Don’t Pick Up That Pen by Joshua Keim

The library. Always occupied by at least one person. Usually by that weird librarian. Despite belonging to a very large university, the library was actually very small. It was used sparingly by students, and never by teachers.

However, this time, the librarian was nowhere to be found, a certain black haired botanist had remained in the library, she was responsible enough to be left alone in the long hours it took for the librarian to finish scrub the miserable graffiti off of the bathroom walls.

Dressed in her classic tight slacks and leather jacket, burying the soft blouse and dress shirt she was wearing. The young lady looked at the window showing the afternoon sun peaking on the desk from the window atop the wall. A whole afternoon spent in here. She wouldn’t have it any other way.

Rosie Rosana Rosauera Rosenfellow packed up her things. After a long session of learning the material needed for the test tomorrow, she was ready to go home and cool off. Perhaps even treat herself and read a book that wasn’t about plants.

The silent girl got her bag and walked off toward the exit, her loafers making just the barest hint of a sound.

Oh wait! 

"My pen." She chided herself. She needed that for the test amongst.

For all her great memory she had forgotten her pen. She turned back to where she had been studying, a nice looking desk near the back. Nice and quiet, surrounded on two sides by shelves of books. Like an alley way of knowledge. The desk stood alone at the end of the shelves, standing in front of a wall. An odd setup for a desk.

Stranger still, there was a young man with a nervous look at the mouth of the book shelf alley way. A brown mop of hair spangled on his head. One of the few people in the university that she actually liked.

How did he get there? I didn’t even notice. She thought

Garett aka 'Gare-bear'. The luckiest boy she knew. Dressed like he always was in the evenings, in pajamas.

The young man looked away and seemed to decide something in his own mind. Turning back to Rosie he smiled a great big smile and walked over to her.

"Rosie! I was just looking for you, do you want to do something together? Maybe get some of your favorite coffee?" He said with an upbeat tone. But something didn't sit right with Rosie. Underneath that smile was a very nervous air. Although he tried his best to hide it, he was hiding something.

She decided not to say anything, maybe it was a touchy subject and was better left alone until he was comfortable enough.

"I just forgot my pen. I'll be right back." Said the botanist, walking to the desk... which Garett seemed to be blocking.

She took a step forward, Garett took a step back. Still not getting out of the way. Rosie started walking faster. Garett shuffled backwards at roughly the same speed.

She got about halfway until she tried going around. She stepped to her left, Garett mirrored her.

She stepped to her right. Garett did the same

Rosie eyed him suspiciously.

"Garett, is there something you want to tell me?" The botanist said, crossing her arms.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." The girl could see the lie a mile away, she could smell it from the foot of distance between her and him.

"You're not letting me get to my pen, Garett. What's going on? Are you feeling alright?" Rosie said with a trace of concern.

"Aha yeah I'm alright." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Then why are you sweating so much?" She started to get really worried. What was up with him?

"Well it's kind of hot in here don't ya think?" Garett said while fanning himself with his hand.

"The AC is on." The botanist stated plainly.

"Oh it must be this hoodie!" Garett chuckled with a little more force than needed.

"I’m not very warm, and I’m wearing leather." Rosie stated, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. 

She took another step forward. Her left foot. Garett took a step back, his right foot. Something was for sure off. Her rational brain that she had come to trust very well was telling her that Garett was not in a sound state of mind. But her often neglected emotions were telling her something else.

The botanist started taking longer strides, Garett barely keeping up until he stumbled and tripped, falling on his rear.

He quickly stood up, shooting himself to the desk. Grabbing it while looking at her with a crazed expression.

"Rosie! Please! You can't come any closer. You'll die!" Garett quietly exclaimed due to the fact that he was in a library.

The botanist looked bewildered. Utterly bewildered. Garett, standing there with a heaving chest and a fearful expression, was telling she was going to die.

"From what? Picking up my pen?" She asked with a sarcastic drawl, crossing her arms again.

"Yes!" Garett cried out, sarcasm distinctly absent. A little louder than she had expected, due to the fact that they were in a library.

"Garett, you're going to need some amazing explanation for this in the morning so we can laugh at it together over coffee." Rosie massaged the bridge of her nose.

"Rosie. I need you to listen. I know you're good at finding things out. Can you tell if I'm lying or not?" The boy asked.

That was something she hadn't thought about. Garett was a really bad liar but for some reason she could not find any deceit on his face. Or maybe he really just was that crazy.

"Garett, you do know the position this puts me in? You're telling me my life will end if I pick up a pen? How?" She said with a raised eyebrow. This was really getting on her nerves.

"Uh... just... you will! You have to believe me!" He said, panicking.

"Garett, I'm going to walk over to that desk," She pointed to the desk. Then to the boy.

 "You're going to get out of the way, go to your room and rest until whatever is going on with you passes. Is that understood?" She stated. Her tone left no room for argument. Which usually worked on him. Garett was always one of those guys to just go with the flow. 

"I'm sorry Rosie, I can't let you do that." Garett said slowly, shaking his head, with eyes so determined Rosie wondered if this was even the same boy.

Rosie sighed. It’s not like that was her only pen. Even if it was her lucky pen, given to her by Garett himself! It was importan to her. But it was just a pen.

"Fine, I'm leaving. But forget about getting coffee with me." She said turning on a heel and going in the other direction, towards the door.

Garett breathed a sigh of relief. It might've hurt his friendship with her but at least she was alive. He started walking away from the desk. The botanist several steps ahead of him.

Eventually they both cleared past the shelves. When Rosie suddenly turned on her heel and bolted past him! Thundering to the desk!

Garett reacted nearly instantly, the life of his dearest friend hung in the balance! A tsunami of adrenaline coursed into him, heart beating like an engine he ran after her.

Something hit Rosie's legs and she tripped and fell, sliding forward. She looked back to see Garett, who had slid like legendary Italian defender Paolo Maldini. Hooking his right foot on Rosie's ankle.

Garett recovered and flipped  over the fallen botanist. Guarding the desk with a lowered stance, ready to pounce. The botanist looked upwards from her fallen state and eyed the boy. What the hell? Where did he learn to slide that far? Rosie had a good meter of distance between them.

Rosie stood up, patience running on empty. Dusted herself off and looked the boy right in the eye.

"Garett, did you just..." She coughed due to the fact she fell face first onto an old dusty carpet from the 80’s.

"I-I'm sorry Rosie. But I can't let you pick up this pen!" Garett cried, closing his eyes. Legendary Italian defender Paolo Maldini had a very aggressive slide. He knew he should've used legendary Spanish defender Carles Puyol’s slide instead! 

"Okay, you made your point. I'm not going to pick up that pen. But I'm going to get closer okay. It's just so I can see if you're under the influence or not. Is that alright?" She asked with a very soft voice.

"No, I'll come to you. Stay right there. Not another step!" He said inching closer with slow and cautious steps. Rosie took out a pocket light and took Garett's face in her hand. He might've enjoyed the touch more if there wasn't a very tense hostage situation going on.

The botanist inspected Garett, but detected nothing out of the ordinary. She rolled up his sleeves in search of a needle wound, uncharacteristic for the boy she knew so well. But she could not leave a single stone unturned. She found nothing still.

Rosie then dashed left, causing Garett to flinch and try to grab her. This allowed the girl to spin to her right, thus styling on the boy and allowing her to get past him. Garett, in a last ditch attempt to save his friends life, with a blind grab of uncharacteristic aggression, was able to grasp on the botanist's long black hair! He yanked with all his might in the other direction and Rosie was thrown back to where she stood a few moments ago.

Rosie rubbed her tender scalp. 

Where did he get all that strength from?

“I'm sorry Rosie! I can't allow you to kill yourself!" 

"It's just a pen! A pen! How the hell could that kill me! There is no universe that exists where picking up that pen is going to kill me!" She whisper yelled back pointing at the source of the problem.

"Rosie. I'm sorry. Just... trust me." He said with a wavering expression.

"You don't really want to do this do you? You don't want to throw me around. I know you Garett, I know this isn't really you." Rosie said with as much concern as her pride would allow her.

Tears formed at the corners of Garetts eyes, he quickly wiped them off. He looked down, his hair casting a shadow over his eyes. The botanist continued to push.

"Please Garett, whatever is going on. We can figure it out together." She said reluctantly. She hated to admit it but she had grown far too attached to his smile and his company. She loved that seemingly endless wellspring of optimism to her bottomless cynical abyss. 

"Do you really mean that?" Garett said with tears in his eyes. Full on crying, tears of joy and sorrow in equal measure.

"Yes." Rosie simply nodded.

"Then..." Garett started, Rosie dared to hope, "I'm even more sorry that I have to do this to you." Garett said with puffy eyes and an unwavering determination.

Rosie sighed. It was just a stupid pen. But now it was more a matter of principle, it looks like she would have to do this the hard way.

Then something came together in her head. There's no way Garett would go this far without a good reason. His will would usually default to the most dominant person around him which was usually her.

"Okay Garett I'm going. I hope it was worth it." She said walking away.

"Of course! Your life is worth it damn it!" He shouted. Something about those words resonated with her. Her brain and her gut were both in agreement that something unnatural was going on that she needed to know about. One thing she knew for sure, she would needto investigate further.

Later that night

Rosie snuck into the library. Closing the door as gently as she could. Not a soul would be inside the library at this hour, not even hte librarian. Except for Garett, who still hadn’t come out of the neglected library. The botanist went to the shelves and saw in the dark, a lone boy asleep with his head resting on the desk, sleeping as peacefully as a bird in roost. She would have enjoyed the sight more but there was something she needed to get to the bottom of.

She stalked over to the desk. The pen was firmly within the hand of her friend. Rosie analyzed the pen as best she could. It looked like a regular pen, just like the one she used that afternoon. She crouched down to get a better look.

Squeeeek

Oh God. The floor beneath her had creaked, damn it. Garett stirred but otherwise did not wake. Rosie sighed in relief.

Nevertheless, a meager curiosity grew in her mind. Would she actually die if she picked up that pen?

She would much rather not find out, said her gut. But her own higher reasoning, which she trusted much more than her base instinct, assured that nothing would happen at all.

The botanist rubbed her face, feeling the stress of the situation. Like a golden idol that would release a boulder if not switched with a weight in its place. Ah what the heck. The botanist, with her fore finger and her thumb went to pluck the damn thing from his hand.

His grip was formidable though and the pen barely budged. She wrapped her fist around the pen and yanked to the fullest extent of her might, but Garett’s vice did not falter.

She added her second hand to force Garett’s hand open. He then woke up, and the pen flew from his hand and landed a few feet away in the darkness of the library. 

"Huh?" He found that there happened to be a distinct pen shaped outline missing from his hand, then he spotted a figure in the dark of the room. Someone with black hair and dressed in darker clothing.

"Rosie!" That seemed to wake him. He shot up from the chair and leaped on the desk, he pounced on Rosie. Or rather where she was. For you see, yelping, she dodged Garett's assault.

Garett flew past her and landed on his chest, sliding across the floor with a thump.

Rosie now rightfully frightened, scurried away from the thing that had possessed Garett. Rosie quickly pulled out her pocket light and searched for the pen, hearing Garett rise to his feet.

Just then Rosie found it and reached for it, the moment her fingers touched the barrel of the pen, she looked to see if Garett was there. A few steps behind her.

"Please...Rosie. Don't do this." Garett sobbed, allowing his tears to flow freely from his eyes.

"I love you... I... I love youhouhou." Garett choked.

"Stop it... please just..." Garett broke down completely collapsing on the ground, he ordered his knees to move but he could not reliably stand anymore. So Garett crawled. He inched closer to the botanist, seeing her standing so beautiful in the pale naked light of the window above the desk.

Rosie picked up the pen.

"Garett it's fine, se-" Garett was sure she would have said, 'Garett its fine, see?' but he'll never know for sure.

Because she exploded. Like a popping balloon, Rosie was there one second and disappeared the next. Her innards, meant to be safely seated inside her, were now flying free in the library. It almost seemed like a cartoon, like she had been hit by a tank shell but instead of being given the dignity of dying without a gorey trace she would instead be decorated around the library shelves.

The red mist, once being proud viscous blood,  replaced the pale naked moonlight with a rose red tint. Where she had stood was now a blossoming gown of hot shedded blush. Visceral matter painted his face in the same glow of the blood moon leering at him. He coulnd’t save her. He couldn’t save her.

"R-Rosie? Where did you go?" The thought hadn’t even stumbled into his mind yet, that she was no longer with him. A breathless scream and two river blood ran out of his face.

At the door to the library stood a looming shadow, presumably the angel of death. Garett looked around the scene before him. How could he ever face her father knowing he allowed his precious Roselynn to die such a horrific death. Worse yet, there would be no body to mourn and the stench of her iron blood would remain forever dry in the creases of his brain.

"Gare-bear! What the hell happened!" Said the looming death.

He didn't respond. What the hell did death just call him?

"Gare-bear?! Gare-bear!" Garett looked far off into the distance behind him, where he thought the reaper would stand to collect the scattered fragments of Rosie’s shredded soul.

"Garett! Garett! Come back to bed damn bed, it's cold!" Huh.

Garett shook his head. He found himself in a very nice looking bathroom. The lights were on, at the door to the bathroom stood a groggy Rosie.

"What were we doing in here with the lights off?" She grumped.

Garett said nothing, looking at his hands. Noticing a silver ring on his ring finger. He looked into the mirror, face splashed in water.

He jumped at Rosie and swept her up into a hug. Rosie reciprocated and sluggishly patted his shoulder. 

Wait a minute, what was I doing in the bathroom?

 "Get back to bed please." Mumbled his wife, already falling into a deep sleep. The nightmare all but forgotten, Garett swept Rosie off her feet and carried back into the bedroom. He laid her onto her side and planted a kiss on her forehead. He could rest easy now, knowing he wouldn’t have to worry about his wife exploding or something stupid like that.