Everyone Else Got the Manual - Looking for Something That Doesn’t Want to Be Found - Part 3
I didn’t return the paper.
I told myself I would.
I even folded it neatly and kept it in my bag… like a responsible adult who accidentally picked up something that wasn’t hers.
But I didn’t give it back.
Because something about it felt…
Important.
Not in a curious way.
In a dangerous way.
That entire day, I couldn’t focus.
Every conversation felt staged.
Every laugh sounded rehearsed.
Even silence felt… intentional.
I started noticing patterns.
Small ones.
Easy to ignore.
Impossible to unsee.
Rohit checked his phone before answering questions.
Not casually.
Precisely.
Like he was confirming something.
Kavya texted me in the afternoon.
“Don’t overthink today. Just go with the flow.”
I stared at the message.
My chest tightened.
I hadn’t told her anything.
I hadn’t said a word to anyone.
So how did she know…
I was overthinking?
I typed back.
“What do you mean?”
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Then nothing.
No reply.
That silence felt louder than any answer.
By evening, I had made a decision.
If there was a manual…
I needed to see it.
Not a page. Not a clue.
The whole thing.
I stayed back at the office.
Waited until people started leaving.
One by one.
Chairs rolled back.
Laptops shut down.
Lights dimmed.
Normal.
Everything looked normal.
Until it wasn’t.
At exactly 7:12 PM…
Something changed.
I don’t know how to explain it.
There was no sound.
No announcement.
No visible shift.
But the office felt…
Paused.
Like a video buffering in real life.
I stood up slowly.
Heart beating faster now.
Not curiosity anymore.
Something else.
Instinct.
I walked toward Neha’s desk.
Her notebook wasn’t there.
Of course it wasn’t.
But her drawer…
Was slightly open.
Just a little.
Enough to notice.
I hesitated.
Not because it felt wrong.
But because it felt like…
something was waiting for me to do it.
Still—
I reached out.
Pulled the drawer open.
Inside—
Files. Pens. Sticky notes.
Normal things.
Safe things.
And beneath them…
A book.
Not a notebook.
Not loose pages.
A book.
Dark grey cover.
No title.
No design.
Just…
Plain.
My fingers hovered over it.
For a second—
I felt something strange.
Like when you’re about to touch water that looks still…
But you know it’s deep.
I picked it up.
Slowly.
Carefully.
It was heavier than it looked.
I opened the first page.
Blank.
Second page.
Blank.
I frowned.
Flipped faster.
Page after page after page—
Nothing.
My heartbeat slowed.
A little laugh escaped me.
Of course.
Of course this was nothing.
I shook my head.
Closed the book.
And that’s when I saw it.
Not on the page.
Not inside.
On the inside of the cover.
Faint.
Almost invisible.
Like it didn’t want to be read.
Words.
I tilted the book slightly toward the light.
And slowly…
They became clear.
“Assigned User: —”
There was a pause.
A blank space.
And then—
Right in front of my eyes…
Letters began to appear.
Not written.
Not printed.
Forming.
One by one.
My breath stopped.
Because it wasn’t random.
It was spelling a name.
My name.
I dropped the book.
It hit the floor with a dull sound.
Too real.
Too loud.
And for the first time since all of this began…
I didn’t feel curious.
I felt seen.
Comments
Post a Comment