The Library

#39 - Dreams - from the 100 things challenge.

“Doctor Perne?” The voice of her assistant snapped her out of her thoughts about the scarab broach she’d been turning over in her hands. “I’ve finished cataloguing the pottery. Do you have anything else you need me to finish tonight?” It was the word ‘tonight’ that made her frown and look down at her watch. 8:30pm. How had that happened? She could have sworn it was only around 4pm - it felt like only moments since she had picked up the broach and the time at the top of her clipboard showing when she’d started the examination read 15:45.

“No. That’s all for tonight, thank you. I’ll see you in the morning and we’ll move onto the Artwork.” Alisa barely glanced at the man, already back to slowly turning the broach in her hands. She’d dated it to approximately 400CE - the entire collection was Egyptian, the broach being shaped like a jewelled scarab just confirming it for her, although she would double-check when the accurate dating came through. She would have to do that shortly. She’d have to take pictures of it and note her findings as well. Somehow she had managed to not write anything at all, just the catalogue number, her name and the time and date. Maybe it was the glimmer of recognition that she felt for the beetle in her hand that was making her slow. She’d seen this somewhere, probably in one of the books in the library.

She stood, holding onto the broach as she started towards her favourite room in the whole building. She paused, turning back to collect her clipboard and attach the pen to it in case she did find the broach in one of her books, before starting towards the library again. It was only then she realised she was alone, her desk lamp was the only one still lit. Her low heels made soft clicks on the tile floor as she moved across the room, accompanied only by the occasional click of the automated lighting coming on in front of her. She barely paid her surroundings any attention until she reached the door to the library. She paused outside the room, hand resting on the cool door handle. Something felt off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. She could feel her heart starting to beat faster and it almost felt as though she was being watched. Inside the library the lights were all off, the main room lights being on the same motion-activated system as the rest of the building. They turned off after twenty minutes of detecting no movement, she knew this. She looked around her - the lights behind her were still on and the lights further down the corridor were still off. The only thing moving in this building right now was her.

She pushed open the heavy door, frowning. It was normally a heavy door but today it felt like it took all her strength to open it, almost as if the room itself didn’t want to permit her entry. Once she was inside the door closed behind her with a soft thud and she set her clipboard down on a circular side table, clicking on the lamp that also rested there and glancing up at the clock above the door - 10:05. Time was flying by and she didn’t seem to be getting much done. She would need to hurry as much as possible, she had promised she wasn’t going to be too late home.

Moving to the shelves at the far side of the room, she dug into her pockets and pulled out a pair of white cotton gloves, slipping them on quickly before she ran her fingers across the top of a couple of books, not reading the titles but just enjoying the feel of being in the library. Researching was her first love, and coming in here always felt like a kind of home coming. When it came to Egyptology there weren’t many books that you couldn’t find in this library, and there were more than you could find online. Once they had finished this latest shipment of artefacts she would set her assistant back on with cataloguing the items in the library he hadn’t managed to get around to yet. It was a low-priority job, as anyone that wanted to know anything obscure usually visited this library rather than try and research it online. Her collection of books and scrolls and random papers on Egypt was vast, and forever expanding, and the library was always quiet and peaceful; just being here helped calm her mind and soothe her soul.

She glanced at the shelves in front of her, moving down them until she reached the Classical Era books. She reached and slid a couple of titles a few centimetres out of line, debating where she might have seen the broach before. She stopped as she reached for a book with no title. She was drawn to it, but couldn’t say why. It was a smaller book, bound in a kind of green leather with no writing anywhere to identify it. She was sure she had never seen this book before but she was positive this was where she would find her answers. It was only as she picked up the book that she realised she was still holding the broach, her knuckles almost white from holding it tightly.

She took the book back to her chair, still not relinquishing her hold on the broach as she settled down to read. By the time the overhead light clicked off in twenty minutes, she was fast asleep.

-*-*-

As her eyes open, it takes her a moment to adjust to her surroundings. She didn’t remember heading home from The Library yesterday, let along heading to her bedroom or lying down. She remembered reading in a chair, but the memory was fuzzy and almost dream-like. She dresses, attaching the broach at her shoulder and fastening her hair back. The green book from the night before sits on her writing desk, open at the entry she had written just before she had gone to sleep. She’d kept the diary on and off for three years now, since the Bishop had died. She’d had strange dreams of another library, in another time…

She leaves her home for The Library, to begin another day of teaching. Sitting in her carriage she hears the men call to her, she recognises them as the Christian Monks. They call her Hypatia. She answers.