MAGIC: The Rise of Tom Salisbury

Obsessed

Tom woke up with a start! 'What a dream, no, not a dream, I traaa..veel…, no what am I saying, shit, what's the time?  Seven forty-five, what the… '

He dropped off from the bed, 'mum must have been calling, school, oh forget that, what was it about last night? '

'Dulce, Dulce Mexico. What's Dulce doing in my dream? Shintiel or what? No, not right, Shel.. Shel.. Shelton..no, ouch my head hurt... Sheltiel yes!  That's the name but I don't even know who he is. What the he…'

'Yes mummy am coming down '

'School day, no, I have to rush back to the library, I need to understand what that book told me, the thing is getting my head jumbled up. Oh, what? '

'You are going back to a book that plays with your head son? Why do you do this to yourself? You… '

'Enough! Stop talking to me you Billy goat. You're at it again, you are in my head, how did you even get there? '

'Am going to show you places you have never seen before, I will make you know what none of your predecessors ever knew, I will bare the world where no one has ever stepped foot on to you. The secrets that elude the centuries that have walked, the thousands of years that have served, the souls that have perished searching, seeking, sleuthing for things that once were but are not. Son, gird up your loins, for it's a long walk to freedom. '

Tom sat dazed. What just happened? What was that?' his mind was in limbo. He could not process whatever it is that has taken place in that little microcosm of his brain. 

'Am I mad?' he finally asked himself? 

'No, you're not. Night. '

'No, it's morning' Tom reminded the voice in his head. 'what? Who was I? But hey Mr. Head why then were you sabotaging yourself?' The voice told him not to read the books and almost convinced him not to. The voice was rebuking him about his intentions to reconsult the books, but was after all from the books, 'was it bipolar or what? Sociative or Personality Disorder?'

'Dulce' was the reply. 

Tom started scratching his head like a mad man jumping around his room. 

"Tom?! " His mom called. 

"Coming. " Tom answered. 

"Tom, you're late for school. What have you been doing upstairs? "

"Playing some bizarre video game. "

"Oh, dad? "

"What else? "

"forget it "

"What did you just say, Tom? "

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! "

"I see, you're growing wings, right? It's time we admit you into a Seminary, I know your mom won't be objecting to this now. "

"Oh Marc, allow him to finish high school first." his mother pleaded. 

"Yea till he rotten to the bones with those rascal classmates of his and forget all necessary manners like getting up early in the morning to face his day like a man…"

"Marc! "

"Oh, spare me that. I'm just trying my best for him. Left to him."

"Marc, finish your food. "

"Got work to do, got to go. "

"he can't even say I'm sorry I got to… " Tom muttered under his breath. 

His mother glowered at him after wishing his father a nice day. 

"He's just thinking about you. "

"Yea I can see that. "

"don't talk to me that way Tom. "

"Sorry ma but I'm going to prepare for school, we have a test. "

"OK. " Anna muttered. 

Tom rushed over everything, wore his uniform, and rushed out straight out of the yard. 

"Okay, Goodbye Tom, have a nice day. Don't cause trouble. " his mother shouted over. 

"I won't, bye. " Tom shouted back while running away. 

Immediately he stepped out of the compound and reached his usual spot, changed his clothes, and continued running to the library... Yes, the library. That was his major aim since waking up.

When he arrived, he greeted the stricken desk officer as usual and streaked past him after showing his library ID card. Straight to Shelf number… oh the shelf has a mysterious number! While other shelves were numbered at least in integers and Roman numerals including letters according to procession, this one does have a label but… 

He ran all the way to the last shelf, counted five to left then reached over, 'what is happening? ' oh yeah. To think that I've lost it. '

'My book sorry books come with me' as he grabbed the whole book once more. 'I need to understand what it is that this book told me yesterday again. I have to open that page...what's the page one more time...yea forty... Fifty-five, that's it, where it was talking about Dulce right and the clue.'

He flipped over the pages till he got to fifty-five, and his mouth fell open. 'What am I seeing here? Oh, mum, tell me I am not going mad, I still have a life ahead of me, oh why did I ever come across the word magic. God, it's time to help me. ' Tom muttered as he kept on staring at the book morosely.

Yesterday, when he had opened this book, he saw some kind of hand-drawn sketches. Some words were written by the side of the sketches which seems to bolt when your attention wavers only to stay still as he peers directly over them to understand the mystery before him. It was like the case of 'the more you look, the less you see. ' The words were zapping around like hyperactive happy kids but never when Tom was fully focused. 

Also, yesterday, the words were talking about places and geographical terrains and locations, however, right now the beaming face of a bald middle-aged man inscribed in an imperfect circle is grinning at him. This now just goes beyond creepy, it is utterly ridiculous and laughable like those kinds of old folk fairy tales in Children's storybooks.

'OK, calm down. ' Tom started blowing off some steam. 'It's gonna be alright, it's probably because I didn't sleep well last night, yeah that's it.'

'haha, can't remember the last time I had this level of daydream last, lack of sleep is really messing up with my head. 

'Yes, indeed, let's go outside to get water. ' his mind said.

'Yes, that's what we should probably do,' Tom acquiesced and brought out his water bottle from his school bag. He immediately started heading out to the door when he stopped at the door handle. 'seems like I forgot something. ' He stood there at the door handle very confused and disoriented. He then closed his eyes, breathed out, and let himself slide to the floor in a zoned-out state. After some minutes, he regained himself and remembered what he was set out to do, he immediately stood up, grabbed his water bottle, and froze. 

"my water bottle is full, I filled it at home when I was preparing to go to school, so why will I take it up now to go and get water?"

Lo and behold, Tom's water bottle is filled to the brim. He started breathing out, trying to recall everything that just happened before he hissed sharply and warned.

"Hey, Mr. Head. Whatever this is, I don't enjoy it. Don't pull these kinds of jokes with me, I can't tolerate you playing around with my head, it has got to stop or I will take drastic action."

He felt something inside him agree and he got more bewildered. 'is something living inside of me? What the? Am I pose..ss.. ed? What.. '

"forget it, it's just inside my head trying to eff with me, it does not look like the possessions I've read in books. It doesn't seem like it. I just have to fight this, and I'm going to win. "  He consoled himself. 

Tom made his way back to his desk and stared at the books. He sat down, calmed himself and exhaled slowly, and delved into the events of yesterday and today's morning. 

"Am going to show you places you have never seen before, I will make you know what none of your predecessors ever knew, I will bare the world where no one has ever stepped foot on to you. The secrets that elude the centuries that have walked, the thousands of years that have served, the souls that have perished searching, seeking, sleuthing for things that once were but are not. Son, gird up your loins, for it's a long walk to freedom. " Tom recited along with his recollections as he immediately opened his eyes wide.

"The book. Fighting against itself and having its own consciousness, it's time to dig! '

He immediately started ravaging through the book seeing other mysterious drafts and out-of-the-normal sketches of some unpopular places before he returned to page fifty-five. He started reading, what he was reading on that page wasn't what he read on that same page yesterday, instead he was seeing a whole different print.