EAOwell

At home Eliza told everyone that she had taken a part-time job of helping at a local bookshop. ‘Good for you, honey,’ approved her dad. ‘That’s wonderful, darling,’ said her mum, a tiny bit surprised. ‘What are you going to be doing there?’ asked her brother. ‘I’ll be helping in the store with keeping books in order, you know, stuff like that,’ Eliza replied, although, truth be told, she did not quite know what exactly she was supposed to do for Mr Wood. Some paperwork, he said. ‘How much are they going to pay you?’ ‘Um, they won’t, really. We agreed I co

Eliza lay in her bed and could not sleep – her head was buzzing with thoughts. She looked at the clock – 1 a.m. She had been trying to fall asleep for two and a half hours already. But as hard as she tried, the impressions of the previous day would not leave her head. Eliza made it for the last twenty minutes of her brother’s training session yesterday and, since he was busy doing the actual training, Danny could not tell when she had come in and was just happy to see her there. She did not even have to lie to him. All he asked was, ‘So, what do you think?’ Eliza said something encouraging. She had not seen muc

 Without wasting time, Eliza stepped inside. The door closed behind her with a soft clink. Eliza noticed that there was a doorknob on this side of the door. Then she looked around. She was standing in a spacious, dark hall, lit by numerous lanterns here and there. They gave enough light to make out dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of immensely tall bookcases, with the top shelves lost in the dimness of a supposed ceiling that could not be seen from down below. That’s quite a storeroom, thought Eliza. How big is the building exactly to house all those bookcases?! The interior was immeasurably bigger than what it appeared from the

        Not much happened over the weekend. Eliza just tried to get better. That was pretty much all she was doing. Her mum was giving her some pills, hot tea with honey, and, of course, delicious toasts with cherry jam.        Eliza’s dad came in to check on her every hour and tucked her blanket each time, which was very sweet but funny, given it was just a regular cold. Danny would pop in to give her, secretly, something sweet (and not too healthy), and crack some jokes and talk about his training and whatnot. Sunday was less stormy than Saturday – it was just rainy. The weather seemed to have calmed down somewhat. They even

         The bell tinkled as Eliza entered the shop. Just like the last time she was here, the shop was empty. Mr Wood was nowhere to be seen.         Eliza put her umbrella by the door, took off her wet dirty coat, hung it on the hanger and walked along the bookshelves. She had nothing specific in mind, she just wanted to find something good to read. She had finished ‘The Lord of the Rings’, which took her quite some time to get through, but it was worth it.         Eliza did not read books only with a colourful cover. Not at all. Eliza wasn’t searching for bright pictures, she was looking for words. Unusual title, intr

Eliza spent that wonderful day sitting at her desk at school. She was hardly listening in class, though. She tried, she really did. But it just wouldn’t work. How could equations be interesting? What is so fascinating about whales? And she already knew the capitals of those countries. So she just watched the world outside the window pass by and doodled in her notebook. She thought about ‘Gregory’s Books’. She should have stayed there and read something. She could have talked to Mr Wood some more. They might have even discussed books that they both liked, perhaps. But she felt embarrassed for skipping school and simp

Eliza Reid sat on the windowsill and stared out of the open window at the night-engulfed street. The air was still and cool but she could feel it reverberate with cares of the day that were dissolving into the memory of events past. At least for the night. Tomorrow will be a new day and things will not be quite the same. Eliza breathed in deeply. The air brought freshness to her lungs. She gazed at the ocean of stars in the blue-black sky high above, and felt small, tiny. At moments like this, she felt she was a part of something greater. It made her think of big things. They weren’t even thoughts, rather half-thoughts that brushed he