Chereads / The Dark Stone / Chapter 12 - Strange

Chapter 12 - Strange

"Mr. Mark is on leave and so, I'll be filling in for him today." Ms. Lisa said and my spirit dropped.

I wanted to tell Mr. Mark about what happened yesterday and how I found Mayur. When I first appeared in this world, he was the only person who could notice the problem. I wanted to get his advice on this matter, but maybe, luck isn't running in my favour these days.

"We won't get to see him." I said, dejectedly.

The lecture ended and we met Chester in the main hall. I decided to bunk my language class today. Partly because I can't leave Mayur alone with Chester and also because I can't bear forty five minutes of that stupid language class where every other word seemed to be compatible with the sentence and where evidence analysis threatened to blast my brain cells with answers that made no sense. No thanks, I'd rather be enjoying our beautiful school campus.

"You're coming too?" Chester asked and I answered in the affirmative.

"Alright then, let's go see the library first, it's the nearest."

We passed a mage of classes and halls and corridors and in a matter of minutes we were standing in front of the school library.

It was a huge hall with columns that were at least seven feet tall. Amber International School's library was one of the largest in the city and the district.

However, I was never fond of this place, it creeped me out to see an entire hall filled with books and on top of all that the librarian was a middle aged man with a nasty personality and he made sure to kill any of my inclination towards visiting the library.

"Come on in." Chester said and gladly entered the hall, not noticing the fact that the librarian was staring at him with a deadly gaze. We walked in and Chester started explaining about each section of the library.

After about few minutes, we reached the language section.

"Now, beholdeth the work of the most wondrous Shakespeare." Leo announced like a magician as he showed us the collection of plays from Shakespeare.

In the past few months, I've come to know that Shakespeare was a playwright, poet and author. His works are deemed as works of pure art and he is also regarded as the world's greatest dramatist. However, I was never interested in literature. I haven't even read a single work of his, and honestly, I'm not even interested. All I want right now is the answers to the mysteries that surround my life and only then will I think about other indulgences.

But I noticed a sudden change in Mayur's calm demeanor as soon as he heard Chester. I could make out that he was thinking very hard about something.

"Chester which language did you use just now?" He inquired, he might have tried to hide it, but the graveness in his voice was evident.

"What do you mean 'which language'? It's Shakespearean English of course. He wrote all his works in this manner."

"Can I get one book?"

"Um...you see, it's only for the students of this school." Chester said.

"Let me borrow it." I said. "After all, the library card that I have will finally be put to some use."

Chester thought about it and finally agreed. "But it's your responsibility to return it in three days or there will be a fine." He warned. "You know that the librarian will skin you alive if you didn't."

"Yeah, I know." I said and issued the book 'The Merchant of Venice' for the next three days.

Holding the book in his hands, Mayur had already started reading. Quite frequently, he'd ask what the words in the novel mean and Chester would explain him. I, of course, knew nothing about Shakespearean English and I couldn't bother less, but it sure was strange to see how dedicated Mayur was. By the time it was lunch, he had already finished half of it. What a speed!

"Mayur?" I shook him, trying to get his attention towards the food on the table.

"Hmmm.." he responded, still buried in his book.

I couldn't take more of it. It was getting on my nerves. I took the book out of his hands and showed him the food kept in front of us.

"You can read the rest at home." I said, quite annoyed. He looked like he wanted to protest but the sight of food stopped him.

I had picked cheese sandwiches and an ice-cream with mango shake. It was the same for Mayur and Chester took a jumbo falafel with a cold drink.

"Man, you're totally into that book." Chester exclaimed. "You didn't notice what I was showing you around the school." he made a sad face, purely to tease Mayur and not because he was actually sad. Chester, too, was a great enthusiast for the Shakespearean world and he was on the drama club as well, so whenever he found someone who shared his interest, he couldn't be any happier.

"Here have it." I showed Mayur the ice-cream that I brought.

"What's this?" he asked, plainly. Chester started to laugh.

"Ha, Ha...enough with it. I know you're on diet, but this is a weird way to say that." I added hastily.

"Diet?" Mayur repeated.

I was getting nervous. Chester was now observing Mayur very keenly.

"You know, both of you are very similar." he said, "some two months back, Arya was acting like this too."

"Ha, ha, what are you saying? I was never like that." I wanted to change the topic.

"What do you mean?" Mayur asked and I wanted to put a duct tape on his mouth. Why is he inviting trouble for me?

"Well...there were many weird things, for example, she pretended to forget me and my name and then she started murmuring that she's in the wrong place. What really blew my mind was that she liked Mr. Mark's lecture. Now, that's strange 'cause she totally hated particle physics, but ever since that day she became the favourite student of Mr. Mark. That's too sudden a change."

Chester gave a real detailed description of my miseries. I wondered why I even asked Mayur to have that ice-cream. Damn you! stupid ice-cream.