One in Infinite

“What’s the point in studying so much if it’s impossible?” I whispered under my breath, and snapped the

book shut. I placed it at the top of the pile of books and got ready to leave.

Usually, I would sit with my book until the last second before the library closed, and then leave. But, the

book I was reading today was particularly frustrating. It kept reiterating how impossible my dream was.

I was starting to feel like this was all a childish hope. There was no way I could do it if all those scientistand renowned scholars said it was impossible. How could I cure cancer and be able to save my

brother?

Looking back at my stack of books, I felt a pang of pity for Ms. Menzel. Tomorrow, she was going to

have to put all of these back in their appropriate shelves, all by herself. Normally, I would have no time

to put them back myself before leaving, but today I could spare a little time.

With a sigh, I picked up the books. And then, I felt immediate regret. This was way too heavy for me to

carry all by myself! My arms were already shaking in exhaustion, and I could barely see where I was

going with all these books in my face. Suddenly, my respect for the tiny, old librarian rose by a lot. How

did Ms. Menzel do this every day?

I took one shaky step forward, and then another. But just when I took my third step forward, my leg hit

something hard and everything fell as I tripped. The books went flying everywhere, and scattered all

over the floor. I fell over and hit the ground with a shriek.

As I lay on the ground, clutching my throbbing ankle, I looked around, but surprisingly, the librarian had

not come to investigate the racket. That was good. If she saw what a mess I had made, I would

definitely not have been allowed back here ever again. I could already hear her, “Olivia! You silly girl,

always up to no good..”

With a lot of effort, I stood back up and started picking up the books. I would just leave them on the

table, and go home. As I cleaned up the mess, I noticed something.

“An Infinite Adventure? What’s that? I don’t remember picking this up this morning. How did it get into

my pile?” I pondered in confusion. I only took books from the science section, there was no way a

fantasy book would be here.

Out of curiosity, I picked up the book. The cover was a sleek, glossy black. It was so shiny, that I could

see my own distorted reflection in it.

I squinted at the cover. Something wasn’t right. It felt like my reflection was changing, but that isn’t

possible. My teeth looked like they had braces, but that might just be food caught in them from my lunch.I had braces nearly 5 years ago, not anymore.

It must just be the trick of the light. I’m being far too silly, I laughed at myself. Changing reflections?

What’s this, a fantasy novel?

Still, instead of putting it down on the table and picking up the rest of the books. Something about this

book compelled me to keep thinking about it. I flipped the book open to a random page and began

reading.

“Chapter 4: One in Infinite

““What’s the point in studying so much if it’s impossible?” I whispered under my breath, and snapped

the book shut. I placed it at the top of the pile of books and got ready to leave.

Usually, I would sit with her book until the last second before the library closed, and then leave. But, the

book I was reading today was particularly frustrating. It kept reiterating how impossible my dream was.

I was starting to feel like this was all a childish hope. There was no way I could do it if all those

scientists and renowned scholars said it was impossible. How could I cure cancer and be able to save

my brother?”

My eyes widened. What was this? This sounded like my thoughts from a few minutes ago. With shaking

fingers, I flipped forward a few pages, and began reading.

“My eyes widened. What was this? This sounded like my thoughts from a few minutes ago. And my

name was being used for the character. With shaking fingers, I flipped forward a few pages, and began

reading.”

There was definitely something wrong here. There was no way this was a coincidence. This was way

too freaky. My heart was pounding in my chest. If this was really telling the story of my life, and I can’t

believe I’m considering that, then it needs to know the future, right? I would be able to see if my dream

really was impossible, or if I managed to do it!

But as I flipped forward to the end of the book, something weird happened, and my feeling of anticipation

died. The words were distorted and shifting. It looked like they were exchanging places with other letters

to create different words, and then moving again. Why was it not as clear as before? Was it because it

hadn’t happened yet, unlike what I had read earlier?

But, if the future wasn’t set in stone, didn’t that mean there were infinite possibilities? And if there were

infinite possibilities, then out of a billion tries, in some scenario I should have managed to achieve my

goal. That means it wasn’t impossible.

That night, Olivia went back home, with a feeling of hope reignited in her heart. When she came back to

the library the next day to see the book, the librarian told her that no such book was in the records. It was

like some sort of vivid dream.