Chapter Two: Aftershock

London travels back to the Wilkinson Manor in search of answers

"Cole Wilkinson." London awoke the next day with his name on her lips. "Cole Wilkinson. Cole Wilkinson. Cole Wilkinson." She whispered the name over again then rolled over. She opened her eyes, instantly filling with bright, white, light. Then it was as if she was hit over the head with a rock, a terrible headache struck her brain. "Ugggh." She moaned. She stuffed her head under her pillows in order to escape the overwhelming light. "Just let me go back to sleep. Please, brain just let me sleep." She thought. After five minutes of being buried under pillows it became apparent that the throbbing headache wouldn't leave her alone. Slowly, she opened her eyes again. Even under the pillows it was too bright, but she needed to get up to get Aspirin. Clenching her eyes shut, she removed the covers. London groaned. She could still see the light through her eyelids. Somehow she got up the strength to open her eyes. London then realized that she was seeing movement where there wasn't any, this was no ordinary headache, this was a migraine. She went to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle of Aspirin, decided it wasn't strong enough, took two Ibuprofen PMs and swallowed them dry. At least then she could get some sleep. Maybe she could sleep off the migraine. She climbed the stairs back up to her bedroom. She had at least ten minutes before the medicine would take effect. She didn't want to be awake one more second with that throbbing headache, but she had to. London crawled back into bed, there still was a patch of sheets that were still warm. She nestled into it and closed her eyes. After about two minutes, she became bored with her own thoughts and opened her eyes again. That was when her eyes saw the slip of paper sitting on her dresser. She stuck an arm out from under the covers and reached for it. A full meter separated her hand from the dresser, but she reached for it anyways. Then she tried to use the Force. Sadly, it didn't work. She let her arm flop down against the side of her bed.  

       "So do I actually get up and get the piece of paper or save it for later?" She thought to herself. "The bed's so nice and warm. I don't want to get up." London attempted to use the Force again. It still failed. Finally, she got the will to get the paper from her dresser. She snatched it up quickly then rushed back into her bed. After she had gotten her blankets all settled, she opened up the note and read it several times over.

             Cole Wilkinson

       For when you remember

        "He was real." She thought to herself. After a good nights sleep yesterday can feel like a dream, but this little sheet of paper was proof that he was real. "Remember what though?" She thought. London yawned. "Thank god." She said aloud. She let the slip of paper fall to the floor and prepared herself for sleep. In those meandering thoughts one has before sleep, London thought back to those few summers she used to spend being in musicals. She was in a theater troupe that practiced on a stage by a river. It was a long time ago, every once in a great while she'd remember bits and pieces of songs and lines that had been said during the musical. There was one song London could always remember clearly. It was when she was in eighth grade, they did Once on This Island. It was a very odd musical. But at one point the main character Ti Moune makes a deal with that worlds equivalent of the devil to save the man she loves. London never forgot the lyrics. She originally auditioned to be Ti Moune, but the director gave the role to his niece Allie. London never got to sing the song for an audience. But as London dwindled in and out of sleep, those words came to her mind. She could picture the stage, completely empty accept for the man she loved, dying in front of her.

       

      Cole Wilkinson

                                     For when you remember

      

        London awoke on the verge of a panic attack. She sat up in bed, immediately beginning the process of calming herself down. The dream slipped away from her, while old memories resurfaced.

         "It's okay. It's over. It's over. It's all over. You're fine. You're in your room. In your bed. You have a test on Monday morning that you need to study for. There are no monsters. There are no demons coming to steal your soul. You're fine London. You're fine." She repeated this over a few times. She then began to state facts about herself in order to ground herself in this reality. "You're seventeen years old. You got your driver’s license last week. You're working on getting a free ride to a college of your choice. You're okay. Supernatural is on Tuesday nights at nine o'clock." This was a technique she developed after having a string of terrible nightmares throughout her childhood. She was out of breath, blood pumping in her ears, her mouth dry as a bone, sweat dripping down her neck. London managed to get a good breath in. A step in the right direction. She let it go slowly. Control of her breathing was key. London let herself fall back onto her pillows. "How long had I been asleep?" She asked herself. She hadn't checked the clock when she first got up. But it was clearly midday. She asked herself, but it didn't matter. She took at least five more deep breaths, then reached over the side of her bed and picked up the sheet of paper. Part of her hoped it wouldn't be there, but it was. Her phone sat on the nightstand next to her bed. She read the note over and over before finally she dialed the number. London brought the phone to her ear and prayed there would be no answer. It rang once.

       "Hello?" It was Cole. London was surprised that she recognized his voice after only hearing it once. London didn't say anything. She didn't quite know why. "Hello?" Cole asked again. There was a long pause, she sort of expected him to hang up. But he didn't.

       "Dad?" He called timidly into the phone. That was when London realized that if she didn't say something then he was about to think that it was his dad calling.

       "Oh my god no it's London and I woke up with this massive headache and I took sleeping pills and had a nightmare and I don't know what happened last night I mean I know what happened but I don't understand it. I'm so confused. I need your help."  The words poured out of her.

       "London. You're okay, just listen to me." He said. She stopped the flow of words and listened. "First of all, do you know who I am?"

       "That doesn't seem important."

       "So you don't?"

       "No." London shifted uncomfortably. Why did it even matter?

       "That house you were in last night? That's....that's my house." London didn't respond. "My family is kind of... old money I guess. They've owned the house for generations. It's not fully my house. My parents have the deed to it. But I live there and on paper my dad does too."

       "Oh. Ok." London had never been in this position before. She wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. She wasn't sure whether he was delusional or not. She didn't want to seem like a jerk and call him out on lying. But was he lying? Finally she asked, "why should I believe you?" There was a silence on the other end of the phone. She let him think about it.

       "If it wasn't my house, how would I have gotten into your memory?" London found herself having to put the phone down for to take some deep breaths. After a full minute, she brought the phone back to her ear.

       "I thought that was some kind of a dream." London said.

       "But I was there. You were in an office with a dead German Shepherd. It was in your grandpa's house."

       "How do you know that?" She asked robotically.

       "It's my library- wait.... hold on a second will you?" He said, though he didn't wait for a response. London turned up the volume on her cell phone when she heard faint voices on the other side. "It's London." She heard Cole say, then a far away voice reply. "The girl from last night. I don't know what we're supposed to do! It's not like this is an average occurrence!" There was a long pause while the other person responded. "No, you'll freak her out! No!" Then there was static on the other end of the phone. It sounded like someone had grabbed the microphone side of the phone. After a moment, the sound stopped.

       "I'm putting it on speaker!" A new voice said. "Hey there, London?" The new voice called into the phone. She cleared her throat.

       "Hi..."

       "Yeah, hi it's Edwin from yesterday."

       "Just give me the phone." Cole said to Edwin.

       "No, I know you and I know exactly how you're gonna try to explain this and trust me, my way is a lot better."

       "Fine. You go and try to explain this. Take it away!" Cole said bitterly.

       "London, this is going to be hard to explain but just bear with me okay?"

       "Okay."

       "The Library is... it's sort of...this is hard to say..."

       "For the love of god just spit it out!" She demanded. She slammed a fist down onto her mattress.

       "The Library is magical and the books are full of memories instead of words. We don't know how it really works but if you put memories into the books then you can see those memories in perfect clarity without any limitations of perspective. And last night you put the memory of finding that dog into one of the books. Cole tried to stop you, but it was too late." Edwin spoke so quickly London could barely process what he was saying. She didn't say anything in case Edwin hadn't finished his explanation, but he didn't continue.

        "See? You freaked her out." Cole said. Edwin ignored him.

        "Say something London." Edwin insisted. In her mind, London was thinking up a plan. After a full minute of thinking it through, she set it into action.

        "I'm come over there. And if you aren't there, I'm probably going to have myself committed because there's no way any of this is real. But if you are there, then you're going to need to give me a solid explanation and convince me it's real."

        "Okay, that's a great plan. Come on over."

        "She can't come over." Cole said quickly.

        "Why not?" Both Edwin and London asked simultaneously.

        "Because...." Cole said.

        "You do realize you can put clothes...on, right?"

        "Ok, see you later." London said and hung up. She threw her phone down on the bed beside her. She didn't really want to hear the rest of the conversation. As she got dressed, she thought about what she was doing. At the time, she was completely convinced that this is what she had to do. Yet a voice in her head whispered to her.

         "What if they're liars? What if they're just trying to get you to go to their house?" It said. London completely ignored it. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't think it would be a problem. But just in case, she took a bottle of pepper spray with her in her purse.

     

         London had gotten the address from her mother's planner that she kept on the kitchen table. Her mom was always forgetful of things, it would be impossible for her had she not kept a planner. On the planner under the date October Eighth, she found the words Wilkinson Manor @ 9 and then an address. Next to the planner, she found a note from her parents telling her that they had to go back to the bakery and wouldn't be back until six. Be good, the note said. London, as she picked up the car keys, heard her conscience talking again.

        "Be good London. They trust you. What if they come back early and see that you're gone? They might think you've been kidnapped! Take a look at what you're doing! You're risking your life for a magical library!" London put on her black hoodie, and adjusted it so it wouldn't wrinkle in odd places.

        "I don't care." London said firmly to her conscience. Then entered into the brisk October air.

         She quite enjoyed the car ride out of her neighborhood. The quiet little houses were replaced by the Main Street in which her town was built around. After a few miles on Main Street, it branded off into three slightly smaller roads. She followed one of them until it branched off. This happened a few more times until London found her car surrounded by vast empty space. She thought it was interesting how the roads moved like branches on a tree. She had began from the main trunk and weaves through the branches until reaching a branch that caressed the sky. She liked driving alone, she turned on the radio, changing the station whenever she so desired without having to consider the passenger. London had lived her entire life in this tree of roads. She knew almost every one of them and where they lead. She knew that one of them continued on and on and on until finally reaching an interstate highway. That was one branch she had only heard about, but never taken herself. She had been following a single branch for a solid ten minutes before Wilkinson Manor came into view. It had large wrought iron gates that had been propped open for the party last night, but today they were shut. As London's car approached, they opened. She hesitated making the turn into Cole's driveway, her conscious creeping into her thoughts again. But then her curiosity got the better of her. She put her right blinker on and crawled through the gate. She was met by a long driveway with a massive front yard. There were a few scattered trees bearing orange and red leaves, but the rest of the lawn was inhabited by bright green grass. London hadn't really been paying attention when she arrived with her parents last night. But she took careful note of every detail. She left her car at the front of the house and went up to the front door. She knocked twice on the great oak door. It opened immediately.

           "Told you it's my house." Cole said as he opened the door. "Come on in." London stepped inside without a word. "The cook made breakfast if you want some." He offered.

           "I'm not hungry."

           "Coffee?"

           "I'm not thirsty."

           "God you're making it difficult for me to be a good host," he said with a smile. London let out a breath.

           "I'm just here to figure out what happened. Is there somewhere we can go to talk?" She said. An older woman was vacuuming the carpets and gave London a look. Then London gestured to the library. "The Library maybe?" Cole laughed at a joke London didn't hear.

           "I have an office upstairs." He said. They then crossed the room and climbed the left staircase.

           "Is Edwin here?" She asked for lack of other conversation.

           "Yeah he's just..." Cole cleared his throat. "He'll be up in a minute."

           "So does he live here too? Is he like, your brother?"

           "Ha!" He exclaimed, causing London to jump a little. "No, not my brother. I don't think of him as one either." They made it to the top of the stairs and made a left.

          "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked as they stopped at a door on the right. Cole smiled, but didn't say anything. London didn't know what that was supposed to mean. She was starting to see why Edwin didn't want Cole to explain what was going on. He was in love with riddles. Cole opened the door for London and she went inside. Cole took a seat at the large chair that sat behind a large desk. The kind of desk one would expect a boss to sit at. He then leaned back in his chair and put his socked feet up on the desk.

           "Should we wait for Edwin?" He asked.

          "Unless you can explain what's going on better than he can." She said. Just then, the door opened.

           "Get your feet off the desk." Edwin demanded. His face was covered in sweat and his hair was plastered to his forehead. Cole smiled playfully.

           "Or what?" Edwin shut the door behind him.

           "Hey London." He said, without taking his eyes off Cole.

           "Hi."

           "You and me, we'll deal with this later." Edwin said, gesturing back and forth between himself and Cole.

           "Not too much later I hope." Cole said and took his feet off the desktop. London was severely puzzled. They weren't brothers, they were living together, and it seemed like they were flirting with each other. London began to wonder if there was something going on here that she didn't know about. She thought it better not to say anything. Edwin sat down in the chair next to London.

           "I'm glad you came." He said to London. "There's a few things you should know."

           "Yeah... can you explain what happened yesterday? Talk to me like you would a child, I'm probably not going to understand." Edwin took a breath, leaning forward over his folded hands.

          "Okay. You have to understand that Cole and I don't know very much about it. All we know for sure is the effect it has. So don't expect anything scientific." he paused. "The Library... when someone's in the Library it kind of clouds your mind. It's like- well you know you're conscious, right?" I nodded. "It's like it destroys your conscious. Whatever you feel like doing, even if you know it's wrong, you have very little say in the matter as to whether you do it or not. The Library decides for you. That's probably why you went into the Library. It called you in. It's weird because outside of the Library, there's little to no effect on a person, but once you're inside... it takes over your mind. That's probably how you knew to grab an empty book and stand on the platform even though you had no reason to believe anything would happen. Do you understand so far?" He asked.

           "Yeah. I think so." During his explanation, London was going back to the previous night in her mind. What he said was matching perfectly to what happened.

          "For whatever reason, when you stepped onto the platform the Library took you to the memory of finding a dead dog. And this is the truly remarkable thing about the Library. It has such ability to take over your mind, it can make you experience your memories again. And the empty book will then be marked with it. The pages will still be empty, but the binding will tell what it is. The Library names the memory itself."

         "But how could Cole be there?" She interrupted.

        "Other people, when you're holding the book and standing on the platform, can touch the book too and they'll can join you in the memory." Edwin saw the thoughtful look on London's face, and thought it would be best to let her process that. "Would you like proof?" He asked. London nodded, her face still thoughtful.

        "But what happened after I came out of the memory? I.. did I faint?"

       "That's common with people that haven't been in the library before. I used to do that too." London turned towards Cole, who was carefully watching the conversation.

        "Did you?" She asked, Cole immediately brought a hand towards his face and propped his head up on it. His mouth was covered by his hand. He nodded. London immediately noticed this gesture from a show she used to watch about liars. When somebody covers their mouth, that means they have something they want to say but feel that they shouldn't. London wondered what Cole didn't want to say.

       "We call it lagging. It still happens to me if I read too many books, it's like your brain isn't accustomed to reality afterwards. It can take hours or just a few minutes to get over." Edwin said. "Do you want to give it a try?" He asked.

        "Yeah. I mean, last time I didn't know what I was doing, but now I'll know what to do."

       "Ooo! Can I choose the memory? I have a really good one to start out with." Cole jumped out of his chair speaking for the first time in several minutes.

       "As long as it's a mild one, something traumatic might cause some awful lag." Edwin warned. Cole gave him a sarcastic look.

       "As if I would take her to something traumatic." Then he turned to London. "Can you swim?"

       "Um, yeah. Why?" She asked slowly.

       "I was rowing once in the ocean and my boat capsized so I swam back to shore. It was really cool. I can go with her, the boat's big enough."

       "What do you think London?" Edwin asked, turning to her.

      "I've never swam in the ocean before. Sounds like fun." She said. This answer surprised her. London didn't really believe it would happen, did she?

       "Come on!" Cole said, then rushed to the door, holding it open for London and Edwin.

       "Aren't you polite?" London said as she walked past. Cole shrugged. They made it to the library and stopped at the door. Edwin stopped them before going in.

       "Remember to keep your wits about you London. And if something goes wrong, remember that it isn't real." London nodded, Cole opened the door and they entered to the Library.