Book of Days

 

The three boys had been playing in the woods all afternoon. Enough sun had filtered through the canopy overhead that allowed their game of hide and seek to be challenging but not too difficult. The home of one of the boys backed up to the national forest and they would often roam through the trees, occasionally dipping into the forest behind.

              As the late afternoon sun moved nearer to the horizon, Paul remembered that his mom had told him to be in before dark. “It’s too easy to get lost back there,” she said.

              Calling out to his friends, he heard no response. “Jack… hey Jack,” he yelled. “It’s getting dark. We need to go in.” Walking a path that allowed him to keep his house in view, he watched and listened but still couldn’t hear his friends. “Aaron… hey guys, come on. We need to go in,” he yelled again.

              Hanging his sweatshirt over a nearby tree branch as a marker for finding his way home, he walked a straight line deeper into the national forest. The forest floor was getting darker, and he still had no idea where they had gone. The ground had started sloping downward when he saw something that he had never seen before. A very old and very run-down cabin, long ago neglected, stood covered in moss, a tree growing out of the front window.

              “Wow, look at that,” he said.

              “Hey, Paul, there you are,” Aaron said as he walked out of the cabin. “We found this just a minute ago. This is so cool. Come in here and check it out.”

              Glancing over his shoulder and still able to see his sweatshirt, he followed his friends into the mostly rotten enclosure. “Man, this is like totally old school,” Jack said. “There’s no lights or appliances or anything. I’m sure there is no electricity out here.”

              “Man, this place smells bad,” Aaron said. “Who knows what animals are living in here. Let’s see if we can find anything.”

              Digging through cupboards and shelves, the boys were repeatedly disappointed to find nothing of interest or value. Pushing the bed aside with his foot, Paul uncovered a wooden box. “Hey, check this out,” he said. Kneeling down, he pulled the lid open and found an old book. “Hey, a book. Man, this thing is really cool looking. Take a look at this.”

              The three boys gathered around as Paul stood up, carefully opening the cover and turning the pages. “It sure does seem to be in good shape for being out in a place like this,” Aaron said. “I guess maybe the box protected it?”

              “I’m gonna keep it,” Paul said. “It looks like a boring history book, but the cover is so cool. I want to show my dad.”

              “No, no, don’t tell your parents,” Jack said. “We’re not supposed to be out here. I don’t want to get in trouble. Who knows who this place belongs to?”

              Slipping the book into his backpack, Paul led the boys out of the cabin and back to his bright red sweatshirt, a beacon in a forest of green and brown. Jogging across his lawn as the other two boys ran for the driveway, Paul slipped through his patio doors into the dining room. “Hey Mom, I’m home,” he yelled.

              “I’m right here Paul,” she answered, “in the kitchen. I saw you come across the yard. Did you have fun today?”

              “Yeah, we did,” he answered. “It’s always a blast out in the woods. Is dinner ready soon? I’m starving.”

              Sitting in his room later that evening, Paul thumbed through the strange, old book he had found in the cabin. “Boring… boring… boring,” he repeated as he flipped through each page. “Why would someone keep an old history book under their bed?” he thought.

              “Hey boy, it’s late,” his dad said, poking his head into his room. “You’ve got school tomorrow. You better get to bed.”

              “Ok,” he answered. Tossing the book into his closet, he turned out his light and went to sleep.

              The next five years passed quickly, and Paul finally got his driver's license. “Hey mom,” he called down the stairs, “have you seen my swimsuit? A bunch of us are going swimming at the lake.”

              “No honey,” she answered. “I have no idea. Did you check your closet?”

              Opening his closet door, he marveled at the massive pile of stuff on the floor. “Man, someone really needs to clean this closet,” he said. “Oh, I guess that would be me, heh.” Digging through the heap, he found just about every other piece of clothing in addition to a thick, red leather-bound book with a really cool cover. “Oh man, look at that. I forgot about that book. Huh, cool.”

              Leaning against the foot of his bed, he began to thumb through it again. “Yep, still boring history,” he thought. “It’s bigger than I remember. Well, that was quite a few years ago. I guess I just forgot.” Sliding it under his bed, he eventually found his swim trunks and wrapping them in a towel, jumped into his car to pick up his two friends and a few girls.

              Graduating from high school and subsequently graduating from college, he returned home one last time to pack up his stuff and move into his own apartment. Greeted by a smiling mother at the front door, they exchanged hugs. “I’m so proud of you Paul,” she said. “You’ve done so well but I’m going to miss having you around here. I hope you don’t mind that I packed up a bunch of your stuff for you. I wanted to be helpful.”

              “Ah, you didn’t have to do that,” he said. “I could’ve done it. I don’t have that much.”

              Jogging up the stairs, he found that she had packed up most of his stuff and even cleaned the room. “Wow, mom, you did more than a bit, thanks,” he yelled down the stairs.

              “I left the books for you to do though,” she answered. “Except for that one leather book that was under your bed.”

              “Leather book?” he thought. “Hmm…. oh, yeah, that book. Wow, somehow, I keep forgetting about that. I’ll have to dig that out when I get settled in the apartment.”

              Loading the last of his things into the back of the truck, he took the six-hour drive to the next town over. Pulling up in front of the building, he immediately recognized his girlfriend’s car parked in front. “Yes, cool, she’s here,” he thought.

              Parking the truck, he ran around to the side door and knocked on the glass. Within seconds, a pretty face peeked through the miniblinds and smiled at him. “There you are,” she said. “I’ve been here quite a while, cleaning, you’re very welcome. Are your buddies coming over to help you move the big stuff?”

              “Yeah, Aaron said he would be here at some point,” he answered. “I don’t think Jack will be able to make it though. Two of us will be enough, I’m sure.”

              Sitting in the darkness of his own living room, he pulled the ever-mysterious leather book from the last box. Poking his head into the bedroom, he realized that his girl had already gone to sleep, so he returned to the living room. Holding the book at arm’s length, he studied over the cover. “I know this thing is bigger,” he said. “There is no way this huge book was in that box in that old cabin. Hmm.”

              Skimming through several hundred pages, he nearly reached the end when he realized that the book, while a history book, covered the events in Russia in the past two years. “Umm, what? That doesn’t make any sense.”

              Turning back a few chapters, he realized that every major event for the past hundred years, almost to the day, was covered. Setting the book on the coffee table, he stepped back and looked at it. “That ain’t right, something isn’t right.”

              Pacing the living room, he was now wide awake and incredibly confused. The striking of midnight came as a warning that he ought to get to bed, as his new job was starting that next morning.

              Returning home for the day, he walked in to find his girlfriend flipping through the old history book. “Hey babe, what’s with this old book?” she asked.

              “Yeah, it’s a weird old book,” he said. “I found it years ago, when I was about eleven, I think. Jack, Aaron and I were playing in the woods, and we found it in an old abandoned cabin in the National Forest. So, I took it. It seemed cool at the time.” As he spoke, he really hoped that she hadn’t figured out that the book seemed to be writing itself as time passed.

              “Huh, that’s cool,” she said. “It’s got a really neat cover though.” Flipping it shut, she greeted him with a kiss. “What do you want for dinner? I’ll cook tonight.”

              The book sat on the coffee table for a few nights until Paul moved it into his office. The months passed and while trying to find his tax paperwork, he uncovered the book again. Flipping to the last page, he realized that the book had taken an even stranger turn. The last entry was of events with a date of one year past the present day. “Okay, hold on,” he thought. “Now what?”

              Flipping back a few pages, he found that a hurricane was set to strike the east coast that following weekend. “Well, there’s a little test, I guess. This ought to be interesting.”

              “Hey babe, come look at this,” his girlfriend called from the living room. “The news is saying that a major hurricane is coming next weekend. I guess they’re urging people to get out of town if they can. Should we go to your parents?”

              Suddenly not feeling well, he shoved the book back under the pile of paperwork and went into the living room. “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” he said. “I’ll let work know that I’ll be working remote next week. That only makes sense.”