The Bookstore That Never Was

He stared at the final page of the small black notebook he’d picked up only 17 days ago. Scribbled across the middle of the page was the word “congratulations” and in the top right-hand corner, the date: March 2nd, 2021. He was nervous. If the last 17 days were anything to go by, this could literally mean anything. There was no way to tell. The only thing he knew for sure was that in two days, it would be March 2nd and he was terrified.

17 days prior, he’d gone to a new bookstore on the corner of Clinton and Cherry. It was pure chance he spotted the store. He’d walked past on his way to meet Mel for their regular morning coffee and remembered he needed a new notebook, so he popped in and picked one up. He was running late and didn’t even realize that he’d never seen this shop before, let alone set foot in it. The store had an old musty scent that seemed odd for a completely new shop. Although it didn’t look new at all. Had he just never noticed it before? Surely not. He quickly found what he was looking for and as he went to pay the $3.79, he realized the owner had been staring at him this whole time. He felt uneasy as he handed over a $5 bill, and Kevin just said, “keep the change” and hurried out the shop.

The familiar smell of coffee, as he entered the café calmed him and he sat down to share the story with Mel who was waiting with their regular order. As he recounted the story, he unpacked the little black notebook, only to find that most pages had been torn out and only 20 remained. He was annoyed, but then he noticed that each page had a date written in the top right-hand corner and a single word scribbled across the page. The first page had today’s date, February 11th, and the word “Escape” written across it. Perplexed he shook his head, put the book on the table, and enjoyed his coffee – he would return the book on the way home later that morning.

He arrived back at the corner of Clinton and Cherry, only to find an abandoned space with a sign saying, “For rent”. What the hell was going on? He then remembered this shop had been empty for months. But only this morning he was inside buying the notebook he held in his hand and now had no way of returning. Was he losing his mind?

Walking back to his apartment, distracted by his thoughts and the events of that morning, he didn’t even notice the car seemingly out of control and speeding towards him. When he finally looked up, he knew it was too late. He was going to get hit. At that moment, he was thrown aside and found himself lying on the sidewalk with his savior on top. With his heart beating out of control he looked up to see the car speeding down the street, apparently escaping the scene. He stood up and looked at the crowd who had gathered around him. “Who saved me?”, he asked. But no one seemed to know, nor had they seen anyone else. He had just narrowly escaped death and had no one to thank. Wait – escaped. He picked up his new notebook, now lying on the ground, and stared at the first page, “Escape.” What on earth was going on?

The days that followed only got weirder. He had tried to continue to live his life normally, but every new day there was a new incident that corresponded to the words written on the pages of the notebook. Both good and bad, but equally testing.

He snapped out of it, and looked in the mirror, his reflection revealing the strain of the past 17 days. Today’s word was “Falling”, and it worried him. What was going to happen, and how? There was nothing he could do, except go about his day as he normally would. He’d tried to get rid of the book on multiple days, but somehow it always came back to him.

He left his apartment to head over to Simon’s who he had started dating a few weeks ago. They’d planned a day trip out of town which he was really looking forward to, but at the same time, he was anxious because of what might happen to him, or even worse, to Simon. Should he cancel? No, he decided not to let anything get in the way of today. It was the first time he had felt so connected to another person in years and he really liked him.

He was nervous that Simon would notice his anxiety, but when Simon opened the door with his familiar beautiful smile, he just pulled him close in a warm embrace and as he softly kissed the back of his neck, Kevin immediately felt calm. He forgot about the book, the word “Falling”, and everything that had happened in the last 17 days. He just felt happy, and they left the city for the day.

On the drive back into town, Kevin was smiling as he thought about the magical day they had just had. He felt they’d made an even deeper connection if that was even possible. He turned his head to look at Simon and suddenly his heart started racing, his palms got sweaty, and he started breathing heavily. Simon looked at him concerned and asked, “Is everything ok?”

It was more than ok, but he was nervous. “I’ve had a really nice day,” he said. Simon smiled “Me too. So what’s with the heavy breathing?” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to be honest. He looked into Simon’s big blue eyes and said, “I’m falling for you.” He started speaking faster, “I know it’s really quick and it’s probably way too soon, but I have to be honest, I’m falling in love with you!”

Simon pulled over the car and looked back at him with that beautiful smile of his. He took Kevin’s trembling hands, leaned over, and softly pressed his lips against Kevin’s. He then looked into Kevin’s eyes and said “I love you too.” The car pulled back out and they drove back to the city to Simon’s apartment.

As they lay in bed that evening, Simon already asleep, he stared into the ceiling and felt so happy. Happier than he had felt perhaps his whole life. He replayed in his mind, the car journey back into the city and the words they’d exchanged. He suddenly realized he hadn’t given much thought to his notebook since this morning when he arrived at Simon’s. What did the page say today? “Falling”. Wow, he thought – falling in love. He rolled over for one last glance at Simon’s peaceful face, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

The next morning, he awoke to the smell of coffee and burnt toast as Simon walked into the bedroom with breakfast on a tray. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had breakfast in bed and enjoyed the morning as they ate, kissed, talked, and cuddled. When they’d finished breakfast, he got up and walked over to the window, and looked out onto the street. Suddenly, Simon’s arms wrapped around him and it startled him. Simon whispered, “You’ve been staring out the window for the last 10 minutes, do you have anything else on your mind?” He replied, “Oh sorry, I didn’t even realize. Let’s sit down, I want to tell you something, but you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

Simon smiled and shook his head. They went back to bed and he started explaining what had happened since he picked up that black notebook in the shop that apparently never existed. How he had narrowly escaped death and everything else he had been through in the past 19 days. How every word on each page of the book had come true. How terrified he had been since it started and how deeply he had fallen in love with Simon. He spilled it all – all of his truth.

After a few moments of silence, Simon asked “What does it say today?” “Trust” he replied. He went on to explain how he finally understood what the last 19 days had been about. He’d never been true to himself or to anyone else. He’d never said to anyone that he loved them, not even his parents who he’d lost in a car accident when he was 17. He regretted never telling them he loved them ever since, but now he finally understood that to escape his guilt he needed to be true to himself and to everyone else in his life. “And that’s why I knew I had to tell you that I love you. And why I had to tell you everything that has happened in the last 19 days.”

“There is one day left. What does it say for tomorrow?” Simon asked. “Congratulations, and of course, I have no idea what it means.”

Simon looked at him, smiled, and said “You can exhale now. Thank you for being open and for trusting me.” He breathed out and suddenly felt exhausted and calm at the same time. They laid down on the bed and didn’t get up for the rest of that day, except for a pizza delivery later that afternoon.

When they awoke the next morning, they looked into each other’s eyes and both said out loud at the same time “congratulations.” They laughed because they still had no idea what it meant. They agreed that today they would get up and just act as if everything was normal. They had breakfast, showered, and got dressed to go out for a walk in the fresh air. As it was the beginning of the month, and the fact that he had been so distracted lately, Kevin thought he ought to check his bills had been paid.

So before they went out, he logged on to his bank account to check and was shocked to see that this morning $20,000 had been deposited into his account. He just stared at the screen, mouth open, and didn’t utter a word. All his clients had paid for the month, his bills were paid, and then there was the additional $20,000 in his account. But where did they come from? The only additional information in there was the word “congratulations.”

But then he remembered. The day before he walked into the bookstore that was no longer there, he had signed up to a competition to submit a short story for a chance to win $20,000. The only thing was, he hadn’t actually written the story. Due to the events of the past 20 days, he had completely forgotten about the competition and to write the story. So how could he have won?

He ran into the bedroom and picked up the little black notebook only to find that instead of 20 pages with single words written across them, he found a descriptive recount of the past 20 days. He grabbed his laptop from his backpack and logged on to the website where he’d entered the competition and sure enough – the same story that was written in the notebook had been submitted into the competition – and he had won! His mind was blown, he just couldn’t believe it, but he was happy.

He focused on the last paragraph of the story he had apparently submitted. It read “Simon entered the room to find Kevin staring at his laptop. Kevin turned to look at him and said they were going out for a celebratory lunch because somehow, he had just won $20,000. The pair of them got dressed up and headed out the door for what appeared to be a truly magical day.”