“Mr. Linden’s Library” is what the sign said. It is a mysterious bookstore on the corner of a downtown street that always gave me cold chills when I walked by. It was a rustic looking building, with cobwebs on the windows and scratches on the entrance door. It is the only building on the entire street painted black, and had neon letters across the top of the store presenting its name. Each creepy detail gave me eerie feelings of witches buying spell books inside of the treacherous store, which not only added a sense of mystery, but also a sense of terror.

“Come on, go inside! You chose dare, now you have to do it!” My overbearing friend Byron urged.
We were playing his favorite game, truth or dare. He always made me do either frightening or hysterical tasks that made me cringe when I picked dare. One time he made me jump in the gigantic fountain in the middle of the mall, with everyone surrounding watching me as if I was crazy. I hated picking dare. But when I didn’t pick dare, he would get angry and would stop talking to me until I changed my choice. It’s not that I wasn’t ruthless or brave; it always felt like he was trying to blackmail and embarrass me when he presented a task and smiled at my pain in the end.
I, on the other hand, was more laid back towards the game. Contrary to Byron, I didn’t care if he chose dare or not. I was reluctant to play the game in the first place, nevertheless actually care about the rules. I didn’t understand the purpose of trying to humiliate your best friend for kicks and giggles, which eventually leads to a lack of trust within the friendship. The only reason why I played the dumb game was to keep Byron interested in being my only friend.

“Ok,” I trembled as I took a big gulp, touched the doorknob, and walked inside the mysterious bookstore that I loathed.

I closed my eyes for a split second, preparing myself for what I was going to see. But, surprisingly the store itself looked quite normal. Books were scattered onto shelves throughout the building, there was the checkout counter, the creepy old man customer that always seems to be in libraries you walk into, and the scary owner who stood just behind the counter giving you a warming “Hello!”
There was a particular area just beside the cash register that had a curtain separating the exposed wall from the rest of the store. It ached at my burning curiosity, and gave me this intense feeling of wonder, with a hint of fright.
What if I open this curtain and discover something horrible that I will not be able to forget? I thought with doubt in my mind. But, dismissed the thought as I grabbed the curtain and pulled it to discover ancient books on shelves behind it. Many of the shelves contained huge books, books with dust on them, worn books with torn pages, multiple books that needed keys to open them, and books with symbols that I didn’t recognize on the covers.

I slowly walked throughout the area behind the curtain, blowing dust off books, skimming passages in ancient text, and curiously flipping through pages, until I discovered one particular book that caught my eye. “The Secrets of the World” is what it was entitled. It was a book with a keyhole in the exact middle of the cover, which prevented me from peeking inside of the novel. This instantly drove my curiosity insane, my heart ached to know what was beyond the pages inside.

So I grabbed the book, and took it to the checkout counter and proceeded to make my purchase.

“Find everything ok?” The tired, old man asked with the overused question, and the bored expression stretching throughout his lips.

I dropped the book onto the table. “Yes I did,” I smiled, talking with a faltering tone due to the creepiness of the old man who I assumed to be Mr. Linden.

“No!” He yelled, as I jumped back a little. “Not this one!” He was suddenly awake, and had worried eyes.

“Why not?” I asked, confused. What kind of business owner doesn’t want to sell their product? I thought, annoyed.

“It’s dangerous, only skilled witches can properly use this book.” He huffed with a raspy tone.

“But, there is no such thing as witches!” I laughed at his ignorance, “I am fine, just give me the book, and the key, and I will be on my way.” I paced back and forth to demonstrate my seriousness.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Have it. For free. But you can’t say I didn’t warn you.” He gave a stern gaze of concern, and handed me the key to the book.

I practically sprinted outside of the front door with the scratches on it, and giggled a frightened laugh.
Psh… witches? I laughed to myself, how could anyone believe in witches? They’re not even real! I thought as I ran into Byron, who was waiting for me just outside.
“What took you so long?” He sounded annoyed, “the dare was to only go inside, you didn’t have to buy a stupid fantasy book and get all carried away.” He sounded matter of fact.
“I know. I was just trying to prove how stupid your dare was and that it didn’t scare me one bit.” I said feeling gallant.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He rolled his eyes, “for my turn, I pick dare.”


I opened the front door to my familiar home, hoping that my parents were spending the night somewhere that I didn’t care to know about as they always do. I swiftly walked through the living room, and a familiar red head in a sparkly black dress greeted me.

“Your father and I are going out for the night.” My mother chimed. “We’re not going to be home until the morning, so don’t get yourself into any kind of trouble and be good.” She kissed me on the cheek, trudged out the front door, and locked it. Leaving me to my cheerful solitude.

I stomped upstairs to my bedroom shutting off every hallway light on the way, as I closed the door, sighed, and retrieved my backpack. My hands were shaking with curiosity as I fumbled with the key inside my backpack to pull it out and open the book that I had been waiting to read all day.

The pages were worn, and made creaking sounds each time I turned the page to read further into the mystery that seemed endless within the 400 pages it contained. The book mentioned everything about magic, how to use magic, how to cast spells, and contained weird fiction stories presented in the last chapter. Sadly, it was a complete work of sci-fi that I wasted my time on and it persuaded me to fall asleep. I was lying in my bed, tossing and turning throughout the night asleep for many hours.
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I woke up with a start out of instinct as something with a tough texture brushed against my fingertips, and almost grabbed my fingers.
Must be a bug. I thought as I rubbed my eyes, opening them to reveal the horrific scene that made me question reality presenting itself in front of me.
Grass was growing out of the book, flowers, and vines that etched towards my body and grabbed a hold of my arms pulling me into the pages.
It must have started growing when I fell asleep with the book in my hand! I thought with panic, as the garden grew denser quickly, and pulled my arms harder towards the book, nearly forcing my head into the pages.

“Help! Help! Somebody help me!” I screamed and begged, trying to pull away from the greenery growing outside of the demon book. Half of my body was already inside of the pages from the torso up.

There was nothing I could do; the vines were far too strong compared to my strength. At an instant, my body began floating inside of the pages until I was eventually a part of “The Secrets of the World.”
Trapped inside of the paper, presenting my horrific story, in the very back few pages as the book grows with more stories like myself each day. I now understood what the title “The Secrets of the Word” meant. I also now understood the last chapter of the book. The chapter containing the fiction stories that didn’t make too much sense before now connects in my mind completely. The stories in the last chapter are brutally true legends of the victims before me, and now I am one of them. He warned me about the book, and now it was too late.