Page 42 Bookstore Novels & Stories

Lilia won't leave without anything in her hand. "Mr. Park, look at this!" Hideous exclaimed, his voice laced with disbelief and anger. At first, Mr. Park gave out a simple, confused reaction. However, as soon as he got near where his boss was, Mr. Park's eyes widened in shock as he gazed at the small recorder hidden beneath the cushion. "How did this get here?" he muttered, his mind racing with possibilities. A small recorder was placed here without him and Hideous noticing earlier. This is a big deal!

"Ok, no problem. Let's go to the 2nd floor, there's an available 3-br unit there." We went out of the room and walked to the elevator shaft. "You know, Alice, you're beautiful and sexy. Do you have a boyfriend yet?" he suddenly asked me while waiting for the elevator. "Oh, thank you. But I don't have a boyfriend. No one wants to try." I chuckled. "Why not? I think you're sweet, kind and intelligent. Guys would die for you." he told me. "You're joking me sir. But maybe not." I smiled. The elevator doors opened and we rode in. We went back down to the 2nd floor. We reached unit number 204 and went there.

SARA POV (YEAR 2077, 56 YRS LATER) "Now he is a fine chunk of meat. I can see why all the girls want him," the older waitress says as she appears next to me. I quickly close my worn book. My cheeks tint a little, and I give her a small smile. "I still can't believe they are real even though my friend's granddaughter is mated to one of them," she says while refilling my mug with fresh coffee.

Nora's POV The bookstore always felt different after midnight. The daytime noise, the scrape of chair legs, the low chatter, the soft thud of books being shelved and drained out of the place like water leaving a tub. What remained was the low hum of the fluorescent lights, the occasional sigh of the heating vents, and the dry, sweet smell of paper that had been waiting on shelves longer than most of the customers had been alive. I had worked the late shift at Hollow & Page for almost fourteen months, and I still noticed the quiet the moment it settled.

As he was walking away, the lady then asked him, “If you don’t mind… do you want to sit at the same table then.” “Are you sure? There are-” “No, I- I insist… Since this corner of the café is the best spot to read, I always sit here, I don’t mind sharing it with you.: “Ah sure, that spot was something I had my eye on since earlier.” Kayne replied. “AH, REALLY, let’s share it then!” Both were really awkward at each other at first but when they found out that both were reading the same book, they eventually got a comfortable to talk at each other.

“Do you think the bookstore next to Wixon still has it?” Valencia leaned on the kitchen counter near the sink, tapping her fingers on the ceramic surface. “Yeah, trust me the last time I visited that bookstore down on 2nd street was 2 days ago. it was a recent visit so I’m sure they still have a few left in the Non-fiction section.” The voice on the phone said.

She gives me a kind smile and sets my thick file down in front of her as she begins to explain the conditions of my parole. Back on the T, I follow my PO’s directions written down on a Post-it note. She’s sending me to a dank bookstore in a small town about twenty minutes from Brockton in search of a specific book about the twelve-step program that I’ll need for my mandatory weekly meetings. I’ve gone through all of this shit before, and it never seemed to stick. There’s no use thinking this time will be any fucking different. I spot the flickering “OPEN” sign hanging above the door to the bookstore, swaying in the heavy wind that whips the cold rain against my body, making me break out with

He kept pounding until he finally groaned and filled me with hot, thick ropes of cum, his body shuddering against mine. After we caught our breath, I straightened my skirt, feeling his cum already starting to leak down my thighs, and gave him a wicked little smile. “I’ll take care of the rest. Don’t worry.” Later that afternoon, I found her in the quiet corner of the university library, tucked between the tall shelves of old literature books. She was pretending to read, but her face was still flushed and her hands were shaking as she turned the pages. I walked up behind her and leaned in close. “Hey… about what you saw earlier.”

I sighed. I did miss my friend. One of us was always busy, and it felt like we were drifting further apart every day. There had to be a way for us to connect again. “We could go to the diner for burgers and then the bookstore sometime,” Amy suggested. “Turn the Page got a shipment of used books this week.” Yay! Amy must miss spending time with me too. And Turn the Page is the best used bookstore in the city. Amy and I went there several times a month in my old life.

It was a strange size, looking more like a journal, jammed between Whispers 2 and his hardcover edition of Dark Forces. He touched the book’s spine, fingers trailing down its pebbled surface. He was about to pull it out, had his finger hooked on the spine’s edge, but he figured it was probably a collector’s edition he’d bought at Arcane Delights, the used bookstore in town. That’s all. Scanning the shelves unsuccessfully for something else interesting, John brushed off his knees and stood. Something swished down the hall.