The high school cafeteria was packed since morning since it's the first day of the Sports Fest. Everyone's on their own while waiting for the opening program to start in an hour.
"There's a new craze topic on the online forum. You saw it?"
A high school girl babbled while munching on her soft bread.
"Yeah. But I'm not into books that's why I just ignored it."
Her friend informed her.
"You should try it. The words and thoughts aren't complicated but…"
The girl grabbed another soft bread and indulged herself.
"But?"
"But I'm not sure. When I read it, I thought it was a simple story but… once you read it, you'll understand what I mean."
"Why not just tell me?"
Her friend insisted.
"It's like the author's telling multiple stories at the same time."
"Oh… interesting."
"Yeah. The book was actually released last year then sold out over a million copies. There were excerpts of the book that were posted online recently and those who read the book were thrilled saying they'll read it again."
Her friend, who seems to get interested, scans her phone and checks the forum.
"What's the title of the book?"
"It's 'The Devil Inside Me'."
"They say the author will be releasing a new book by the end of the second quarter next year. But before it happens, a special edition of The Devil Inside Me will be released online."
"Maybe that's why excerpts were released; for marketing purposes."
"I guess so. But everyone's getting frenzied because it's like a one-night event and before you can read the edition, you have to answer some questions."
"Seems like the book was really a hit, huh?"
"That's true. The author got lucky."
The girl chuckled.
"How much is the edition then?"
"There's no fee. You just have to log on to the author's website and answer the questions. And guess what..."
The girl felt ecstatic.
"Hmmm?"
Her friend raised her browse while eating her soft bread.
"They say the author will be the one to check the answers and personally email them the password of the protected file. Isn't it like an online meet and greet event? Eeeiiiihhh!"
The girl squeaked.
"Who's the author?"
"Hmmm…"
She shrugged.
"Nobody knows. That's why everyone's thrilled."
"Quite mysterious, huh?"
Her friend stroked her chin.
The school bell rang announcing the start of the opening ceremony.
"Hey, Art! When will the special edition be released?"
"There's no date yet. But some are guessing it'll be by the end of this year."
"Oh…"
Art's friend appeared to be wondering.
"Let me see… someone's getting rea…lly interested, huh, Cecil?"
Art grinned stressing her excitement for Cecil.
"Uh… haha."
"I'll lend you the book. You won't be able to find any copies online even the hacked ones. That's how the author's team works, very meticulous."
"Thank you, Art! Let's go to the gym now."
The book entitled The Devil Inside Me was released in the second quarter of last year and was sold out at the end of this year's first quarter. It received four awards namely, the Novice Entry Award, National Book Award, Writers Guild Award, and Women's League Award.
As the book was acknowledged in the journalism industry, it also received a lot of critics. It actually had more bad reviews but still had the last copy sold. The usual bad comments say:
"The author shouldn't think ahead of him or herself just because of the awards. In reality, nobody understood the work."
"Though it's a fiction work, nobody related to the work."
"This is trash. I wasted my money and time finishing this book."
Somebody replied to the last comment:
"You wasted your money and time, you said. But you still finished reading the book. (Smiley)"
Some stated:
"The author used simple words but it's still hard to understand."
"I felt compelled to read everything and I was taken to another world or time."
"Everything's not just about comprehending, but also feeling the emotions being told."
Reading all the comments coming in every day, the author just let them be. They say these things help but only depend on how one reacts to everything.
"Hey, Cecil! What happened to you? You have big dark circles."
Art grasped Cecil's face looking surprised at her friend's circles.
"Eh? I slept late… or should I say early?"
Cecil replied with a low and sleepy voice and let her heavy head slip from Art's hand. It landed unconsciously on her hands on the table.
"Hey, Cecil! You have a volleyball game in an hour. Wake up!"
Art kept on shaking her friend's shoulder.
"Sigh. Should I not lend you the book? I didn't know you'll finish it at once."
She thought.
"Hey, come on! I'll buy you the strongest coffee. We couldn't let our ace player don't play the game."
Art led Cecil to the cafeteria as she trudged the catwalk.
"I had a hard time at first, figuring what the author wanted to say in her story. It was really that simple like an everyday conversation but…"
Cecil stopped and yawned. She sipped from her coffee and looked at Art who's busy scanning her phone.
"But?"
"The author said 'it wasn't easy'. I realized I have read that line many times but then again, I try to remember which part in the story I have read it, I couldn't remember anymore. Though I wanted to go back to the previous chapters, I couldn't. it's like I was really compelled to continue reading. Just read and don't flip back the pages."
"You understand now what I meant, right? In general, that's what I felt also."
"It wasn't easy… but you have to keep moving forward."
Cecil mumbled. Staring in the wilderness, both of them became quiet for a while. For a second there, Art thought Cecil was sleeping again. But when she looked at her, her friend's actually crying.
"Hey, Ces. Why are you crying?"
"Huh?"
Cecil didn't know she was crying until she touched her face. There was a stream of tears and she couldn't hold it. She suddenly felt like choking and her chest tightens.