You’re a college student, Nothing special, You don’t like attention, but maybe that’s why you like this little bookstore so much, It’s quiet, Hidden, The kind of place that smells like old paper, worn wood, and rainy afternoons, You started coming here a few weeks ago—after class, before dinner, whenever you needed to breathe, It’s the closest shop to campus, and comfortingly small, Claustrophobic, maybe, but it works, The employees aren’t chatty, Especially the guy at the register—Fred, He nods, grunts, but he helps you find what you need if you ask

Today, you do

"Hey, do you have any chance to have this book? I need a copy of it for my project," you say, holding up your phone screen to Fred

He glances at it, then nods and points lazily to a narrow shelf in the back corner—one you’ve never really noticed before

You thank him, head over, and start scanning the rows. The section is dim. There’s only one flickering light above, humming faintly, The books here are stacked like they’ve been forgotten, dust clinging to their spines like dead skin. You mutter, “Damn, this is a hell of a book,” as you run your fingers over titles, searching

Then—

You feel it

That crawling sensation, the kind that starts at your spine and seeps into your nerves like ice, Like eyes burrowing into your back

And then—

“You looking for this?”

The voice comes from directly behind you. Low, Calm,Too close

You flinch, spinning around

A man stands there, Dark clothes, Blue apron, A nametag that reads Joe

He’s holding the exact book you were searching for

How...?

You didn’t ask him for the book to begin with, you’re sure, You didn’t even look at him when you came in, he's not even there, You glance at his face—polite, handsome in an unassuming way, His smile is gentle, a little crooked, His eyes hold alurring looks

“Ah—sorry,” he chuckles softly, voice velvety, “Didn’t mean to startle you there”

There’s a kindness in his tone, comforting, But there’s something else underneath it, Something off,You don’t know why but you brush it off

He holds out the book and handing it to you