Ethan ran home, stopping his walk, only an hour through. He took about 30 minutes to return home, and was huffing, and puffing when he neared the house. He fumbled with the key in his hand, trying to unlock the door, as his hands were sweaty, from running all the way home. He walked up the stairs, purposely missing the stair that creaks, while his eyes darted around the hallway upstairs, scanning for his siblings. Thinking he was clear, Ethan stepped out, and slipped over one of his brothers monster trucks, causing him to land face first onto the floor, with a loud BANG! He groaned, and rubbed his aching forehead, momentarily forgetting about his bag, with the book in it. He had unzipped his bag when getting out the key, and had been so hot, he had forgotten to zip it back up again, so when he fell, the contents of his bag lay sprawled across the floor. His siblings ran out from their rooms, and stared at the mess that was their brother. His eyes opened, and he gazed out at his siblings, staring at him, as though he were more entertaining then a clown. Ethan's mind snapped back into order, and he immediately scooped his stuff back in his back, and paused when his 8 year old brother stepped on the library book, and dragged it with his foot. Ethan glared at him, as his brother bent down and picked it up.
"What is this?" Tom asked.
"Nothing!" Lied Ethan, as he snatched the book out of his brothers hands, grabbed his bag, and made a run for it. Two siblings gave chase, but two just stayed there, looking at the sand, now embedded into the carpet. Ethan made it into his room, and only just had enough time to lock the door, before his siblings started knocking on his door, and demanding to be let in. He inspected the book, ignoring his siblings knocks at the door. He scanned through the pages, only paying half of his attention to it, stopping on the last page, which was ripped. Ethan tentatively touched it, confused as to why it was blank. His stomach lurched. Light and loud noises overwhelmed his senses, just like a disco would. When he opened his eyes, and the feeling of nausea went away, he was no longer at his house. He was in a library. Ethan tightly clutched his book unsure as to what happened. The library was full of people. Some were typing furiously on computers, some learning and reading, while others roamed the shelves, picking out the right book for them. Some people had special badges, and gave him a dirty look as they walked past. the badges read: Library Monitor. Ethan could see a bunch of busy and jolly people bustling around. Ethan explored the library, shocked the whole time. When he finished, he concluded that there were three main rooms: A computer room, a reading room, with shelves and books, and a working room, were there were a bunch of community games to play.The smell of books, overwhelmed Ethan's nose. He walked to the reading room, dazed. A young woman in her twenties who was putting books on reserve, looked at him, went back to work, then shock spread across her face, and she looked back at him. Ethan followed her gaze, and found out, that she was looking at the book he was tightly clutching in his hands.
"Who... why are you holding that book? Actually, how are you holding that book? There is only one copy in the entire library! I am holding it right now!" She said waving the book around like crazy.
Ethan sighed, then added: "Maybe take a seat while I talk to you for a little. What is your name?"
"Jenny." She said, leading him to a seat.
"Ok. Thank you for your time,Jenny." Ethan said. He then explained to her all that had happened that very day.
Jenny looked genuinely flabbergasted, after Ethan had talked to her.
" So your from the future.."
"Yes, that is at least what I think..."
Jenny stood up, her face impossible to read.
"Follow me."
Ethan did as he was told, and discovered a 4th room, which Jenny called the history room. She tapped a lanyard on a keypad, and tapped in a key-code. The door opened, and shut after they entered the room.
They looked around for a little, before Jenny found what she was looking for.
" Ethan! Come here,"
Ethan jogged over, and saw a sign that read: "Ripped pages."
Ethan and Jenny scanned and searched through the pile, and finally found a piece of paper, that fitted perfectly into the book.
"Ok, I have to get back to work, otherwise, I might not have a work to get back to."
"Thank you so much!" Ethan said.
Ethan asked where there would be glue, and Jenny said there was some in the work room. Ethan started to run, but Jenny stopped him and said: "No running in the library!", then, she went back to work, putting reserves on for people.
Ethan walked with the ripped page and book, and glued it back on. Once again, a lurching feeling filled Ethan, and he smiled, with his eyes open, embracing the lights and sounds.
"Yay!" He said to nobody. "Thank you Jenny!" He laughed and enjoyed the moment.