Mr. CHANG's WARNING.
As he rode through town, Bobby noticed he was now in the area where Andrey and his thugs chased after him on their bikes. This made him think about what happened yesterday when he ran into the bookstore and un-earthed the old ancient book outside the back of it, as well as the old Asian man he encountered, who he knew without a doubt was Mr. Chang, the owner of the place. He felt back for taking off with the book like he did without paying for it first. Sure, it hadn't been in the bookstore when he found it and had been buried and all, but that didn't make it any less wrong. He had to take the book back to the store and pay for it.
End of story.
Bobby then saw the rode between the two buildings he'd ran down yesterday when he was fleeing Andrey and his goons and made his way towards it. Once he made it to the road, he turned and rode down it, the bookstore, Mr. Chang's Place, soon came into view, and he rode up to the building where he stopped his bike, followed by getting off it and putting the kick-stand down. The 10-year old boy went up to the door, opened it, and went inside, closing it afterwards.
Inside the bookstore, Bobby experienced instant deja vu. Just like yesterday when he first came here...no one was around. No bookstore owner...no customers...nothing. At least not from where he was standing. The boy then began walking through the store, looking around in search of it's owner but he was nowhere to be seen. In fact, no one was nowhere to be seen. Not a soul in sight. The place was completely deserted. Bobby then walked over to a table that had several books resting on it, with some of them being tilted.
Snow White And The Seven Dwarves.
Pinocchio.
Cinderella.
Treasure Island.
Alice In Wonderland.
Robin Hood.
Peter Pan.
Sleeping Beauty.
And
The Jungle Book.
These were just a few of the titled books that were on the table, but there were several more among them. As Bobby stared at the books, he wondered if any of them were like the book, Kumandra. He wondered if reading them would have the same affect on him as it had.
"Well..." Came a male voice, startling Bobby, making him turn to see the source of it, which turned out to belong to the old Asian man, who was standing behind the checked-out-counter. He was wearing the same exact outfit he had on yesterday. "The American boy returns."
"Hi." Bobby greeted. "Are you the owner of this place?"
"As a matter of fact...i am. I'm Mr. Chang. And you are?" Said the old Asian man now known as Mr. Chang.
"My name is Bobby Spencer Bring."
"Nice to meet you...Bobby-san." Mr. Chang said. "You like books, i see."
"Uh...no. Actually, I'm not a fan of books. I prefer movies, TV-shows and video games." Bobby said.
"Well, you're in the wrong place then. This is a bookstore. A place that sells books." Mr. Chang said.
"I know." Bobby said.
"What are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn't you be in school?" Mr. Chang asked.
"I was." Bobby answered.
Mr. Chang gestured with his right hand for Bobby to come over where he was.
Bobby walked over to the check-out counter Mr. Chang stood behind.
"What were you doing in here yesterday?" Mr. Chang asked.
"Hiding." Bobby answered.
"From what?" Mr. Chang asked, concerned.
"Some kids from school." Bobby admitted.
"Why?" Mr. Chang asked, wondering why this boy was hiding from a bunch of kids that attacked the same school as him.
"They wanted to beat me up." Bobby said sadly.
"Why don't you just fight back?" Mr. Chang asked.
"I don't know." Bobby said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You mustn't let fear rule your life. When you're afraid of something, you should face it, even though you're afraid." Mr. Chang said.
"That's exactly what Alan Parish's father said to him before he got sucked into Jumanji. " Bobby said.
"Bottom line...you should always stand up for yourself. And you can start by standing up to those bullies." Mr. Chang said.
"I did. That's why I'm out of school early today. I go suspended for punching one of them." Bobby said.
"Well, back to our earlier conversation. Why are you here today?" Mr. Chang said.
"To purchase this." Bobby said as he opened his messenger-bag, followed by getting out the book, Kumandra, the placing it on the check-out-counter.
Mr. Chang just stared down at the book.
"Sorry for taking it without paying yesterday. I figured if it was buried in that mound outside in the back, it must not have been one of your books." Bobby said.
"I thought you didn't like to read. " Mr. Chang said.
"I don't. But i am curious. What kind of book is it?" Bobby said.
"A mysterious one." Mr. Chang said, still staring down at the book.
"A mystery?" Bobby questioned. This was a mystery book? It sure didn't seem like one after he read the first three chapters yesterday. It felt more like a fantasy.
Mr. Chang looked at Bobby. "Listen...any other book...and i would gladly give it to you. All the other books in here...are storybooks. Read them and you get to become the main character you're reading about."
"I told you i don't like to read. I mean, I've read a bunch of school-assigned books, but that's as far as it's gone." Bobby said.
"Yes, but after you finish reading those books, you got to return to the real world." Mr. Chang said.
"Wha-what are you talking about?" Bobby asked, a confused expression on his face. What on Earth was this guy driving at? Had he gone mental or something? It was understandable if he had. After all, he was old.
"Let me ask you this: Have you ever been any of the characters in the assigned books you've read?" Mr. Chang said.
"No." Bobby stated.
"Were you ever scared you couldn't escape?" Mr. Chang asked.
"Of course not, they were just books." Bobby said.
"Exactly. The ones you have read were books." Mr. Chang said.
"What does that look like?" Bobby asked, referring to the book, Kumandra, resting on the counter.
"Heed my warning. Kumandra is dangerous. Once entering it's world, the reader can never escape." Mr. Chang said.
"WOW. Cool." Bobby said, with wide eyes and a wide mouth-open smile. "But...what does that mean?" He asked, confused.
"Tell me...have you read any chapters in this book?" Mr. Chang asked.
"Only the first three as of yesterday." Bobby answered.
"Then it is too late for you. Your fate is sealed." Mr. Chang said.
"For Pete sake, man, it's a book, not Jumanji the board game." Bobby said.
The sound of a telephone ringing came from the back room of the building.
"Some books should never be read. This book...was never meant to be found. " Mr. Chang said before he turned and went over to the door where he opened it and went inside to answer the phone.
Bobby gazed down at the book as he thought about what Mr. Chang had said concerning it. Kumandra was dangerous? The reader could never escape once entering it's world? What did he mean by that? Bobby wasn't sure. But the whole thing excited him...and only made him want to finish reading the book now more than ever. Without so much as a moment's hesitation...Bobby got the book off the counter, opened his messenger-bag, and put the book back inside it. The young blond then reached inside his right pants pocket and got out two 10 dollar bills and paced it on the counter, making the payment 20 dollars all together.
20 Dollars.
Yeah. That should've been enough to purchase the book.
Bobby then walked over to the front door where he opened it and exited the bookstore, closing the door behind him. With his business here now done, the pre-teen boy went over to his bike, let the kick-stand up, got on the bike, turned it around, and road off down the alley, heading for home.
If only Bobby...had listened to Mr. Chang.
I apologize for the long wait. Sorry about that. Something happened where i couldn't use the internet anymore. But now that the issue's been resolved, I'm back and ready to start updating this story again. But while i was off-line, i kept writing the chapters of this and the chapters of part 3. I am currently working on the fourth installment of this series. So all i have to do in this second addition is update remaining chapters, as well as all of the chapters of part 3. See you in the next chapter.
Please review.
Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2024!