AN: Well I thought I might try something slightly more than a one shot. Not sure how long before I'll update but reviews and even suggestions on how to continue are extremely welcome. Thanks for reading!
"Of course. Out of all things on this stupid planet, it had to be a book." She grumbled, stepping over lines and lines of words.
"I couldn't be cursed to wander around something cool, a candy store maybe, a mansion, an amusement park for crying out loud!" she continued her rant, trying to find the end of the sentences she walked over.
"No, Cosima Niehaus will for the rest of eternity be known by the other nether inhabitants as the ghost that haunts a book about evolution, a book that no one ever picks up even if it is a pretty awesome book, even if yours truly wasn't wandering around the pages." she looked up, shaking her transparent fists at the non-existent sky.
"You know, when I decided to be a geek, I did not sign up for eternal damnation in the written word. You guys suck at controlling the universe." Of course she got no response, she never did. After all it's been 5 years since her untimely death by suffocation. And no matter how many times she ran over the words of an origin of species, she never managed to get to the end. She would just find herself thrown back onto the first page. So she eventually gave up, usually she just lounged around the letter in her parent's handwriting on the first page of the book but sometimes when she got extra super uber bored she'd wander through the chapters again.
"Couldn't be a first edition now could it. Couldn't be a valuable book that people would actually love to have. Noooo it had to be a less valuable 7th edition in less than mint condition sold to some second hand bookstore in the middle of nowhere!" she screamed frustrated.
She'd gone over this rant quite a few times. It was the only thing that kept her semi sane. She didn't like silence. She couldn't see anything but the papers of the book but she could hear outside of it. It had taken her a while to come to terms with the fact that her parents had sold her favourite book to what she assumed was either a book collector or a tiny bookstore, the latter being more likely.
No one had ever opened her book since she had appeared on the pages. She grew accustomed to the regular voices in the shop. There was Mattie, who she assumed was the shop keeper since she opened and locked it up every day.
There was Joe who she assumed was either Mattie's husband or boyfriend. He came in sometimes and she would listen to their casual loving conversations.
Mattie had a friend named Helen, not the nicest person from what Cosima gathered. The woman also loved gossiping and Cosima would sit and smirk at the little stories she told.
Sometimes customers came in but no one strayed near her book and if they did, they were just passing. Occasionally a feather duster would move over the books and Cosima would feel a tickling sensation. She liked those days, it reminded her that she was still a sentient being and not just some word ghost stuck in a book. Needless to say, Cosima tried her utmost best to try and fail at entertaining herself.
About 2 years into the book, she had discovered she could will the typed letters to move, if they changed for the people who might ever read the book, she didn't know but being a booklover she just couldn't bear to leave them where she moved them so she would, next time she felt the energy to, move them back where they should be.
She was lazily swirling her hand through an e, pretending it was a little teacup when she heard the front door open. "Morning Mattie." She muttered uselessly, getting the obvious lack of response she always did.
The woman went about her usual morning routines and Cosima settled for the day again. From what she could deduct, today was Saturday, nothing really happened on Saturdays and Mattie wouldn't have the shop open for long. Few customers wandered into the store even on weekdays.
It was a couple of hours, from what Cosima figured anyway. Time passed unnoticed but painfully slow at the same time for her. When the bell on the door signalled someone had entered and Cosima strained her ears, wondering if it was Helen or Joe but was surprised when Mattie greeted a customer instead.
"Hello, can I help you dear?" Cosima perked up, happy for the welcome change of pace, even if only for a few minutes.
"Bonjour! And non, not really. You have a very beautiful little shop. Do you mind if I browse?" French. Cosima noted. She also rolled her eyes, many people have complemented the shop, and she was annoyed by the fact that she herself lived in it, but never had a chance to see it.
"Not at all! Thank you very much, my husband complains that I spend all my time here, but I've always loved books. You're French, a tourist I presume?"
"Ah, you can never spend too much time around books. Oui and non, I am actually moving here to continue my studies."
"Oh how wonderful! What are you studying?"
"Immunology." Cosima sat up abruptly. A scientist! She mused to herself excited. Maybe today you get picked up, Cos. She giggled at her own word play before listening to Mattie and the woman talk.
"Wow that's a tough field. Oh where are my manners, Mattie."
"Delphine, enchantee. Non, I have always loved science and immunology seems to come naturally to Me."
'Enchantee.' Cosima tried out the word, grinning to herself. Something about the voice of this Delphine was oddly inviting and she found herself waiting silently to hear more words spoken.
"Good for you then. Go and get yourself lost in the books then, I can see you eyeing the shelves! I'll be here of you need me." Mattie answered.
"Merci!" It was a while before Cosima heard the old floorboards, which were wooden from her deduction, near her creaked and she sat up again, a spark of hope in her unbeating heart. Suddenly she toppled over as she was moved.
"You have an Origin of Species copy from some of the first generations?" Delphine called. A chill went down Cosima's back as the book's spine was touched.
"Ah, I remember that! I thought it might be of some value but the note in the front decreased its value significantly. Honestly it's been here so long and those poor parents had quite a hard time parting with that I didn't have the heart to have the front page replaced."
"Note?" Delphine asked and Cosima waited with baited breath, not that she breathed anyway.
"Oh yes, to their daughter, it was a birthday present to her when she was 7 they told me."
"Heavy reading for such a young age." Delphine noted, a short pause followed before the moment Cosima had been waiting for finally happened, the book was opened.
She was blinded for a moment before she could look up, catching sight of a grey sweater, hazel eyes and blonde curls. The book closed too soon for her liking.
"Why did they get rid of it?" Delphine asked curiously.
"Oh, she passed on. Such a tender age too, barely into her late twenties."
"How sad. Did they say how?"
"Yes, she had gotten some sort of auto-immune lung disease, she died of suffocation." Mattie said sadly.
"That is tragic. The parents must have been distraught."
"Oh very. A nice family too. The daughter had been a scientist too. Something about evolution..." Mattie trailed off unsure.
"Evolutionary Development?" Mattie snapped her fingers.
"That's the one!"
"I think I'd like to buy the book, if that is alright?" Delphine asked uncertainly. Cosima was jumping across lines in excitement.
"Please say yes!" She kept chanting to herself.
"I don't see why not." Cosima fist bumped the air happily. She was ecstatic. For the first time in five years she was moving, in a manner of speaking.
Delphine had felt a strange pull towards the book, it had almost instantly caught her eye on its shelf and reading the birthday note on the front page, something inside her just knew she had to have it. She repeated the name written at the start of the letter, trying to pronounce it correctly in her mind.
The book was special she had no doubt.