The Book Keeper

by Amelia Grace

  The rules to the MRI were becoming clear. If I did not stick to the rules, it would be detrimental to me, and my relationships with those that I hold dear.

  As if on cue, our tea for two arrived. At once we both reached over to pour the pot of tea, and our hands touched. I froze looking at Georgia’s hand, trying to deny the chemical and physical attraction that I felt for her. I looked up into her eyes. They were filling with tears. I wanted to jump over the table and take her in my arms and kiss her passionately. Instead, I breathed out, and then leaned over towards her and kissed her lightly on the lips, diffusing some of my extremely strong emotions for her.

  As I pulled away, I wiped a tear from her face with my thumb, and looked deeply into her blue eyes.

  Georgia……my Georgia…..

  I sat back on my chair and watched her as she poured our tea. She unwrapped the gingerbread men and then broke off an arm and fed it to me. I reached over and broke off the other arm off and fed it to her. I was so in love with this woman. She moved me in every way. She was my soul mate. I knew it. And I would do anything for her. Including pushing her away from me to protect her life.

  Bittersweet.

  ‘How is the book going Keeper of the Book?’ Georgia asked.

  ‘The book is a book. It sits around doing what books do – nothing!’ I replied.

  ‘Did you write your name, birth date in it?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then it is far from doing nothing. It has been activated Mr Darcy,’ Georgia whispered, her eyes intense.

  ‘And?’ I asked, raising my eyebrows, returning her intense gaze.

  ‘And…..and, that is all that I can tell you Cohen. It will become clear at its appointed time. Then all will be revealed to you,’ she added in a low tone.

  I breathed in deeply and looked away from her. I didn’t want the bloody book. It was just another complication in my life.

  The cool air kissed my cheek as I stepped out of the café. I turned to Georgia.

  ‘Walk with me Georgia,’ I asked her, my voice serious. She looked into my eyes and nodded, then started to walk beside me. I looked down for her hand and then took it in mine. I closed my eyes as the feeling of warmth, softness and electrical connection flowed through my body. I wanted to hold her hand forever.

  We walked on in silence, a comfortable silence, like two people whose hearts beat as one. There was no need for words, just her closeness was all that I needed.

  The spectacular white fairy lights adorning the trees of the park led us to the pond. I stopped and put my arm around Georgia’s shoulders as the full moon reflected over the pond water.

  ‘Georgia, it would be safer for you if you stayed away from me,’ I whispered into her ear, closing my eyes and inhaling the refreshing strawberry smell of her hair.

  ‘But you are wrong Cohen. When I am with you, I feel safe, protected, like nothing bad can ever happen,’ Georgia replied, turning and looking into my eyes.

  “Then you are deceived Georgia. You put your life at risk by being with me. Right now, there could be a bounty on my head, and a hitman with his silenced firearm pointed directly at us,’ I said, my voice low, my lips close to her ear.

  ‘Why would you have a bounty on your head Mr Darcy?’ she asked.

  ‘Because of my knowledge of a certain device,’ I added, not wanting to give too much detail.

  ‘But I would shield you with my body if we were under attack Georgia. I won’t let you get hurt,’ I said, my voice calm.

  ‘You would take a bullet for me?’ she asked, her voice shocked.

  ‘Yes, without a second thought,’ I said, my lips now close to hers, and the electricity flowing between us like a lightning storm. I was hungry for her.

  ‘Cohen,’ she whispered as she moved her lips to mine and kissed me lightly, before deepening the kiss.

  She ran her hand lightly up my chest and around to the back of my neck, entwining her finger through my hair. I was losing control of my desires for her. I wanted to be one with her, but she was not my wife.

  I pulled away from the kiss, and ran my thumb lightly over her lips, looking deeply into her eyes.

  ‘Georgia, we cannot be….’ I said, my voice husky, shaking my head. ‘I’m sorry.’

  She placed her hands on either side of my face and looked into my eyes. And then she closed them, a tear rolling down her cheek.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered. And then I held her in my arms. I never wanted to let her go.

  ‘I’ll walk you home, before it begins to rain.’

  ‘Let’s,’ she whispered, trying to control the emotion in her voice.

  We walked, hand in hand in silence. And sometimes, she would rest her head on my shoulder, and my lips would find the top of her head to kiss.

  Bittersweet.

  We stood at the entrance to her apartment building as the first drops started to fall from the clouds. It was how my soul was feeling right at this very moment, crying tears of sorrow, of what ifs, of another time and place. If only the circumstances had been different.

  But if the circumstances were different, would we have ever met?

  Perhaps everything was as it should be, torturing my mind and heart, wanting to reach out to her and melt into her with my world, and her world as one. A taste of what it could have been like. A taste of sweet bliss. A taste of happily ever after, except mine would never come.

  I stood facing her, at first looking into her beautiful blue eyes until I could stand it no more. My heart was already aching for her. I closed my eyes trying to block out the pain, to disconnect my emotional connection to her.

  But then I felt her warm soft lips upon mine, her gentle tongue outlining my bottom lip until I parted my lips letting our tongues dance seductively. The world disappeared from around me. A tingle travelled down my spine and then settled filling my desire for her. I placed my hands on either side of her face, and slowly pulled away from her, opening my eyes to look into hers, our hearts connecting strongly.

  ‘Georgia, thank-you for everything,’ I said, my voice rough.

  ‘Everything?’ she asked, a look of confusion on her face.

  ‘You made me believe in love again, and that is everything,’ I added, looking into her eyes.

  ‘But,’ she said, knowing what was coming next.

  ‘But……another time, another place, I would be down on one knee asking you to marry me,’ I explained, trying to remove the emotion from my voice.

  ‘Another time, another place Cohen, I would say yes,’ she added, making it more difficult for me. I rested my head against hers and breathed in deeply.

  ‘I’ve got to go,’ I whispered.

  ‘I know Mr Darcy,’ Georgia whispered back. ‘Get rid of the trackers and the information so that you can lead a normal life with me.’

  ‘You make it sound easy Miss Harrison,’ I said with an Irish accent.

  I grabbed her hand and placed it over my chest so that she could feel my pounding heart.

  ‘This is what you do to me,’ I whispered to her.

  ‘Back at you Mr Darcy,’ she remarked in a low voice. I held her hand in mine, and then brought it to my lips, and kissed it lightly and looked into her eyes deeply once more.

  She blinked and nodded. I kissed her forehead, and then left in the pouring rain.

  Georgia……my Georgia……

  It was déjà vu all over again. The rain always poured down when Georgia and I parted ways, mirroring my emotions pouring out over her, full of regrets and lost dreams.

  I dragged myself up the steps to my apartment, and headed directly into a hot shower, where I could truly drown my sorrows, until I was emotionally exhausted. At least I would sleep soundly, if there was anything to gain from my broken heart.

  Chapter 19

  The loud rumble of thunder woke me from my sound sleep. I immediately placed my hand on my chest to make sure that there was no hole there like my nightmare. It was a routine now. Every morning I woke and felt my c
hest. My beating heart eased my mind and put me in good stead for the rest of the day. I was still human, and I still had a heart capable of compassion.

  I worked hard at gym class. I felt revitalised, ridding excess energy of my emotional separation from Georgia - again. I breakfasted at Ooooh Laaa La Café before heading back to CAI.

  I was unsure of where to park my butt considering I had been locked out of my office yesterday. Come to think of it, I was unsure whether I actually worked for this company anymore.

  I decided to head up to see weird white girl on the sanitized 27th floor, outside the repulsive office of the wicked Mr Rubin. She knew everything that went on in the building – see had her sources. She would know the directive about my office surely.

  The elevator doors opened at the 27th floor. Sterile white girl stood smiling, her grotesquely white teeth lighting up the room, almost blinding me.

  ‘Mr Darcy, welcome. It is nice to see you again. Please follow me to your seat,’ she squeaked with her irritating voice. Today, I found her presence unnerving. She was obviously aware of my movements, otherwise she would not have known that I was going to enter the sanitized foyer of the 27th floor. Was I still being tracked by her informers, or was it the CAI informers. What game was she playing, and whose side was she on?

  I nodded to Mia and sat on the oppressive white seat. I picked up newspaper to read, then put on my glasses as if my vision was blurred, my motives hidden behind the guise of reading the newspaper.

  I looked up over the top of the newspaper and directly at Mia, waiting for her direct eye contact. I only needed a brief contact to get inside her head. I hoped that she would not look away too quickly. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what was going on here on the office floor dominated by Mr B Rubin.

  Mia continued with her office work. She glanced at me several times, but not for long enough for me to make contact. But then the opportunity came. She turned her head towards me, and directly looked into my eyes. Did she know about the glasses, and their purpose?

  Tell no-one of your mind reading ability – you have been warned. Nod your head if you understand.

  Mia continued to hold my gaze. She was waiting for the nod. I did not give it to her. What if she could not be trusted either? I turned my eyes back to the paper that I was supposedly reading.

  Then I stood and walked over to her.

  ‘Am I seeing Mr Rubin Mia, or is this my new and improved office?’ I asked quietly. I continued looking into her eyes. Her mind was blank. She was very good at this emptying of the mind business.

  ‘Mr Rubin will let me know when he is ready to see you Mr Darcy. Please be patient,’ she requested in her too bubbly voice, and then broke eye contact with me.

  ‘Thank-you Mia,’ I said politely. Do not engage an enemy. I returned to my designated seat, and put my mind back to the newspaper.

  Forty-five minutes later the slight creak of the door to ice kingdom alerted me to some movement. Three men in black suits exited Mr B Rubin’s office. I caught a glimpse of a gun holster with a gun just under the coat of the second man in my peripheral vision.

  “Mr Darcy. CAI’s most wanted. Get your ass in this office!’ boomed Mr B Rubin’s voice.

  Nice. Good to hear that he hasn’t changed. He was still the epitome of rudeness.

  ‘It is your lucky day Mr Darcy,’ he blurted out, poking me in the chest with his pointy finger, the smell of alcohol on his breath.

  ‘And how is that Mr Rubin may I ask?’ I enquired with my hands in my pocket, narrowing my eyes as I looked into his.

  ‘I have decided to spare your life for a little longer Mr Darcy. I have found your little wifey, and have decided that she would be very useful to us with our research,’ he declared with a deceitful smile.

  “A beautiful brunette……what I could do with her….delicious….”

  His thoughts were loud and clear.

  I started to shake my head vehemently.

  ‘But Mr Rubin, your source of information is wrong. I am neither married, nor engaged. ’

  ‘Then perhaps a girlfriend with benefits huh?’ he added winking at me.

  “Long nights in bed satiated by se”

  ‘Not even that Mr Rubin,’ I responded before he could finish his thought. His vulgar mind repulsed me to the point of nausea.

  “What is wrong with you boy…are you gay you deadbeat?”

  ‘Mr Rubin, where is my office located?’ I asked him, distracting him from his train of drunken thoughts.

  His mood changed suddenly. He became irritable. He picked up his scotch glass and hurled it at the wall, splintering it into a thousand pieces.

  ‘Get out of my office. Do not show your face here unless I request it. Understood?’ he spat at me acidly in a low threatening voice.

  ‘Clearly,’ I replied calmly. Then I stood within inches of his face.

  ‘I warned you about the MRI device. I told you that I would trial the MRI and suffer the consequences should there be any. But you did not trust me, and had to have it implanted into your own eye and brain. You are the way you are by your own choosing Mr Rubin!’

  Then I turned away from him and walked out of his office. I nodded at Sterile White Girl as I walked past her desk, then entered the elevator and ascended one level to the 28th floor and back into my own office. It remained the same. Nothing about it had changed.

  I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. What am I doing here?

  What. Am. I. Doing. Here?

  I felt as though I was locked in a prison, with one tiny window allowing a pinpoint of lightshine into the small square cell. I was looking at the rays of light deliriously, wishing that I could fit through that tiny pinpoint in the wall. I was clawing at the brick wall to escape. But all that transpires is the ripping of my nails from their nail beds, pain is supposed to be searing through my body, and blood, my blood being smeared over the walls. But I am numb, numb to the bone, and my sanity is the only thing that escapes….from my mind. What. Am. I. Doing. Here?

  Play the game. Play it better.

  I sat at my desk, slumped, and then put my head into my hands.

  Funnily, none of the superheroes have the ability to read minds. Did their creators know that it would be a burden to heavy to bare? That they would find pure hearts and minds as rare as hen’s teeth, and that those perceived as good, in reality may not be as good as the mask that they wear. If I had to continue with intruding on the minds of others, voluntarily or otherwise, there is no doubt that I will lose my sanity. I will lose my own mind in the process. There is no good in the ability to read another’s mind, only destruction of the self.

  I have effectually cursed myself. Alone, I have put myself into this position. I only have myself to blame, and my stupidity in allowing the greed of others to define my future.

  I will take my secret to the grave. No soul will ever know of my mind reading ability. To humankind, I am a mere man. Average Joe. Nothing special. Nothing exciting. Just one to blend in with the jungle vines. Camouflaged by the shade from the canopy of trees reaching for the light, to be seen above the others. A ground dweller. That was what I was. A lowly ground dweller. A safe lowly ground dweller.

  But is that what I truly wanted? To be a wallflower. Sadly, I did not know what I truly wanted. All that I knew was that the MRI must be used for truth and justice. And once I started to lose control, or feel as if I was losing my sanity, that was the time to end it all, in some shape or form. Not with my life, but with the MRI device.

  I did deserve a happily ever after didn’t I?

  A loud sound alerted me to a presence outside my office. I opened the door to see Mia talking with police.

  ‘This is the one that you need to arrest,’ she instructed. The officers entered my office.

  ‘Mr Cohen Darcy?’ the police officer asked.

  ‘Yes,’ I answered.

  ‘We have a warrant for your arrest. Either you walk out of the building calmly with us, or we will handcuff yo
u sir. The choice is yours,’ he instructed.

  I put my hands up in the air. There was no way that I was going to be handcuffed.

  I looked into Mia’s eyes as I walked past her. She had betrayed me.

  “I am doing this for your own protection Cohen. You will be safer in jail. Our boss is losing the plot. I have done this to protect you...” her thoughts were loud and precise. I nodded to her in thanks. She nodded back at me.

  The journey to the police station was stress free. The police officers did not make much conversation. They walked me into headquarters and then placed me into a cell.

  Periodically, an employee from the police department would sit and talk with me. Sometimes they were in police uniform, others times not. Sometimes it was a psychologist, sometimes a detective.

  Nobody mentioned why I was being held in a cell. And I remained there under close watch for three weeks.

  Then they started to take me out of the cell occasionally. I sat in on questioning sessions with officers, who were gifted in asking the necessary questions to persuade an alleged criminal or victim to giving a statement.

  The process was long and drawn out, often physically and mentally tiring for the officers and the alleged criminal or victim.

  At one stage an officer walked away from the interrogation table and leaned up against the wall.

  ‘May I ask a few questions?’ I asked. He nodded at me.

  I slipped my glasses on and then sat opposite the suspect. Immediately our eyes made contact.

  Immediately I could read his thoughts, and started my tactics for questioning, luring him into the truthful confession of carrying out the crime. The case was closed, arrests made.

  This first break through led to other cases that I became involved in. And in no time I was a fully pledged plain clothes Police Detective.

  I moved out of my CAI Surveillanced apartment and into shared accommodation with another policeman – Jack.

  Thanks to Mia, my life had taken a different pathway. I could use my mind reading implant for the purposes of truth and justice. And only Mia and I knew the truth to my apparent gift as the other officers called it.