The Unconscious Chapters -/- Shadows Pt. 2

W h a t  d o e s  i t  a l l  m e a n ?

This page... It just seems so familiar. I know I haven't written it, I'm positive of that. This isn't even what I was working on prior to this catastrophe. And yet it has my name. Ravine. There could be no other. It has my style. It has my words. It has my method. And yet, I know I haven't written it. It's been a month since the first page, and a month since I've written about this occurrence. Since then, I've been finding these everywhere I go. I've tried to leave the house, but something is holding me back. A nagging feeling. An uncertainty. Sometimes, a horrific terror. It's as if the Unconscious wants me here. It wants me to know. To marinate in my thoughts. I've contemplated insanity twice now. My reflection doesn't terrify me anymore, but at the same time, I don't understand why I still can't see myself. I'm still faceless, still nobody. But the Unconscious hasn't kept me alone completely. These papers, they keep returning. Appearing out of thin air, falling from above me. I've even grown to expect them. I haven't read them yet, but I think the Unconscious would want me to. There has to be some sort of message in them, an escape from this madness. No use putting it off anymore. Page 2. Show me the answers.

“The rest of the day seemed normal to me after that strange encounter with the room. It was stuck in my mind all day, and I couldn't shake it. I drifted off as I worked, I don't think Grove noticed. If he did, I'd probably be out of a job. No one likes a dreaming worker, even if this is a library. An imagination, maybe, but I can't shake the feeling that it wasn't just a mild-mannered daydream.

...Who am I kidding? I'm not insane. I haven't had a single mental issue in all of my li-... I stopped. What was I thinking just now? That's strange... I heard the rummage of papers from between the bookshelves. Something probably fell. I better pick that up. I walked over into the biography section where the noise came from. Strange, nothing seems out of place. I called out.

“Hey Grove, are you cleaning up somewhere?”
“Huh? No, I'm just doing my rounds, everything seems to be in place. Do we have a customer?” he asked.
“No, no, I just thought I heard something. No business yet.”
I walked back to the service desk. I went back to my thoughts. Slow business today, not too bad. I think I might be getting paid a little too much for this! Heh, what is it 'they' say? A smile. This is the li-

A flash. Papers falling again. What is going on... All of a sudden I'm back in the room.

“No... I can't be crazy... This isn't happening again...” I mutter to myself in a panic.

The words are still illegible. The back wall. Another word splattered to the pages.

“LIFE.”

I snap out of it. I'm on the floor. I feel my face. What, what is this... tears? Have I been crying? No, Grove would have heard me. I stand up. He comes out from one of the aisles.

“I heard something fall, was that you? ...You look beat! Are you feeling alright, Briar?”
Am I feeling alright? I'm not so sure...

“Yeah. Yeah I think I'm okay. Just stumbled is all.”

Grove seems to be concerned. But that wipes into a smile quickly.

“Closing time soon, clean up your space and I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe then we'll have better business.” he laughs as he heads up the stairs to his office.

Life... Another great question for me today. No rest for me when I head home, I think I just gotta tell someone about this, someone who won't say that I'm crazy. I clean up quickly and efficiently and leave the store.

...Yeah, maybe that's all I need.”