♝
♝: Reading a book together
“This is creepy as fuck,” he remarked, and the look June gave him showed she agreed.
While cleaning the computer room on an overtime shift, Sal found an old textbook stuffed behind a bookcase that he’d never noticed before. Probably because it was so thin, but it was dusty and the copyright on it meant it was from at least the early 1980′s. June walked in shortly after he found it, and now it was sitting on a desk between them as they both stared at it.
There were some markings on the outside that showed this was a book someone had taken notes in. There was just something so strange and creepy about seeing someone’s personal notes from several decades ago. It felt like opening a diary of a stranger found in a new house. There was a name written on the back but it was the one thing so faded it was hard to decipher. Everything else was faded, too, obviously but they could squint and make it out. Except for the name, which only made it all the weirder.
“Why do you think it was left here?” he asked, but got only on a shake of the head from June.
Taking a deep breath, Sal slowly reached out and open the first page. It revealed nothing but another copyright page and some information on the publication. It took a few more dusty pages before they got to the first chapter in what appeared to be a textbook on a specific formula Sal didn’t recognize.
From the moment they were on a page with some substance, there was writing in almost every margin. They both leaned forward, trying to read more. Some of it made sense but most of it didn’t. On the next page it got no clearer, and it seemed as if each page was filled to the brim with extra notes.
“Should we burn this?” Sal asked. He didn’t think of himself as a skeptical type, but this was definitely freaking him out in a way he hadn’t experienced before.
“Yeah, I’ve got a lighter in my car.”