the door muddle. Why was this all happening now? I had only just hit my eighteenth thousand year. I was frightened by the mere thought that I might just go insane if I didn’t get any answers soon.