Secrets Beyond the Bookstore

An Old Book Store

It was around 8:30 at night, I got out of the train station, It was raining that night and a loud thunderstorm was coming. I could just feel it.

My house was pretty far away from the station so I decided to just stay at a book store nearby, the store itself was so unnoticeable and old that no one would even come in during the day or at night, not even I knew why I chose to go into an old book store of all places for shelter.

It was all empty except an old man who was the owner of the shop, his name was Eliot, I talked to him, he was a very interesting man he told me a lot about the shop on how it used to be the most popular store in the city a few decades ago and how he takes care of the shop the same way he did when he first opened it.

He said he had many interesting books in the shop and I was free to check them out. So, I went to look at the books, and even though I didn’t like reading, because of Eliot, those books seemed interesting to me. I was looking at the books and  my gaze fell on a golden door. It was huge, and looked magical to me, and that made me wonder what a door like that is doing in an old book store, and it also made me curious about what could be behind it, I thought to myself “could it be a monster? or perhaps a gateway to somewhere far away from the cities?”  and just then I heard Eliot saying “You seem interested in the door…” I replied “yes it seems very magical and I wonder what is behind it.”

Time Machine

Eliot said “I would normally not let anyone open or check it out but you seem like a great person so, I will open it for you.” I nodded as I was excited but also a little nervous because I didn’t know Eliot that well, I trusted him but you never know, right?

As Eliot opened the door I saw a rusty and old machine, and even though I was a mechanical engineer I couldn’t figure out what that machine was until Eliot told me it was a time machine.

I laughed because I found it hilarious but at the same time I wanted to believe him, then Eliot said everyone else laughed the same way but he said it actually works, he said I could relive and change a memory of my life but you only use it once, and the way he said it made me trust him I could see that he was telling the truth but at the same time it didn’t make sense. He told me he made it himself and asked me if I wanted to use it.

I was a little unsure but then I said yes. Eliot told me to come back the next day at the same time. The storm had calmed down by then, I had lost track of time while talking to Eliot- it felt like we were best friends. I said goodbye to Eliot as I left the store.

Only One Chance

The next day I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day about all the things that Eliot told me, I trusted him and I wanted to go back to the store, and as the clock hit 7:30 I got out of work and ran to catch the train, I ran to the store and I saw Eliot, he smiled when he looked at me and said “I didn’t think you would come” and as I replied “how could I not?” he took me to the room with the golden door again and there it was the time machine, it looked like it had been cleaned-but not that well, it was like someone had done a really bad job at trying to clean it but failed. I said to Eliot “You are really bad at cleaning things” He sighed and nodded and asked me “What memory of your life do you want to relive?” and reminded me I only had one chance. I thought very carefully and said “I want to go back to the time when I could appreciate my parents but didn’t because I didn’t realise their importance” Eliot smirked and said “So you want to make things right with your parents?” I nodded and Eliot pulled the liver as a flash came out of the machine and I closed my eyes.

Meeting parents

When I reopened them I was back to my old house in my room. I went downstairs and I saw my mother making dinner and my father was in the garage as usual, it was just like it used to be in the good old days when I was young, I felt nostalgic, I couldn’t believe how this was all happening. I heard my mother call me for dinner and when we all sat down at the dinner table together  again after such a long time and I tasted my mother’s cooking again, I feIt a rush of emotions- I felt bad about how I treated my parents when I was young, tears came to my eyes and I started crying. My parents asked me why I was crying and I told them how much I love and appreciate them and apologised for how badly I treated them. I cried as they told me that it’s not my fault and that they loved me and they will keep loving no matter how badly I treat them I cried even more and they kept comforting me, I felt their warm love that I hadn’t felt since they passed away, and that night I didn’t sleep in my room I slept beside my parents not because I felt scared of the monster under my bed like I used to when I was young, but because I just wanted to be with my parents for as long as I could. Before I went to sleep my parents told me they will always be by my side even if I can’t see them.

When I woke up I saw Eliot sitting on a chair just drinking some juice waiting for me, and as I walked up to him and thanked him for everything and asked him how he made this time machine. He answered that he had forgotten long ago how he made that. It felt like he was just trying to keep it a secret though I didn’t have the courage to ask him a second time, So I just decided to ask him who he was but he didn’t reply to that. He said “The memory you picked was a regretful one because you felt bad about how  you treated your parents when you were young.” I nodded and then he said “You know it’s ironic that we all just keep living in the past regretting things that we did and didn’t do instead of focusing on the present time, and when the present becomes the past we regret it again.” I listened to his words knowing they were true but didn’t have the courage to say anything, so I just nodded. He said “It’s not just you, every person in this world does this same thing but doesn’t realize it.” After he finished, I asked him what he used the time machine to do because he made it himself. He said he was never able to use it on himself, I was surprised and I asked why that was so, to which he replied “I would’ve used it to save my wife that died in a car accident but I had nobody to pull the liver for me” I told him I could pull the liver now but he said its too late now and he doesn’t mind it anymore because he doesn’t want to live with any regrets anymore. I told Eliot how much I respected him and decided to leave the shop as it was getting very late. Eliot reminded me to never tell anyone about any of these events. I nodded and left.

Book – Time Travel

The next morning I realized that I still had one of the books from Eliot’s store in my bag, it was called “time travel”. I decided to return it after work, but when I got to the place where the store was, it was nowhere to be found. I asked the locals around about the book store but no one seemed to remember such a store. I was surprised, confused and shocked. I wished I had read the name of the book store I regretted not doing it, but then I remembered what Eliot said and decided to just forget about it and thought to myself that maybe Eliot was never real l, maybe he was never there… but I am sure he was, and when I think about it I smile every time. I read the entire time travel book and the writer’s name was Eliot, and when I looked up the book online I found nothing. Even so, it was because of Eliot and that book that I live everyday to the fullest and without any regrets. Also, I’ve made reading a hobby now. Meeting Eliot and experiencing time travel taught me things that no one could teach me, something that many people live out their entire lives without learning:

Time isn’t meant to be changed or regretted…

 It’s  meant to be lived in…

 Even if it’s in broken pieces

 Because no matter how much we try to change it or perfect it, some things never change and are never meant to be perfected.

 So, the best thing we can do is learn to live with it.

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This article is published by Bookosmia, India’s #1 publisher for and by young people. Bookosmia publishes stories, books, podcasts, events, TED-Ed talks, workshops, bedtime stories and more related to kids and young adults.

Photo Credit – Copyright Free, Royalty Free images from pexels and canva

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