THE MOMENT
"Volume One...," Benjamin felt a sudden pit in his stomach as he looked over the thick tome. How many lies had he heard? The book was as thick as a dictionary. Red text on the white cover read: Lies in the Life of Benjamin Carter; volume 1. He took another look at the shelf; but, the other books belonged to other Benjamins. He wasn't even sure this was his book until he saw his own picture on the first page. He was too curious to search much longer and gave up on the second volume. Instead, he opened the hefty manual to somewhere in the middle and chose a random entry.
"October 10, 2007: You're out of your depth and you're too stupid to catch on." Benjamin was disappointed at the vagueness. The memory rang in his mind with familiarity, but it was so long ago he'd forgotten most of the details. The date stood out though; that was the day he lost a well-paying job. It took him years to recover and put the unfairness out of his mind. He realized he'd probably forgotten hundreds of lies over the years and decided to move forward in the book to find something more recent.
He thumbed through another chunk of pages and stopped somewhere 3/4 of the way through the book. He glanced down at the entries and chose one at random.
"March 27th, 2013: She didn't love you. She doesn't, and she never will." Again, Benjamin couldn't quite remember the liar; but, he knew the date well enough. It was the day he became a single man again. He was briefly thankful for that lie at least; it helped him get through. Now that he knew the book was genuine, his curiosity got the best of him and he flipped the book over to get straight to the end. He read the last entry.
"May 2, 2023: You're too old to learn anything new; you're out of place..." Benjamin read the entry twice more just to be sure. "Huh?" he mumbled aloud to himself. The entry listed today; but, he didn't remember hearing any discouraging words that day. He hadn't talked to anyone yet. It was a slow morning and he finally had the time to explore the new library in town. They'd only opened recently; but, he heard a surprising amount of buzz around it. Although, the memory of the librarian flashed in his mind. She seemed to give him a disapproving look as he walked in. "Does it list thoughts...?" Benjamin wondered about the interaction. Then, footsteps pulled him out of his thoughts.
He looked up to see a teenage girl with long, snow-white hair leading an older gentleman through the library. She wore a crisp white suit with a red scissor logo on the front of her blazer; the same logo that the library used.
"This is the Self-help section," the teen gestured at the shelves around Benjamin and the newcomer. "Good luck," she waved and began to walk away. But, Benjamin moved quickly to catch up with her.
"Excuse me, do you work here?" he asked. He fully expected the obvious answer.
"No," she shook her head. "I work for Sharp Development, not just this library. Do you need something?" she asked.
"Oh.. sorry, I just thought...," he began to apologize; but, the teen shook her head.
"Don't bother me with your thoughts," the teen interrupted. "I don't care; do you need help with something?" she asked again in a more formal tone.
"I.. uh..," Benjamin just wanted someone to talk his thoughts through with; but, she wasn't interested in that. He struggled to pull up another question so that he could take up less of her time. "... Is there a Volume 2?" he asked as he showed off the heavy book.
"Yes," she nodded. "You won't find it in the Self-help section though," she pointed up at the white sign above the shelves. "Your node will help you find it, or you can ask the librarian," she replied. "Anything else?"
"Can I ask... I mean...," the question started out of his mouth before he remembered he was trying to not waste her time.
"You already are...," she sighed at him.
"This one lists today... if it's caught up to now, what's in volume 2? Is there a volume 3?" The teen stared at him silently for an extended moment. She seemed to be making a point. She kept her eyes focused on his and she slowly turned her head up. Benjamin copied the motion until her eyes finally pulled away; he followed them and found himself looking at the sign that read: "Self-help".
"That book only has two volumes," she said.
"Huh?" Benjamin looked back at her as he wondered how that answered his question. She had a tall black portal open behind her and she was halfway in.
"There are only two kinds of lies and only a single volume for each...," she said as the portal began to close.
"White lies and worse ones!?" Benjamin asked. The teen shook her head with a smile as the portal closed and vanished.
"Eh, what does she know...," Benjamin mumbled to himself. He was disappointed at her lack of help. But, he realized he'd just had another interaction and he opened the book again. There was another entry for the same day.
"May 2, 2023: She's just a stupid teenager but she seems to have her life on track. There must be something wrong with you."