Secrets of the City - Writing Contest Entry

Instructions

The dusty smell of books. Elio loved it. It was one of the reasons he had become a librarian. He adored the organized systems of the shelving and the feel of the different kinds of books. The thing everyone remembered about Elio, was that he loved having a system, which is why he was the director of the library at 1035 Anderson Avenue, New York City. On a chilly November day, Elio was just starting to close up, when he saw a piece of paper sticking out of a book. He thought it must be a bookmark someone left inside, so he reached to grab it and pull it out. The paper was a plain shade of white and it had a message on it. Elio pushed up his turtle shell glasses and read: “shinwagont flinij naske grytny.” Elio spoke 3 languages, but he had no idea what this was. Maybe it was some ancient language or secret code? Instead of throwing it out, he stuffed it in the front pocket of his freshly ironed jeans. Later that evening, Elio was hunting the internet for different codes and languages in his spotless apartment. After almost 2 hours of searching and finding nothing, he shut his laptop, put on his coat, and walked out the door. The crisp Autumn air made his hands numb as Elio walked through the crowded city streets. He was headed to his friend Lina’s house. He met Lina in college 6 years ago, and she traveled a lot, so Elio thought she must know a bunch of languages. His apartment was only about a block away from hers so the walk over was brisk, and he was there in about 3 minutes. He patted his pocket to check that the note was still there, took it out, and knocked on her door. “Come in Elio!” Lina said in her British accent. She moved to the United States just before College. “Hey Lina, I’ll be quick. I have a note I found in the library and I was wondering if you could help me decipher it?” said Elio. “Sure! I’ll do my best, come sit down.” Lina and Elio sat on her sofa, along with Lina’s cat, Bubbles. Lina held out her hand for him to give her the note, and Elio placed it in her palm. As soon as she looked at the message, her bright green eyes widened. “What is it?” asked Elio. She seemed to have trouble finding words. “You shouldn’t have found this. I don’t know how you did. Forget about it,” uttered Lina. Elio started to speak but was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. “I better take this, stay there,” Lina said. She got up, taking the mysterious note with her to the kitchen. Once she was gone, Elio looked around Lina’s living room. Pictures from other countries were hung up on her walls, and her bookshelf was full of language guidebooks. He thought they might be of help, so he got up and scanned the shelf, and thought to himself that the books were a disordered mess. His eyes fell on one of the books that was about ancient ciphers, which he pulled off the shelf. He noticed a plain white bookmark in the middle and his heart picked up. He tugged it out and drew in a breath. There was more writing scrawled on this paper reading: “Lilipensed cedreoany frillpingt killssuf.” He heard footsteps approaching from the kitchen and quickly stuffed the paper into his pocket. Bubbles was staring at him with ferocious yellow eyes and she started meowing. “Why is Bubbles meowing so loudly?” Lina asked in the doorway. “I don’t know. I better get going, it’s getting late,” Elio spoke quickly. “Alright then. Goodnight. Please forget about that note, it was just gibberish,” said Lina. At home, Elio couldn’t stop reading his new note. What did it all mean? Why was Lina acting so nervous? Could he get the other note back? He went to his bedroom, opened his laptop, and sat at his desk. He started composing an email to send to his colleague at the library who was a historian. Maybe he could help figure out the message. He was about to start typing when he looked at the time. 11:08 PM. It wasn’t too late, but Elio had work tomorrow and had to wake up early to open the Library. He closed his laptop and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. After brushing his teeth, he went back to his bedroom to go to sleep. He stepped into the room to see his laptop open, the bright screen illuminating the dark room. He walked closer to shut it, but then saw a message typed on the screen: “STOP SEARCHING ELIO.”