The little bell above the door chimed as Evie stepped into the bookstore. She sighed heavily as she closed the door behind her. The store smelled of old books, dust and regret. Still it was her favorite scent in the world. This place was her safe space. Her haven.
As she walked towards the back of the store, Evie ran her fingers over the spines of books she couldn't afford to lose, her mind racing, a lump forming in her throat. Another notice had been slipped under the door this morning—third warning, final warning.
Her rent was overdue, and her savings were nonexistent, how could they exist when her deadbeat dad had stolen all that she had stashed in her safety box under the bed and disappeared 3 months ago? Money she had saved up for renovations of the store, her plans of creating a cozy cafe like area for like-minded folks who wanted to get lost in the pages of their choosing gone down the drain in just one day.
At this rate the bookstore: The Hollow Page, would be nothing but a boarded-up memory before the end of the month.
She exhaled, watching the dust rise under the dim light.
The storm outside rattled the windows, rain slashing against the glass like desperate fingers trying to get in.
The shop had been in her family for generations, filled with books no one wanted anymore—especially the ones tucked in the basement. Books that were older than the minuscule town itself. Books that whispered when she wasn't looking. That called to her with an unknown power.
She shouldn't have gone down there tonight. But her mind was set on her mission.
She had to look for for something that would help her out in her predicament. Maybe something to sell? Something rare, something valuable.
As she stepped into the small room, goosebumps erupted on her skin. The air felt strangely electrical. Evie shivered "I should have brought a thicker jacket." She muttered to herself. But ignoring the cold she started with her task. Rummaging through the piles of books and manuscripts that were neatly packed in the shelves.
Her growling stomach was the only indication of how much time had passed. Evie checked the time on her phone. Half past midnight. "Fuck." She swore under her breath. She hadn't meant to stay that long. But she didn't want to give up. Something had to give.
Suddenly her eyes caught onto the dark leather spine of a book she didn't recognise. Almost tripping she rushed for it.
Evie pulled it out carefully from in between two other books. The book didn't have a name on it's cracked cover, she figured that the title had probably been eroded by time, by the looks of how old it was. She would have to do some research to find out if it had any value.
She blew off some dust from it and flipped open the book. The pages inside were filled with strange symbols, letters curling in ways that didn't make sense. It smelled of damp earth and fire.
What was this book? And why did it invoque such a powerful feeling of....loneliness in her? She flipped through the pages, the only writings were the strange symbols, and they seemed to be all hand written.
Finally in the middle pages of the book there were letters she could read.
A name.
Written in faded ink, almost lost between the lines, a single word: Rohmir.
The word called to her. Like a secret meant only for her lips.
"Rohmir..." The moment she whispered it, the light from the overhead lamp dimmed. The air thickened. The walls pressed in as if the whole shop was listening.
And then something answered.
A gust of wind that shouldn't have been there whipped through the basement, scattering papers, knocking over books. The floor groaned beneath her feet. Shadows stretched unnaturally along the walls. Evie's heart thundered in her chest.
And then he appeared.
A man—if he could be called that—stood in the center of the basement. No, not a man. An entity, it's entire body comprising of a dark smoke that formed and warped around it. Evie could not make out any features except for it's eyes. They were nothing but deep voids, cold and unreadable, its presence warping the air itself.
Evie's breath caught in her throat. She stumbled back, dropping the book, her pulse hammering.
The figure tilted his head, as if assessing her, and then spoke in a voice like cracking embers.
"You should not have spoken my name."
Evie stared at it in stunned silence as some tendrils of smoke reached out in a flash and enveloped around her. Holding her captive. Unable to move.
"What are you doing?" Evie whispered out in complete terror.
"Learning." The entity said. And before her astonished eyes, the entity started to take shape. It's face and body moulding into that of a man's.
Finally it let her go and Evie did the first thing she could think of. She ran out of the basement, bolting the basement door as she got out.
She didn't stop. She locked up the main door of the bookshop, stepped out into the pouring rain and went straight home. Her mind could not comprehend what had happened. Surely she had dreamt it. That had to be it. She checked her time. It was 3am. How??
That must have been a dream. That would be the only explanation to what she had experienced. The only explanation for the loss in time. Because there was no fucking way she had just released some ancient spirit demon from a book.
As soon as she got home, she removed her shoes, dried the rain off her, changed into some comfy clothes and climbed into bed mechanically, not caring to shower. They had switched off the hot water to her apartment that morning anyways, and she did not feel like getting hypothermia right now.
Sleep. That's what she needed.
A good sleep. Her mind was exhausted. That's all it was. That's what she kept telling herself.
And as she drifted off to sleep, she could only see those dark,cold eyes staring at her.