"The Last Copy"

Jules looked up. Her glasses seemed like they were contemplating suicide off her cliff nose. 
‘What?’
I shuffled nearer, making my best puppy-dog expression. She must have gotten used to it by now, though, because she immediately went back to her register, making those little ticks against the book names. I hopped onto the table, sitting right opposite her. There was no way she could pretend to ignore me now. I was in her face. Literally.

She didn’t look up. Her eyes narrowing with every sentence she read, I was surprised she could make out anything more than a blur. Finally, she shut the register and looked up. 
She sighed as she stared at me. Then, she sighed some more. 

‘Why do you do keep doing this? Every single time. You know how much it hurts me right?’
‘Look, I love you but I can’t change who I am. You know that better than anyone. You know that and yet, every time you try for a different outcome.’
‘Yeah, I know. It’s just well, you know you’re my favorite. I don’t have anyone else to turn to. So, I keep hoping that something might change this time.’
‘We’ve had this talk some 2000 times. I’ve grown old. I’m tired. I’m not the bright, shiny thing I used to be. You have to give me a break here. I cannot keep having the same discussion every time.’
‘Fine. I guess I should look for someone else. If you can’t change, then maybe I should. Maybe, I should look for something with more spice, more mystery, more adventure. You’re, you’re too old for me.’
‘Fine.’
‘Fine.’ 


She opened the register again, her nostrils flaring, familiar red spots appearing on her cheeks.
I went back to my desk. I had had this fight too many times to be hurt. She’d threaten to see someone else. Then, someone would come for me and all her anger would dissolve. She couldn’t stay away from me. So, she’d come back to me and then, things would go back to normal. 

I glanced at her and she almost jumped. Her glasses more askew than usual, she went back to the register, pretending to read as her cheeks glowed. I smirked. 
I looked down the third aisle and The Old Man winked at me. I winked back. He was a massive fellow whom no one had ever come to see. He had been here since the very beginning, one of the first to arrive. He had been one of my first friends and it was he who introduced Jules to me. He knew everything, at least everything that had happened up till 1999. Beyond that, he never bothered, even though his sons often tried to keep him updated. Two rows behind him was The Kid in Red. She was as shiny as the glitter in the hairbands of the girls who came to visit her. They were giggly and tiny and always too excitable for those like The Old Man. The Kid in Red was obviously new and as I winked at her, she became an even deeper red, if it was possible. I grinned.

Behind me was Pompous Show-Off. He was very colorful. His massive exterior betraying that his content was no more than pretty pictures. He often had very less to share but was always the first to stand to attention the moment someone came here. He’d stand with his chest out, letting even the slightest breeze be an excuse to flutter around and expose himself. Honestly, sometimes I felt sorry that no one was allowed to take him away. He remained where he was, never moving. But, he still had many fans. Most of them young and dashing, with the latest cameras hanging from their hips. Cameras! They were ruining this place with their fancy and their modernity.

I woke up with a start, barely taking in the creak as the door opened. She stepped in, her eyes wide, shining. She smoothed her skirt and took long strides to Jules’ desk. She spoke in whispers, eyes always on the shelves. Then, she saw me. She stopped talking, her eyes gleaming and her mouth wide open. 

Jules saw her staring at me and promptly dropped her glasses. Again.
She started coming towards me and suddenly Jules regained her voice, “Ma’am, he’s not available.”
“Oh, of course he is. He’s on the shelves, isn’t he? Look at him. So beautiful. So perfect. Oh, I could just eat you up!”
“Uh, yeah, but ma’am - ”
“That’s enough out of you. You know, my father could buy this place and every one of its sorry inhabitants. So, are you giving him to me or would you rather say goodbye to this place forever?”
“Y-yes, ma’am, I mean, no, I mean, I’ll pack him for you, ma’am.”
“Oh, there’s no need for that. I can carry him. Come here, you.”

I looked at Jules, not daring to believe what I had just heard. She looked confused and sad. She was regretting the fight, I knew. I didn’t want to leave her. Especially, considering what the alternative was.
Before I knew it, I was in her arms. They were weak, unlike Jules’ round ones. She hugged me and her touch was icy. She walked towards Jules, who for the first time put a little tick against my name in her register.
“Oh, cheer up. I’ll have him back by the weekend.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Alrighty. Bye then.”

I missed Jules. This was my fifth day away from her and the contrast between her and Mindy, the lady who was holding me captive, was very disheartening.
Jules cared for me. She would snuggle with me every night, sipping a cup of cocoa; the smell made me feel safe. This place was just wrong. It was large but empty. There were no shelves here, no wallpapers of flowers fading off the walls. The carpet was absent, unlike the one at home, which had gone from bright purple to a musty grey as I had grown up. The sun didn’t catch dust particles here as its rays bounced off from window to shelf to us. People who walked here made clack-clack noises, their steps echoing off a revolting blue floor that was cold and new. 

Mindy did take me to bed everyday, but she never snuggled. She devoted an exact half-an-hour to me, not a minute more, not a minute less. It was so mechanical, I wondered if she’d even care if she forgot about me for a day. Jules never timed our time together. She’d go with the flow, letting me take over her, sometimes until sunrise. There was a familiarity, a comfort and yet, each night, there was a new discovery to be made. Every night we spent together, we grew fonder of each other. And now, I missed the very thought of her. 
Mindy walked into the room. She undressed and putting on a robe, slipped under the sheets. She picked me up and put me on her lap. She picked up her glasses and suddenly, her sleeve got caught in the bedside lamp. She tried to pull with her other hand and before I knew it, she had knocked me off. I fell, face down.

Jules looked up as the door opened and the lady from last week walked in. She looked the same, except her smile was absent. She handed him in and ran out. Jules took one look at him and hugged him. She danced around the room with him, alternating between laughing and crying.

That night, Jules took him up to her room. She had prepared everything, as usual. The lights were dim, the mug of cocoa, warm and full. She slipped into her bathrobe and sat on her bed, caressing him. She put him on her lap, removing her glasses. She wouldn’t need them for him. She hugged him once more and then lovingly, began.

Something was wrong. Jules was nearing the end and something was terribly wrong. She could sense it from the roughness she felt. He was usually so soft, so gentle. She tried to keep her mind on the present, trying to prevent her thoughts from wandering away. Before she knew it, the end was upon her. Yet, it ended before it usually did. There was nothing more to go on with, something was missing. Something had changed. Jules turned the page and realized what was wrong. 
The last few pages were missing. They’d been torn away and as she stared at the uneven paper bits poking from the spine of her favorite book, she realized with horror she had got the change she wanted.

The tragic climax of the book that was the last existing copy, was no longer there, remaining only in the librarian’s memories.