Stupid Library, Stupid Rules, Stupid Curse.

Selena banged her hands on the counter, muttering curses that would put a sailor to shame.

Not one step. She wasn't able to put even a whole foot outside, before she was dragged back to her position.

A feather in her hand, and the ink pot fully filled, as if it hadn't just spilled during the earthquake or more like a library quake.

"Are you going to check out my book anytime soon?" Misha asked, now fully awake, having no memory of the tragic event.

"Yeahhhh," Selena drawled out unhappily, before trying to write again. Getting rained down by the ink again.

She desperately needed to find an author, but she was stuck here checking out books for readers.

"Oh! What's that?" Misha asked curiously, as her eyes fell on the glowing item in the overfilled box of litter Selena had gathered.

"Huh?"

Selena's eyes furrowed as she picked up her makeshift pen. Normal pens never worked so Selena had tried putting the ink from the cursed inkpot inside a pen. Hoping that it would somehow work because of ink and she would be able to get rid of the feather.

It obviously didn't work. Or else Selena wouldn't be fighting to her death to write with this feather.

But why was this glowing today? It never did before. It was almost blinding.

"Can I try writing with it?" Misha asked, looking excited.

"Are you a writer?" Selena asked instead, looking hopeful.

"What? No," Misha chuckled, "Just wanted to try out the unique pen."

"Oh!" Selena's face fell, looking like someone just popped her balloon.

"May I?" Misha asked again hopefully, letting out a happy squeal when Selena tossed the pen at her.

"Wow! This is just like the pen kiddo drew," Misha mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Ah, my friend's sister. She just drew something exactly like this. Saying it was a magic pen or something. It was so beautiful and unique that my friend instantly thought of using it in her story in future. Well, it is just sitting in her notes for months though. Don't know when she will come to the point where the magic pen is in action." Misha rambled on, not knowing the hope she had created in Selena's mind.

Two things. Two things that Selena needed. A magic to break the curse and an author to keep writing a story until Selena succeeded.

"Magic pen?" Selena breathed out.

"Not an actual magic pen. That's just kiddo's imagination," Misha said.

"But it is here," Selena muttered, before taking back the pen from Misha and trying to write with it. Hopefully against all hopes, that it would work.

It didn't.

"Was it because I tried to break the rule?" Selena mumbled to herself, wondering what would be the meaning of this.

Instead of that one thing, there wasn't anything she did or happened that hadn't happened before.

Was the Library mocking her? Trying to build her hopes for nothing to show how pathetic her attempt to get out of the library was.

"I guess it was just my wishful thinking. This is useless," Selena said, twirling the stupid pen.

"Or it will just work in the hands of a writer," Misha joked.

"It might." Selena said with hope rising in her eyes, taking Misha's joke seriously.

"Can you bring your friend here?" Selena requested, almost begging for it, almost.

If she can't go to the author, she will make the author come to her.

Holding on to the pen, Selena prayed that it worked. That the author could lift off their curse by writing with this pen.

It wasn't a full proof plan. It could not work. But it wasn't like she had anything else working for her either.

"Umm...she doesn't really have free time. So...," Misha trailed off. "She has even stopped writing."

"What? Why?" Selena shouted, her eyes widened with fury.

'Not another author.' That was the only thing roaming inside Selena's head as she looked at the almost empty shelves of the library. She couldn't give up. She shouldn't.

"Her parents died and she has become the sole breadwinner of the family. She has a sick sister to take care of as well. So..."

Selena closed her eyes. Again money. Again a creative mind getting crushed under the weight of earning.

"Oh wait!" Misha said suddenly as a thought crossed her mind, "do you perhaps need a worker in the library. Anything, cleaning shelves, dusting, mopping. She might even help you with the register. Need a part timer?"

"Part timer?"

"Yeah, she is looking for an extra job. Is there a vacancy here?" Misha asked hopefully.

A job. It was an excellent excuse to bring the author here. She could use that time to convince her to start writing again. But how was she going to pay the author? No one would work for free. And this library didn't generate any income.

"Meh! I will figure it out somehow," Selena spoke out loud.

One month. She had one month to figure out the way to generate money. She would have to pay the author at the end of month.

And if she couldn't...

"I have to make sure the author completes her story before the month ends."

Was she selfish? Yes. Was she wrong? Definitely yes? Did she care? Nope.

"What?" Misha asked, not understanding the incoherent words Selena was mumbling.

"Ask her to come for an interview tomorrow."

★★★★★

It was a slow day at the cafe. Unfortunate for the boss, but very very scary for Swara. It had been many days since the cafe had been this quiet. Being the only cafe in the vicinity of 3 colleges, it was always packed during her shift.

Well, she did get her part-time job because of this very fact. She was an extra. So for her to keep her job, the cafe needed to be filled to the brim.

Her days were counting. Customers were less and less since it was the time of exams. And the cafe was soon going to get deserted during the vacations.

"I need to find another job soon," Swara mumbled to herself while she cleaned the table for the third time. She had to look busy. Or else she would be the first one to go among all the extras. They couldn't just see anyone sitting idle and wasting their precious money.

It was a waste of her time. She could have used this precious time to write her story or at least sort out her mess that she called notes. Five different solutions to one problem, three comebacks for one single dialogue or no comeback for an awesome dialogue. They were a total mess and totally unusable until she got some time to actually focus on them and make a firm decision.

"At least I figured out where to use the glowing pen," Swara muttered under her breath. After so many days, she finally got around the pen that was in her notes waiting to be used. All thanks to the boss' wife who came and took the boss away for an hour.

While others used that time to relax, Swara immediately started working on her story. This Godsend time wasn't going to come anytime soon.

After accepting and rejecting hundreds of her own ideas, Swara finally decided that the glowing pen would become one of the five needed things to get rid of the curse.

Wanting to keep it nice and easy, Swara made it so that anyone who tried to do something daring to break the curse would find it.

There was no need to succeed. Efforts mattered. And that effort would be rewarded.

Swara hadn't really decided who would find the pen. As told before, her story was a mess. It didn't have a single direction. Nothing was set in concrete until she wrote it in her diary.

Glowing pen being an object to cure the curse and being found by a rule-breaker was the only thing Swara had managed to write, before the boss came back.

Usually she wrote the stories on her laptop, but this time she went the old way. Only because she wanted to use the diary her mother had gifted her. And Swara wasn't the one to write a journal about her daily activities or emotions. So a novel it was.

"Ahem." A sound of someone clearing her throat snapped Swara out of her thoughts.

"A word please," her boss said, before gesturing to her to come into his cabin.

Nothing good ever came out after being called inside. He didn't have to say anything. She knew, the other extras knew, everyone knew; that she was the first one he was letting go.

Of course, she was. She was the least important one. Who didn't even have her name tag.

"We will contact you if we need your services in future." This was the only form of condolence she received. No sorry, no thank you, nothing. At least, this place was still an option for her when next semester started in the colleges.

Sighing, Swara removed her apron and gathered her stuff. She didn't get much time to drown in sorrow. As soon as she stepped out of the cafe, her phone rang.

"Bro, get ready, you have an interview tomorrow."