"Found one!" Eren shouted, down the 2nd floor hall. He tried to pull open the doors to the library, but they seemed to be locked from the inside. "Should we just break the window?" Terry asked. "I don't see us getting inside otherwise."
"Go ahead, have some fun."
Terry picked up a nearby trash can sitting by the lockers, launching it at full strength. The glass shattered with ease. "I wonder who locked it in the first place. We didn't check it when we went to the cafeteria, did we?" Eren asked.
"I know I didn't."
"Well, I didn't either. Let's not waste any more time in this hallway. I'll go turn on the TV. You can look around, or you can wait for me to get a signal."
"Alrighty, captain."
The two of them split up, taking different paths between the bookshelves. Eren found his way to the TV, pressing the power button multiple times, before realizing it wasn't plugged in. "Come on, seriously!" he shouted. He realized the nearest socket was in the far corner of the room, and so he began pushing the stand towards it.
Eren took a few deep breaths and plugged the TV in, it flickered to life and something appeared on the screen. It was some sort of advertisement, promoting the great outdoors.
He watched a couple set up a tent, and throw down a blanket in the grass. They sat down and ate a meal, like there were no problems in the world... and there wasn't, at least not in the place they were living in. A beautiful clear sky, a vast city in the distance, and they did it all just to get a break from everything.
"That would be nice." he thought, before flipping the channel. In the corner of his eyes, something flew past the library window. He jumped back, bumping into one of the bookshelves. "W-What the hell?" he shouted, feeling his heart beat out of his chest.
Terry searched the bookshelves, looking for a book, but he didn't know what it was called. He was never an avid reader, he knew that, but something in his heart told him the answers were here, sitting on one of the shelves.
He searched, unaware of the commotion on the other side of the room. Eventually, he gave up, sitting at one of the nearby tables. He looked straight ahead, noticing something strange about the wallpaper. It seemed something was covered up.
He walked over and started tearing through it. Piece by piece, it became more clear, and with the final piece in his hand, a door stood before him, a door that he wasn't supposed to remember.
The door creaked open, and he stepped inside the library's study room. "This place... why would it block out this place? I only had good memories here." he muttered to himself before picking up a book, resting on the study desk.
"This book, it belonged to somebody, but who was it?"
He flipped the cover, and couldn't find a name. The name was on the tip of his tongue, but as he tried to remember, pain shot through his forehead. Eren heard him fall and rushed to the back of the library. He entered the uncovered room, shaking Terry awake.
"Hey, wake up! What the hell happened to you? Did you see it too?"
"S-See what?"
"I saw something running past the library. I thought maybe it killed you or something. What happened?"
"I-I don't know. I picked up that book over there, then I tried remembering something and-"
"What book?" Eren interrupted. "There is no book. What were you reading?"
Terry didn't believe him until he looked for himself. The book was gone. Terry screamed in fear at the realization, and Eren paced around trying to think. "Look, I'm not doubting you, I'm just..." he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Do you remember what the book was called?"
"The Cherry Tree."
"Damn, now there is no way I can doubt you."
"You know something about it?"
"I-I recognize the title, but other than that, I know nothing."
"Let's forget about it. Did that TV work?"
"Yeah, it's got a signal and everything, and you won't believe the message that popped up. It showed an ad so I flipped the channel, and as I did exactly that, something ran past me. I looked back at the screen and-"
Terry followed him to the TV and couldn't believe it. It was a message telling them to try the front door. "Nah, that sounds like a trap." Terry commented. "You and I both know it's nothing but white space out there."
"If we can walk on it, maybe we can visit the radio tower."
"Visit it? What do you hope to achieve by doing that?"
"I don't know, but it's such an obvious thing, that it makes sense to go there, right?"
"I guess so. I have a feeling we're going to be disappointed."
They both left the library and walked to the first floor entrance. The doors seemed normal, but there was a sort of buzzing coming from it. Eren put his hand on the door handle and pulled it open.
He sighed in relief. "Well, it wasn't a death trap." He stepped into the white space, only to fall through it. "Eren!" Terry shouted. He backed up slowly, paralyzed with fear. "No, not like this! Damn it!"
Something light as a feather touched his back, and within that same instant, he was sent forward, falling headfirst into the white abyss. He couldn't even catch a glimpse of it, and as he thought it was all over, he found himself back on the roof.
"Terry... are you seeing this?"
Terry followed his gaze to the stairway door, which was now closed, and upon it was a message painted in red. Eren read the message aloud.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gZ9O6f5ZG
'You hurt me, and so you'll hurt too'.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
