My mind was distracted from the previous happenings of the night; I was completely unaware of the man who had appeared near me. A whiff of what seemed to be musky cologne and something like the aroma of tobacco made my nostril hairs tingle. His grasp, so taut, that my first reaction was try strip his hand from my jaw.

I continued to struggle as his gorilla arms engulfed me. In this moment, all my previous thoughts about Benjamin and his enticing ancient book were ripped from my mind and now flashes of anger and fear consumed it.

“What do you want?” I tried to murmur through his fingers.

I was tugged just off the street and into a dimly lit side ally. This was it, I thought, dark side ally’s never contained casual occurrences, except maybe a litter of kittens being born and disposed hologram microchips. He fastened his grip on me and jerked my head nearer his own.

“Girls like you shouldn’t be wondering the streets around at this hour of the night. Now should they?” He seemed to salivate into my ear.

In this moment, I had stopped breathing, for possibly the longest time of my life. I limply shook my head in response.

“Do you know who you are with? Because we do,” with one large fowl swoop, this dark and unearthly man, forcefully threw me back into the street. “Go home, before worse things happen!”

I felt as though I had been skipped across the tar, as a stone on water. However, my landings were nowhere as gracious. In utter confusion, I got to my feet as soon as my body would allow for and sprinted home. Thankfully it was only two blocks further.

As I ran into my house I swiftly punched in the code that enabled ultimate security. The evening had my mind on a rollercoaster ride. What was that man’s intentions? Why did he let me go scot-free? And who was he to ask about people in my life? These were some of the many questions I was whispering to myself whilst getting ready for bed.

I hologram chatted Benj, as soon as I felt the comfort and security of my bed. I explained to him what had happened and he was very surprised, there even seemed to be an appearance of panic in his eyes. However, it did not appear to amplify his concern for me and my safety, as I would have expected it to. Rather bizarre indeed. I requested to visit him in the morning, as I was still on edge.

“You’re more than welcome to. Sleep well.” He replied, dosing off. The hologram window vanished from the air and left the room in darkness. Darkness, silence and thought.

The following morning I chose to take my hovercraft, rather than walk, to visit Benj. I scanned my microchip over the sensor near my hovercraft and was on my way. Arriving at Benj’s place, there seemed to be a change in atmosphere. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it. Maybe it was simply my mind-set after what happened last night, or maybe Benj was genuinely acting different.

Whatever this dissemblance was, the morning carried out as enjoyable as our past visitations. Eggs, bacon and orange juice was always my favourite for breakfast. Benj never brought up what had happened to me last night. I found this rather peculiar, but concluded it must be his way of allowing me not to think about that frightful happening again.

After breakfast and the usual discussion about what was streaming on the daily Holo-news, Benj headed off for a shower. I was lounging around his pod, quite frankly, a little bored. That was until I crossed the path of Benj’s cabinet display case. This reminded me of the intriguing ancient journal, heightening my curiosity again. Next thing I knew, my fingers were unlacing the yellow string that held this interesting object shut. I managed to read most of it before Benj was done with getting ready. When he came down stairs, I managed to tie it perfectly and place it, as though I had never set fingers on it. I was mind blown indeed.

This item contained an immense amount of information, in comparison to most books. Somehow, it was more modern within itself. This journal contained all the thoughts and ideas of one man. His entire life’s mental activity encapsulated into one book. This book was able to store and capture every thought this man had ever had, from every age in his life. I was mesmerised by the depth of this book and the thought processes of this man. This was all until I encountered his name.

***

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