Pleasantries are now dead.

"Hello to you too." Swara laughed. Leave it upto her best friend to directly blurt out the main point.

No greetings, no small talk, nothing.

"Bitch, just say thank you. I got you an exclusive interview for your third job," Misha chirped happily.

"Second."

"Sorry?" Confusion was clear in Misha's voice.

"I got kicked out of the cafe. So whatever your job is, will be the second," Swara explained with a sigh, as she resumed walking.

"Oh no." Misha's voice dropped in sadness. All the happiness she had felt disappeared in an instant.

"But look at the positive side. You got me an interview at the perfect moment. Or else I would have been running everywhere to look for a vacancy."

"Who is cheering up whom?" Misha snorted. "Bro, it's the other way round. I need to be the one to give you a pep talk. That you will get this job and your writing will also continue."

"Writing?" Swara whispered, a gulp forming in her throat.

"Yup."

"The new librarian apparently hates all the authors who give up writing. So I am sure she wouldn't mind if you use your free time to write. What wouldn't mind, she would be freaking delighted if you do so." Misha chuckled.

"So different from my previous employer," Swara chuckled too, turning a bit to look at the cafe she left behind.

"So I am guessing the job is in the library. What should I prepare? Is it cleaning stuff or something else like attracting customers? And also the preference of the librarian please. Does she want a quiet employee or a social butterfly?" Swara asked the questions one after the other, already prepping up for the interview.

"Hold your horses, my lady. Breathe for a second."

"Can't," Swara said, "there's no way I can afford to lose this chance. Especially when I am getting the chance to write along with getting paid."

"Don't worry too much. Selena sounded too eager to recruit you when I asked. Heck, I think you are already hired and this interview is just for formality," Misha said.

"Selena," Swara mumbled. She had the same name as her character.

"It's a good sign, right?" She asked, looking at the sky.

"You there?" Misha's voice brought her back.

"Yeah yeah...so where were we?"

"The library, geez. Where's your head at?" Misha grumbled. "Come to my house tomorrow morning. The library is nearby. I will show you the way."

"Library? Near your house?" Swara questioned, not having any recollection of seeing a library there.

Swara and Misha were childhood friends. Having been to each other's house countless times, Swara knew every nook and corner of Misha's neighbourhood.

"Is the library new? By new I mean a few months old," Swara asked, thinking someone took over a business or something.

It was possible. Since Swara hadn't been able to go to Misha's for almost half a year. It was possible that someone sold or rented the plot that she didn't know about.

"No...," Misha trailed off, "It's always been here."

"Since when?"

"Since forever...," Misha said, but she didn't sound too sure.

She knew that the Library had been there for many years. Her mind told her that it had been there since her childhood or even before. Everyone in the neighborhood knew that. But surprisingly when asked for the exact date, everyone's mind drew a blank.

"Anyways," Misha clapped her hands, not that Swara could see, before getting back to her jolly self.

"So apparently the main librarian is ill. And her 15 year old daughter has taken over the temporary position," Misha started, before getting into detail.

"She doesn't know what she is doing, does she?" Swara asked, mirth clear in her voice.

Misha winced a bit, remembering the ink stained librarian. "Let's just say that she is trying her best."

Swara chuckled, imagining how her coming days were going to be. Not at all normal, that was for sure.

Swara cleared her throat, reminding herself to become serious.

It was a job. She shouldn't take it lightly. Especially when it was going to help put food on their table.

"A boss is a boss regardless of age. I will do my best," she promised to Misha and also to herself.

"Sooo, do I use slangs or act professional in the interview?"

★★★★★

Next morning came faster than Swara could blink. Swara was ready with her resume and other documents. Although she wasn't sure how much a fifteen year old was going to evaluate, she wasn't going to take this interview lightly. It was better to prepare more and not use it rather than prepare less and end up regretting it.

"Whoa! The library's huge." Swara's mouth was hung open as she stood before the vintage building. She had imagined it would be a shop converted into a library but something like this...

"Coming to read in a library like this was my childhood dream," she spoke to no one in particular, before turning to Misha and asking, "What was built here before the library?"

Swara had been sure that she knew the neighborhood like the back of her hand. But no matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn't remember what was there in the space that library occupied.

"How would I know that?" Misha chuckled. "Library has always been here for as long as I can remember."

"Always?" Swara raised her eyebrows. "You are saying that I missed such a massive building for all these years ?" Swara asked Misha, before muttering under her breath, "How can I not see something that resembled my childhood dream?"

"You tell me, if not the library then what was here before?" Misha questioned back.

"That...that I don't know." Swara almost ran her hand through her hair, before stopping herself right in time before she messed it up.

"Forget about it. We have an interview to focus," Swara said, before taking a deep breath.

"All the best," Misha wished her luck for the last time, before they entered the library.

Swara stopped on her tracks when she saw the decaying library. There was a massive difference between the outside and inside of the library. The pristine library from outside was dying inside. It seemed like it was barely standing and would fall apart if one strong wind passed by.

"You will have lots of time to admire this beauty later, let's not keep your future boss waiting," Misha said, pulling Swara out of shock.

"Beauty?"

"I know right, beauty is not the right word. It doesn't do justice to this magnificent building. I sometimes even wonder if they made it with real gold. Just look at them shining so brightly."

Swara looked at Misha as if she had gone crazy.

"Are we looking at two different buildings? How can this rotting, ash-like building look shiny to you?"

Misha placed her palm on Swara's forehead, before asking, "Are you not feeling well?"

Swara shrugged off Misha's hand, before questioning her again, "From which angle does this building look shiny to you? Just see on that corner, even the pillar looks like it is going to get uprooted in no time."

"You see it too?"

Swara and Misha turned when they heard the voice. There stood Selena, having freshly rained down by the ink again.

"Ah! Selena, she is the author I was talking about. Swara, she is the boss." Misha immediately introduced them to each other.

"You have...you have ink on your face," Swara stuttered out, pointing her finger to the side of her own face to show where, ignoring Misha's subtle shake of head.

She was too busy being dumbfounded to notice Misha.

"You are going to experience the same when she makes you write with the feather. It's the library policy, right?" Misha said laughing, before pulling Swara's sleeves to bring her closer, "Idiot, who points out the appearance of their boss? What if she gets angry?"

Selena snorted at Misha's panic words, having heard all of it. "Forget pointing it out, you can even laugh at me. See if I give a damn."

There was no way Selena was going to get angry at the author. Especially when she seemed to see the real condition of the library. There were very few humans who could. That meant that this author was also the part of the curse or preferably the cure.

It seemed like a sign that this author might be the one who could use her glowing pen. But for that she needed to first hire her.

It would have been easy to hire someone like Misha who couldn't see the true condition of the library. But convincing Swara to work in this run down building was going to be difficult. And even more challenging to explain why she was seeing something entirely different than her friend.

What Selena didn't know was that Swara wasn't curious about the state of the building anymore. Things she thought of as strange coincidences weren't coincidences anymore.

The dying Library, a sick librarian and her ink-stained daughter, the name Selena ...all these factors...all these factors lead to the fact that...

Swara looked at the ceiling to confirm what she was fearing. The full moon shining at the top during bright daylight and Selena's presence below was enough to seal the deal.

Selena- The Feminine name of Moon.

Her story, her unfinished messy story was alive right in front of her eyes. No matter how many times, Swara rubbed her eyes, it was still there. Moon was still here.

While Swara was desperately praying for this to be just a nightmare that she would soon wake up from, for Selena it was a dream come true.

As the minutes passed by, she was becoming sure of the fact that this author was going to be the cure of the curse. She was blissfully unaware of the fact that Swara wasn't the cure but the originator of the curse.

Swara- The author of 'The Cursed Library'.