Hello readers!
I hope you've all had a great week. I'm back with another flash fiction story, this time one of intrigue and mystery.
This week's prompt was very simple.
Character: A person in their 50s who is never ill.
Action: Your character is filming a video.
I looked up a secondary prompt which I only pulled the story's setting from, and came up with a short story I think is lots of fun. I hope you enjoy!
I take out my phone and start recording. Somehow, I’ve reached a secret part of the library after pulling out a book on Alexander the Great. When I turn around, the walls have aged significantly, and all of the wooden beams have turned into marble pillars. The book in my hand is now a scroll.
I start recording the rest of the room, walking around and capturing all of the valuable knowledge I can. I open scrolls and capture the Greek writing. Is this knowledge lost to time? Is this what could finally get me academic acclaim after all these years of digging through every library, every private collection, and looking for something no one else knows is there?
As I finish the section I’m in, I hear footsteps. I look to see some men in Greek togas and hide behind the shelves. I would look like a barbarian to them, my overgrown hair and baggy “I Heart Reading” t-shirt would look unkempt to them. Being an English professor never came with glamorous outfits. The men speak in Greek, a language I can vaguely read, let alone understand.
Being and English professor never required knowing other languages.
I watch them leave and decide to start searching for something everyone in 2024 would know. Maybe Homer’s epics, or records of Socratic dialogue. I’d recognize enough of those titles to record whatever existed.
Feeling like a video game character I dash to the next shelf. I’m still holding tight to the original scroll, balancing it in the same hand as my phone. I look at more and more scrolls, knowing I’ve passed up some valuable information already.
Upon seeing a scroll with the word “Homer” on it, I open the scroll and start to record it’s contents. I see “Iliad” written in the script, I keep recording. I start to beg the gods of literature to give my phone and extra boost of storage. As I near the end of the scroll, I hear footsteps approach. This certainly isn’t even close to an eighth of the poem, but it’s something. Sudden shouting in Greek from behind me makes me drop the scroll in my hand. I quickly turn to see who’s behind me.
“Professor, are you alright?” one of my students asks.
“Yes, quite alright.” I sigh, unhappy to see the book I picked up on the floor of the university’s library.
This isn't my usual short story but I had fun writing it, and hope you had a good time reading it! Have a great week.
-Rosetta 💖
Image by melanfolia меланфолія
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