The Book of Elsewhere Ch. 01

Jack sat down on the large brown leather sofa and tried to get comfortable. The past seventy-two hours had gone by so fast. He still remembered rereading the text he had received from his sister Rachel.

-Jack. Grandpa's dead. You need to come to the funeral.-

Jack had been going to school in Paris, France as part of his scholarship. He originally wanted to play professional tennis but there was not that many schools that would fund such a thing so he chose to go over as part of the exchange student program. He had spent nearly a whole year over there. Learned French, visited all the famous French sites and even ate all the delicious French cuisine. Jack was having the best time of his life up until he had received that text. it hit him like a wrecking ball right in the chest.

Grandpa Mortimer or "Morty" as he liked to have people call him was jack's favorite grandpa. Mortimer was a traveling salesman or had been for supposedly forty years. Jack would always see him with some knick knack or souvenir from another state or county. Some of the things he had seen when coming over to his grandfather's house weren't the things you'd expect to find in a salesman's home. Often times, he wondered whether or not his grandfather did some illegal things. Mortimer however didn't seem like a crook or someone who did bad thing. He always said hello, always smiled, and was generally happy all the time. Jack had never seen his grandfather frown . He always seemed healthy despite being over seventy so his death was even more of a shock.

Jack also wondered where his grandfather had acquired the money for such a large house. When he had visited last he had been fifteen. His grandpa had lived in a small one bedroom home. The large home had pulled up to when he arrived by cab earlier that day seemed way out of his grandfather's financial grasp. Where had all the money come to buy that, he had wondered. The front yard was bigger than most peoples homes. The grass had begun to grow long. Apparently, no one cared enough to mow Grandpa Morty's lawn since he was dead. That's when he saw Rachel standing on the brown brick porch along side a tall, thin man dressed in a black suit and grey rimmed glasses.

Jack barely recognized his sister standing there with long brunette locks. Last he had seen her was before he went off for school. She had been a blonde then. Her blue eyes and thin frame gave her away though. Jack smiled, trying to seem friendly. He and his sister had not parted in the best of ways but it was awkward enough standing there in Grandpa's lawn and not say anything. Rachel didn't smile exactly but she had introduced the attorney, who smiled and offered Jack his hand. Jack had shook it and they all went inside and listened to the reading of the will.

Inside, the house felt like a castle. The foyer seemed large enough to be a hotel. The floors were of dark cherry wood. There was even an old stair case that separated the next room in to two hallways. They went in to one of the adjoining rooms and sat down. there was a large stone fireplace with what looked to be an old, iron rams head sticking out of the mantle. Jack thought it was creepy as hell. He wondered what sort of tastes his grandfather had developed over the years.

The attorney and his sister sat on the couch directly across from his. The attorney's bald head gleamed from the firelight. The man sat cross legged and set his briefcase down on the floor by him. He held the will in his hands which looked several pages thick. Jack had wondered what exactly Mortimer would leave him. He certainly had never mentioned will to Jack. The attorney flipped more than half way through the will then stopped at a page and put his finger on the page and began to read. Jack had watched Rachel nearly jump out of her seat with joy at hearing she had been left Grandpa's old white Packard. But then that joy went to silence when the attorney announced that Jack was to be given the house and a special something in it. That's when the attorney got up and handed Jack a manila envelope with the words "Jack's eyes only." written on it. the attorney left promptly after that.

Jack opened the envelope and read the letter inside. It said that there was a special book downstairs in the basement on Mortimer old writing desk. It had said for Jack to be extra careful and to look after it when he was gone. Jack honestly was stunned. Rachel at that time had looked less than happy though that could've been the firelight.

Now Jack sat there and waited. His sister's blue eyes gleamed. His curiosity was piqued. What sort of book would require him to look after it, he wondered. He could not recall if his Grandfather actually read anything. Jack sat there and thought it over. He could feel his sister's stare bore into him. Was she curious too? He couldn't tell. She hadn't said so much as a word since the attorney had left. He had of course read it out loud so she knew what the letter had said.

"Well I'm going to go see what this book is," he declared, rising to his feet." You can come if you want." Jack didn't wait and went off in search of wherever the basement door might be. After a few misses through trial and error, he found it and went down into the basement. He peered down into the dark and took a step down. Old wood creaked under his weight. Jack went down a few more steps and searched for alight switch with his hand as he went down. He didn't find one so he kept going despite the darkness. He stopped when he felt cold concrete under his feet. He took a few steps then stopped when he heard creaking on the steps again. He turned and saw his sister's eyes in the dark.

"You wouldn't know where a light is, would you?" he asked her, looking around in the heavy gloom.

Rachel hated this and hated being here. She had known that Grandpa Morty wasn't in perfect health but she didn't realize how bad of health he was in. She of course knew that he was going to die at some point. Still she had hoped that he would make it another couple of decades. At least he had passed away fairly peacefully. It was time to go and get his affairs in order though. She had to text Jack and she didn't like the idea of that but he was needed for this. He had been left something.

At least this wouldn't take too long. She had seen Morty more recently than Jack and she doubted that Jack would care enough to stay more than a day or two. She didn't know how she felt about Jack coming back. She was happy about it but at the same time if they got into anything too deeply he'd start talking to her and that always led to trouble. The last time they had spoken....well Jack had been right but he had been right for the wrong reasons.

She stood outside waiting for him while the lawyer waited inside. She held a baseball in her hand. Something to keep herself busy while she waited. She looked at the lawn and sighed. Whomever got the house would have a lot of work to do. She wasn't sure if she wanted it or not. It was nice property but at the same time it was more work than she wanted to put into at the moment. A lot of stuff was more work than she wanted at the moment.

A cab pulled up and Jack got out. He looked.....mostly the same. Perhaps a bit more rounded and walked with an extra spring in his step. She supposed that France would do that to a person. He had a healthy glow about him and she found herself becoming jealous. She needed to keep her face stoic. She looked to her side and noticed the lawyer had come out. She didn't care for him but at least he was making this easy on everyone.

"Hi, glad you could make it," she said simply as they went inside. That wasn't so hard. Now if she could just make it a little while longer this would all be over soon. He started going over what they would receive. Rachel didn't care about much else. She wanted the car and had made it known how much she loved it. She was shaking a bit and couldn't help but let out a little cheer when she heard it. It was a bit ghoulish but she couldn't help herself. It was a classic car and she had loved going for rides in it. She blushed and retook her seat as he continued to read.

So he had given Jack the house? Well good for him. She didn't need the headache and of course her grandfather would give it to him. He had been fairly bit about the male heir getting a lot. She stayed quiet as the attorney left and once her was properly out of the house and looked over at her brother. "Congratulations on getting the house, it looks....well maintained," she said simply.

She didn't want the house, she really didn't, at least that's what she kept telling herself and what was in the folder? Was it some amazing last note of love? Why didn't she get one of those? Was it something really great? Ugh she needed to let it go. Jack was Jack, born lucky and even when he wasn't here he was still the favorite of the family.

As he read what the note said Rachel felt her curiosity pique. "In the basement? There's nothing but junk down there..." she trailed off. She was going to leave him to it but when he said that she could come she followed right behind him. She followed him and let him fumble around in the dark. That was Jack though, he could have asked for her help right away but no he just had to leap before he looked.

She took a bit of joy in watching him make a fool of himself. When he finally gave in and asked for help she reached toward the wall and flipped the switch, illuminating the basement. "You move too fast sometimes, so.....we're looking for a book. I don't remember seeing one down here," she said looking over all the junk.

"Well the letter said that it would be in his old writing desk but I don't ever recall him having a desk or even reading any books. Do you?" Jack looked around , noticing there was quite a large amount of boxes and other stuff. "Did he ever tell you where he came up with all this money or even where all the stuff came from?"

Jack went over and looked around a pile of boxes ,thinking perhaps there was a desk behind them someplace. It felt somewhat awkward trying to talk to his sister but he was glad he wasn't there alone. She could be a real pain when she wanted to be but Jack still loved his sister. He didn't approve of all her life's choices but she was family. He felt bad for missing the funeral and he knew Rachel was envious of him for going to college abroad but honestly he felt that she could've chosen a better path for herself if she wanted. Jack had long put the mistakes of the past five years behind him but he was not so sure his sister had. Especially after dad had passed and now grandpa had done the same.

"So where do you think you'll go in your car first?" he said trying to make small talk while he searched for the desk. The basement was a lot bigger than it looked but then the whole house was that way. Grandpa Mortimer apparently had kept everything and put everything he owned in the house. There was some pretty weird stuff. An old ham radio, several books of stamps, and piles of old black and white photos were just some of the things in boxes.

There was a giant stuffed ostrich looking bird that was almost as tall as jack was standing over in one corner. It's feathers were a rainbow of pinks, yellows, browns, blues and greens. It's eye was round and black in the center like a doll's eye. It's beak was long and looked quite sharp at the end. It had sharp talons on each foot. Jack was glad the thing was stuffed and not alive. It kind of creeped Jack out to look at it. Where would grandpa get such a thing, he wondered.

Jack moved a pair of old lava lamps out of his way and began searching a corner piled high with old newspapers and other documents. The basement was well lit for most of it but there were still a few parts that were dark. Plus there was a thick coating of dust on pretty much everything. No one had been down there in quite a while.

"Well it doesn't seem to be here. Are you having any luck finding it?" He turned to look back to where Rachel had been. His went wide as his gaze fell over the basement stairs. His eyes caught a glimpse of something made of dark wood showing under the steps. "There it is!" Jack rushed over and disappeared under the basement steps.

The desk was old, and looked like it had seen its share of wear and tear. It was just high enough to reach jack's chest. It had thin legs that didn't look all that sturdy. It's lid was one that slid down at a slant. It was closed. There was a keyhole at the bottom that obviously needed a key to be opened. "Hey, Rachel, come here. I think this is it." Jack looked around, thinking the key was nearby. He ran his hands under the bottom of the desk thinking perhaps there was a key under there but found nothing.

"Damn. Looks like there's a key that opens it. Do you remember grandpa ever saying where he put it?"

Rachel sighed and looked around. "I don't know....I don't really come down here this much. He never talked about anything like it at any rate," she said looking through a few things. At the question of money she shrugged. "He never said and I never asked," she picked up a box to move around to see if the desk was behind it. "I mean...I didn't want him to think I talked to him just because of money so I figured it was better not to ask. Maybe I should have since I was the only one here."

That was a low blow and she knew it. She didn't blame Jack for running off to France. Hell if she had been able to do it she would have done the same. Instead she was stuck around here with no one really. Jack would be gone soon and with Morty gone. Well she didn't want to think about that right now. She just wanted to focus on finding the desk. She could think about being all alone later. She sniffled a bit and wiped a tear away.

"Stupid allergies and dust," she claimed, not wanting jack to see she cared.

The car, she had the car now and she could go anywhere. She didn't have anywhere to be. She could take it and maybe try to start a new life somewhere but that'd mean finding a job and in this economy it was always tricky. She could end up looking for months and find nothing. "I...I don't know. I'll enjoy it that's for sure. He didn't drive it enough in my mind but he didn't really need to either since I was around," she said finding a stuffed teddy bear. "Why the hell would he keep a teddy bear?" she asked.

"I'm finding nothing," she said placing her hands on her hips. She didn't know why she cared so much. This was Jack's thing, she should just let him find it and show it to her later. I couldn't be that impressive. Then Jack cried out that he had found it so she walked over to it when he called. "At least he made it easy to find," she said sarcastically.

"Key....key...key...wait" she said running back up the stairs. Morty always kept an assortment of keys in the kitchen. she never really asked about it before but maybe one would work. She opened the pantry door to find the key hooks and read over their labels. She found the one marked desk, it was an old brass one. She grabbed it and made her way downstairs again.

"You're lucky I'm here or you'd tear this place down looking for it," she said handing the key to him.

Jack took the key with a nod. "Thanks." Looking at it, it seemed quite an odd little thing.He wondered what the book was that it needed to be locked away. Going back under the steps, jack bent over and slid the key in the keyhole. He gave it a turn and heard a slight click noise. Carefully, Jack reached up the lip of the desk lid and lifted it open. Dust went everywhere as it slid open and put him in a coughing fit. He waved his hand in the air until it had cleared before looking inside. Inside there was a pad of paper, some pencils and pens as well as a bunch of notes scattered about. On top of the paper lay a dark leather bound book. It was thick and there was a thin strip of leather that went from back to its cover that kept it closed.

Jack went to pick it up and found that the book was heavier than it looked. He groaned with a bit more effort and came out form under the steps with it to show his sister. In the basement light, He could see that there was strange sigils carved into the leather along the spine and cover of the book. Jack wasn't quite sure but he thought he could make out an large eye with a jagged crescent shape in the middle. "Geez. Why do you think Grandpa left this thing to me? It doesn't even look like its been opened in a long time."

Jack showed the book to Rachel then shrugged. He looked over the book but could see no title or words that might describe its purpose. Jack thought the book looked quite creepy. "Hmm. I think if I could get some more light to see, I could figure out how to open it. What do you think sis?" He didn't wait long for her to answer and started up the steps. "Maybe once I get this thing open we can see why it was so important."

Jack went up the stairs and back into the fire lit room. He set the heavy book down on a small coffee table. The book landed with a resounding thud! Jack looked along the side to see if there was a catch or something he could get his nails under so he could open it but found nothing. He stood back a moment and pondered before trying once again to peel back the thin leather strip that held it closed. He tried for several moments but to no avail. The book would not open.

"Well damn. I don't get it. Its just a little strap holding it closed. Seems like its sealed shut." Jack shook his head in frustration, obviously dumbfounded by being unable to open it. "Maybe if you used your nails Rachel. you got longer nails then me. We can pull it together. What do you say?"

Rachel placed her hand on her hips and stood there. She was interested in what was locked up. Morty never came down here and it didn't seem like he had anything to hide. So why keep the whole thing locked up? Was he afraid that she was going to steal something? No, he had given her his credit card to go out and buy him things that he needed on occasion. That couldn't be the reason. She wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not.

Then Jack brought up a book.

A book? That's all that he was trying to hide. Jack asked her about it and she just kinda shrugged at him. "You got me, he never talked about it and he well I never really saw him come down here," she admitted. She wished that she knew more about it but that was all she had. She looked at it behind Jacks' shoulder. It looked....odd. Just very odd. A chill went down her spine and she felt that she shouldn't have any part of it.

She followed Jack back upstairs and watched him try to open it but to no avail. Then he asked her to open it. She was surprised by that. Normally whenever Jack did something he liked to do it by himself and everyone else be dammed. At least that was how he used to be. Maybe he had changed while he was in France. "I can give it a go," she said simply and walked up to it. The chill didn't run down her spine this time. It's just a book.

"You better hope that this doesn't break my manicure," she said smirking a bit. She dug her nails into it and tugged on it. "I don't think..." she started to say. She thought that her nails were about to break but one more tug seemed to be enough and the strap open. "Oh there we go!" she said happily.

jack saw the book fly open, pages turning all by themselves then stopping. Inside, the pages were covered in strange writing in dark ink. At least Jack hoped it was ink. The page flipped once more to a picture of some sort of jagged rock. It looked triangular and it was in an overhead view. The pages turned again before he could read them. Then suddenly he though the heard a faint chant around him. He tried to listen but could not make out the words. When he looked back to the book, the pages were glowing, almost pulsing with a bright light. The letters or symbols started to lift off the pages.