The school library was unusually quiet that day. Most students were busy in their classrooms, preparing for upcoming tests, but I was sitting alone in a corner, pretending to study. My name is Ruhi . I'm not the kind of student who enjoys studying for hours, but today I had no choice. My test scores were getting worse, and even my teacher had warned me to focus. Her words kept repeating in my mind again and again. I sighed and closed my book because nothing was going inside my head. Maybe I just needed a break.
I stood up and started walking between the tall bookshelves. The smell of old books filled the air, and some shelves looked like they hadn't been touched in years. That's when I noticed something strange. One book was slightly out of place, pushed forward compared to the others. Curious, I pulled it out, but it wasn't a book. It was a notebook. A plain, dark blue notebook with no name written on it. I frowned, wondering who would keep a notebook here like this. There was no label, no subject name, nothing. It looked old and forgotten.
I looked around, but the library was completely empty. For a moment, I thought about putting it back, but something inside me told me to open it. Slowly, I opened the first page. It was blank. I turned the next page, and that was blank too. I flipped through a few more pages quickly, but all of them were empty. It felt strange, like this notebook had no purpose. I was about to close it, thinking it was a waste of time, when suddenly I noticed something unusual.
On one of the pages, faint writing started to appear. I froze. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but the words were actually forming right in front of my eyes. My heart started beating faster as I stared at the page. The sentence slowly became clear: "Tomorrow, Ruhi will be called by the teacher for an unexpected reason." I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I quickly looked around again, but no one was there. The library was still silent and empty.
I looked back at the notebook. The words were still there—clear and real. I
touched the page, but it felt completely normal. There was no pen, no screen, nothing. Just plain paper. I tried to calm myself down and told myself it must be a prank. Maybe someone had written it earlier, and I just didn't notice. Yes, that had to be the reason. I laughed nervously and closed the notebook, telling myself that nothing would happen tomorrow. Still, I couldn't explain what I had just seen. After a few seconds of hesitation, I put the notebook in my bag. I told myself I would return it later, but deep inside, I knew I wanted to see if it was true.
The next day, I walked into my classroom like always, trying to act normal and forget everything about the notebook. The teacher entered, and the class greeted her. She started the lesson, and everything felt normal. Too normal. I almost started believing that yesterday was just my imagination. Maybe I was overthinking. Maybe nothing was going to happen. I finally relaxed a little.
But then suddenly, the teacher called my name. "Ananya, stand up." My heart stopped. Slowly, I stood up and answered nervously. She looked at me seriously and said, "Stay after class. I need to talk to you." My hands went cold. My mind went blank. It was exactly the same as what was written in the notebook. I sat down slowly, unable to understand what was happening. This couldn't be a coincidence.
The bell rang, and everyone started leaving the classroom, but I stayed back just like yesterday. My heartbeat was loud in my ears. The teacher started walking towards me, but before she could say anything, I remembered the notebook in my bag. Slowly, I opened it under the desk. My hands were shaking as I turned to the next page.
And what I saw made my breath stop.
New words were already written there.
Words I had never seen before.
Words that said—
"This is only the beginning."