PART XIXThe Empty Book of 100 Pages
In our hands we held a list of 30 names. All but three had an “X” at its side, and a line crossing through the entire name. Was this truly a death list, or were we just being paranoied? I mean, it could be an attendance list, or a Christmas list, or something. We wished it be something else, something safer. The idea that all these people were murdered just did not settle well in our stomachs.
After recovering our strength we decided to journey further. The cabin, as I described before, had a distinct form of the letter “L.” The shelf where we found the list of names was located at the corner of the “L.” The bottom half of the “L” was somewhat blocked by tall piles of trunks. After taking them down one by one, very carefully, we explored this area. By the far w
all was a small table, on it was a small book. I picked it up, and the others gathered around. It appeared to be a journal of some sort, very thin, bound by a cover of tough, black leather.
“Well, go on, open it,” Bobby said. I turned the cover- blank. It was a faded page, yellowish, but there was no title, no publishing company, no date, nothing.
“That’s strange,” I muttered. I turned to the next page- blank. The next, and the next, and the next- all blank! Finally I just put my thumb on the edge of the pages and let them flip by. About 50 or so blank pages flew by when suddenly-
“Stop!” yelled Nicholas. My hands halted the search, and the page was blank. But I had seen it too.
“What?” asked Gaeten.
“Turn back a couple pages,” Nicholas said. I did so, and there, out of nothing, appeared black text and a picture.
On the left page there lay an etched portrait of a man, dressed in extravagant clothing from the 19th century. It wasn’t a hand drawing either, this was printed onto the page. On the right page was text. At the top it read, “Family History of the Jameson’s.” It appeared to be a British family, there was a brief summary of family members dating back to the 17th Century. At the bottom of each page were the page numbers, 50 and 51.
“That’s awfully strange,” I said.
“What is?” asked Bobby.
“This appears to be an actual book, not a personal journal, the text has been produced by a printing press. And yet there is no title at the front, no publisher’s credentials, no date, nothing. Even more strange is the fact this author put the substance in the exact middle of what is mostly an empty book. Why leave everything else blank? Is there some sort of significance with the middle? The author had counted out the pages leading up to the text, as apparent by the page numbers, but only printed the actual numbers on just those two pages. Why just those two, does it have anything to do with the numbers 50 and 51? Why not just make a two page book? Why make a 100 page book for only 2 pages? Why did he have to make it all blank? It doesn’t make any sense.”
After recovering our strength we decided to journey further. The cabin, as I described before, had a distinct form of the letter “L.” The shelf where we found the list of names was located at the corner of the “L.” The bottom half of the “L” was somewhat blocked by tall piles of trunks. After taking them down one by one, very carefully, we explored this area. By the far w
all was a small table, on it was a small book. I picked it up, and the others gathered around. It appeared to be a journal of some sort, very thin, bound by a cover of tough, black leather.“Well, go on, open it,” Bobby said. I turned the cover- blank. It was a faded page, yellowish, but there was no title, no publishing company, no date, nothing.
“That’s strange,” I muttered. I turned to the next page- blank. The next, and the next, and the next- all blank! Finally I just put my thumb on the edge of the pages and let them flip by. About 50 or so blank pages flew by when suddenly-
“Stop!” yelled Nicholas. My hands halted the search, and the page was blank. But I had seen it too.
“What?” asked Gaeten.
“Turn back a couple pages,” Nicholas said. I did so, and there, out of nothing, appeared black text and a picture.
On the left page there lay an etched portrait of a man, dressed in extravagant clothing from the 19th century. It wasn’t a hand drawing either, this was printed onto the page. On the right page was text. At the top it read, “Family History of the Jameson’s.” It appeared to be a British family, there was a brief summary of family members dating back to the 17th Century. At the bottom of each page were the page numbers, 50 and 51.
“That’s awfully strange,” I said.
“What is?” asked Bobby.“This appears to be an actual book, not a personal journal, the text has been produced by a printing press. And yet there is no title at the front, no publisher’s credentials, no date, nothing. Even more strange is the fact this author put the substance in the exact middle of what is mostly an empty book. Why leave everything else blank? Is there some sort of significance with the middle? The author had counted out the pages leading up to the text, as apparent by the page numbers, but only printed the actual numbers on just those two pages. Why just those two, does it have anything to do with the numbers 50 and 51? Why not just make a two page book? Why make a 100 page book for only 2 pages? Why did he have to make it all blank? It doesn’t make any sense.”
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