The book of mysteries
In a world where everything is grey, it is hard to imagine a world where colours don’t reign and where everything isn’t controlled to the last thing where every gesture isn’t calculated to the nearest inches. After an event that destroyed the whole world, the government took extreme measures to prevent something similar from happening again. This is the world Jasmine, a young girl who lives on Garnier Street in Montreal is facing. The freedom is just a mere memory now since it all changed so quickly and so fast. Simple things such as going out at any time of day that pleased you are now prohibited. As everything has to be reported and open communication is primordial. In some way, the world made a complete 180 because everything had to change to maximize the recovery and minimize the recurrence of similar events. Now the graffiti-covered walls had been replaced by white and grey walls. Everything that was once present is no longer there; the vibrant culture of the Mont-Royal Plateau was replaced by a structure, a strict but safer way of life.
For Jasmine and many others, the new reality of living in a controlled environment was a good thing. Since they were safe and prepared for anything, what more could they ask for? One day she was cleaning her library and then she discovered a dusty book sitting on her top-shelf. The content of the novel was unknown to Jasmine, she skimmed over a few pages, but these were blank. Confused, she took the time to look for a passage, a drawing, something that could remind her of this book. Suddenly she noticed in the left corner of a sheet of paper a flyer, it was a manual for the book. Puzzled, she read it attentively. Then she knew that every hour a page would be written, by whom or by what, was not specified. Intrigued and a little scared, she took her cell phone and did what everyone would have done in this situation; research on Google. Sadly, she found nothing. Confused that Google didn’t show answered to all of her questions, she went to plan B. Plan B is to go to the library, maybe Maggie the local librarian knows more about the book than her. So she starts running and feels the wind through her hair. Slowly the cold moves to meet the warmth of her blood. After a few minutes of running, Jasmine arrives at the library and sees Maggie concentrated on a book.
“Hey Marge, I need your help with something,” said Jasmine.
“Okay, just a moment,” said Maggie without looking up.
“Look, I don’t have time, so I’ll talk fast! I found the weirdest book. First off, I don’t recall having it or where it came from, and guess what! It’s blank! It came with some type of message, more like gibberish if you ask me,”
“You’re point being Jasmine?” Maggie asked impatiently.
“My point is that I know nothing about this book and I was wondering if maybe you have seen another one like this one,” she said and handing her the book.
Once Maggie had her hands on the book she started examining the book. It was heavy and smooth. The endpapers were perfectly glued together and it opened up to some beautiful delicate pages. She has never seen anything like it before. She was amazed the pages were blank! Somehow she could feel the words when she passed her fingers to inspect it.
“Sorry I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Maggie and handed her the book.
Unfortunately, she was back at square one; she wanted to know who wrote it, why every hour, and more importantly what was the content in the pages. In vain, she found nothing!
It was 12:43 am. Should she wait until 1 am to read a page or 1:43 am? She had so many questions but the whole thing was ridiculous! Books like that do not exist, she thought. She felt stupid, it had to be a prank. A few minutes later, she picked up the book, and found a page full of images and words. It revealed pictures she had taken before the epidemic that had ravaged everything. Jasmine reassured herself, she was tired and she was starting to hallucinate. It can't be possible! Then more and more pictures and letters started to appear in front of her. She had forgotten everything! There were several people and names she didn't know existed. She became agitated, felt confused, and opened the window. Jasmine paced back and forth in her small room, she saw herself in those photos, but she didn't know why! A feeling of desperation invaded her body. She felt empty.
Suddenly everything came back to her. All were memories of her old life. Then it all came back to her. At that moment, she knew it wasn't the world that was grey. No, it was her. She lived in a world of rule and structure, for she had lived for years in a mental hospital. The epidemic had driven her crazy. Until she could no longer sleep and saw the virus everywhere. Jasmine had quietly lost her mind.
After that night, Jasmine was never the same. She had lost her identity because she no longer knew who she was. Jasmine had lost the identity she had in those photos and then the one she had now in the hospital.
I had fun writing this short story, I was inspired by our new way of life. We all have to be careful and we feel trap like there's no way out. Sometimes I feel like Jasmine, I don't really know who I am and I don't seem to remember what life was before the lockdown, the restrictions and the rules.
