© Copyright Cupideros, Friday, August 14, 2016

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 1-3

THE QUESTIONING BOOK StoryTime by Cupideros

BOOK FIVE: MILO’S RETURN

Timeline School

PART ONE: THE BOY WHO LOOKED AT SCREENS

CHAPTER ONE: COMPUTER GAMES

Milo Torres did not hate reading.

That was the problem.

He didn’t hate it. He just… forgot about it. Books existed in a different world than the one he lived in. The world he lived in had RAM, pixels, and bytes. Had levels. Had high scores. Had a glowing screen that hummed at night when the rest of the house was dark. Had timers that counted down and mazes that twisted and turned and challenged him to be faster, smarter, and better.

The world he lived in was called Blade Maze Runner.

He had discovered it two years ago. His older brother had shown him the first version—clunky graphics, simple mazes, pixelated blotches at times, a timer that counted down while you ran, and monsters that looked like angry potatoes or melted Legos. Milo had lost immediately. His character had been eaten by a pixelated blob. Then, his brother had laughed.

But Milo had not laughed.

He had stared at the screen. He had watched his character disappear. And he had thought, ‘I can do better.’

So he played again. And again. And again. He played more ‘Agains’ than he could remember. “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Kapu!” Finally, three monster kills in a row in less than three seconds. Milo was now a master. His older brother stopped laughing.

Now Milo, the Master Monster Killer, was on version 3.5.

The mazes were three-dimensional. The walls had textures you could almost feel. The monsters had backstories—tragic ones, the kind that made you almost feel bad for evading and running away from them; they tried to give you a ‘suicidal empathy’ for their monstrous plight. The timer still counted down, but now it felt like a heartbeat. Thump-thump-thump, getting faster as the maze got harder.

He knew every shortcut. Every trap. Every secret door. Every monster pattern. He knew which walls were fake and which floors would crumble beneath his feet. He knew the game better than he knew his own neighborhood, or thought he did.

The day he found out about not knowing his neighborhood that well occurred when he and Elara “Sparks” Champlin stood on the building steps talking. Or rather, Elara stood next to sitting Milo, who had auto-launched and started playing Blaze Maze Runner. Suddenly, “Sparks” pulled his arm and said, “Hey, Computer Games, let’s go inside this spooky library?”

Immediately, Milo said, “No.”

Not because he was scared.

Because he was already somewhere else.

His fingers were already on the keyboard. “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Kaput!” His eyes were already on the screen. His brain was already in the maze. He was on level seven. He was about to beat his high score. And the timer was counting down. The monsters were closing in—better-designed and more accurate monsters—capable of being on the super movie screen and not his tiny laptop screen.

The reading could wait.

The library could wait.

It always could wait—everything!

That was the problem.

CHAPTER TWO: WHAT MILO DIDN’T SEE

Milo didn’t notice things.

That was his second problem.

He didn’t notice that Elara had changed after she came back from the library. She read slower now. She paused between sentences. She closed her eyes sometimes when she was reading, like she was tasting the words.

He didn’t notice that Jake had started finishing books. All of them. Every single one. Even the ones from when he was younger. He didn’t notice that Jake no longer talked about stashing books in the freezer.

Milo didn’t notice that Julie Chen had stopped calling stories lies. She still read history passionately as her view of WWII slowly changed. But she also reads fiction now. She had a novel in her backpack. He didn’t see it because he wasn’t looking.

He didn’t notice that Susanna had stopped saying, “I forgot my book.” She read alone mostly. She seemed to be talking to the book like it was a person. Debates and counterpoints were rapidly exchanged. Sometimes, she put the book down for a minute and grasped her big, fluffy, perfectly curated Afro—to think it through. Suddenly, her brown eyes would light up, and she would grab the book and write something in her notebook. The funny notebook had two sides: one side was for the book author’s perspective, and the opposite page was for Susanna’s point of view. She placed her left hand on the left side and her right hand on the right side and shifted her big, fluffy, black Afro back and forth. Sometimes Marcus joined her. Susanna explained the difference between the left side and the right side of the special notebook’s meanings. Marcus would laugh and, at other times, disagree. Finally, he bought his own My Thought-Your Thought notebook like the one used by Susanna. They no longer had to automatically believe what the teacher said to get good grades. The left side was teacher information to get A’s on tests or pop quizzes; the right side was for her own deeper understanding of what the book actually said—her view of it anyway! They had bought it at an entertaining, philosophical website called cupiderosbooks.com. They sat together during independent reading time. The trio took turns discussing the reading pages.

Milo didn’t notice any of this because he was always looking at his Blaze Maze Runner computer screen.

The computer screen was safe.

The computer screen made sense.

The gaming computer screen had rules that stayed the same. Level one was always level one. The monsters always appeared in the same places. The timer always counted down at the same speed. You could learn the patterns. You could master them. You could win.

Real life didn’t have entertaining, fun, stable patterns.

Real life was messy.

Real life had people who changed, rules that changed, and books with endings and feelings that didn’t make sense.

So Milo stayed in the maze.

And the maze stayed on the screen.

And the library, reading, and sometimes lunch waited.

CHAPTER THREE: THE PENCIL

Milo had a lot of things he did alone. But Sparks was in Milo’s inner circle. And Sparks was now in the Sisterhood with Susanna and Julie. Soon Susanna knew, like Sparks knew, where Milo was most of the time, even if he was hiding in his special corner of the lunchroom. “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Kaput!” Milo’s keyboard clicked, killing monsters on level 7.

His fingers moved across the keyboard. His eyes never left the screen. The glow of the monitor painted his face blue. The timer was at forty-five seconds. The monsters were closing in. He could feel his high score within reach.

“Blade Maze Runner,” Susanna said, sitting across from him at his empty lunch table.

Milo’s fingers paused. Just for a second. The timer kept counting down. Forty-one seconds. Forty seconds. “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “KAPUT!”

“Level 7.9!” Milo said. “Almost beat my high score.”

“Your computer games are created by people and designed for individuals like you, Milo.”

Milo’s fingers stopped completely. His concentration was broken.

The timer hit thirty seconds. A monster ate his character. “SPLEWWWWWEUUUD!” The screen went red. GAME OVER flashed in blocky, gradient sage and orange letters.

He turned.

Susanna took a bite of her hamburger with lettuce, extra cheese, and a slice of crinkle-cut pickle. She knew the extra cheese meant extra arm-waving weight-reduction Chinese exercises she learned from Julie. Nevertheless, she chewed, savoring the extra cheese. “Besides people, cheese is the most amazing food on the planet.”

Milo wanted to laugh. “You can have my cheese off my uneaten turkey sandwich.”

It seemed all the sandwiches in Maplewood Middle School came with cheese.

“Mmm. No.” Susanna waved her hands. “You know what the Mean Girls do, say, and how they isolate fat girls. I can’t get fat, Milo.”

“I don’t get it.” Milo looked puzzled about the lunchroom. “Boys don’t pick on one another about their weight or the style of clothes we wear. We couldn’t care less.”

Susanna stopped and turned around. Nearby was a group of Mean Girls—the Mean Girls that had protected her in class the other day. “Ssshhhhh! Milo. Now that I am reading alone, I think the Mean Girls might be reevaluating my ‘Cool Girl’ status.”

Milo casually looked over. “Who—that blonde girl with the dimples in the cobalt-blue hoodie? I know that girl! That’s Katie Lake; she’s from Arizona.” Milo waved.

Susanna nearly died. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“You’re in The Questioning Book Club. We support one another.”

Fake-smiling-all-the-time blonde Katie Lake got up, flipped her long blonde hair behind her back, and started to walk over.

“Ohh, shit!” Susanna ducked her head, nearly touching her food. “Shit! Fuck! She’s coming over! You’re a boy, Milo—not a girl!”

“I know that; there are only two sexes. So what’s your point?” Milo asked, truly puzzled.

“You’ll soon find out, COMPUTER GAMES!”

Fake-smiling, Katie Lake came up to Milo’s lunchroom table. “You ever get off Level 6, Computer Games?”

Milo stuck out his chest. He turned his computer screen toward Katie.

“Level 7! Nice!”

“You know me—“Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Kaput!” “Destroying the monsters.”

“I see you’re hanging out with smarter people these days, too—Sisanna, is it?” Katie Lake flashed a fake smile.

“Susanna.” Susanna remembered Katie Lake using her correct name when she defended her some days back. Now, Katie could not say ‘Susanna’ if her life depended on it. Girl games. Milo! I told you not to invite her over here. Susanna also perked up when she saw Katie was wearing a similar hoodie, but hers was cobalt-blue and paired with an emerald-green maxi skirt. Copycat.

“Katie Lake, meet Susanna. We’re in the same Questioning Book Club!”

Katie Lake’s smile was vivacious, captivating, and sincere. “I’m copying Sisanna’s style, Milo. I’ve got the basics down. Now, I just need to add the structural pieces. Better watch out; I just might figure out your entire pattern, Sisanna.”

Susanna countered, “My style is eclectic.”

Katie started laughing. She turned away from Susanna and gave off a glow of real friendship to him. “Milo, when are you going to learn girls don’t get along unless they are in The Sisterhood?”

“Susanna is in The Sisterhood of Sparks and Julie Chen.”

Katie made a fake throwing-up gag sign, fully putting two fingers in her mouth. “Gulp, gulp. Well, that hardly qualifies—but” Katie paused. “Sisanna, with her fine ‘Cool Girl’ style, can be in OUR Sisterhood.”

Milo started laughing. “Like you can break up The Questioning Book Club. Never going to happen, Katie!”

“Like, my mom wants to know if you’re going to attend my birthday party tomorrow?”

Susanna looked shocked. “Milo!”

Milo said, “What, Susanna?”

“You know you had that reading appointment tomorrow!”

Katie Lake looked shocked. Offended. Almost smug with arrogance. Then Katie Lake chuckled. “Sorry, Sisanna, I’m not laughing at you. It’s just Milo hardly ever reads. I imagined seeing you read to him—”

“Katie! You know darn well I read.”

“Besides, Computer Games, I know for a fact you’re not officially in—” Katie Lake made a funny, scary face, shaking her head left and right, putting her forefingers in her dimples—“in the Scary Questioning Book Club.”

“You know nothing about The Questioning Book Club!” Milo defended.

Katie flipped her long blonde hair behind her cobalt-blue hoodie. She showed off two small, pink hoop earrings. “It’s between the pet shop and the old laundromat.”

Milo turned to Susanna.

Susanna made an “I don’t know-don’t say anything face”.

Milo and Susanna said together: “There’s nothing there but an empty space.”

Katie Lake laughed hilariously and attracted the entire lunchroom’s attention.

The Mean Girls, and now the Mean Boys who had just joined them, all laughed.

Milo started laughing loud, and he kicked Susanna’s pink sneakers under the table.

Susanna started laughing loud with Milo.

Soon, Katie, Susanna, Milo, and the entire lunchroom were laughing.

Katie slowly stopped laughing. “Oh, very good, Computer Games, and surprisingly smooth, Sisanna. You’re somehow tougher than you used to be, Si-san-na. But I will adjust.”

“It’s Susanna—if you want me to be in your Sisterhood.”

That seemed to stop all the chaos.

Silence.

Katie Lake backed away from Milo’s lunch table. She flashed her pure-white, captivating smile. Her pure-white sneakers squeaked once or twice. She pointed both fingers at Milo. “See you at my birthday party, Computer Games.”

Susanna flashed an angry, hurt, happy, thank-you expression all at once to Milo. She pulled out the #2 yellow pencil, worn down smooth from being held. The eraser was almost gone. Carved into the side were symbols. A lightning bolt. A small frame. A tiny reflection pane of glass and the stick figures inside a magic circle; one of the figures held a book.

Milo looked over at Katie Lake backtracking.

Katie Lake smiled, a genuine smile at Milo, again.

Susanna said, “I thought you didn’t like The Frog Prince. Seems you’re a frog after all. If you don’t go tomorrow to your reading appointment, Oliver will be stuck here for another hundred years,” Susanna lied.

“That guy. Something is evil about him!”

“I admit he is grotesque in his present form.”

“I’ve never seen his present form.”

“That’s why Katie said, ‘You’re not officially in The Questioning Book Club.’ See, Milo. Each of us underwent a transformation, and all the other children know it. They see it! We’re stronger, tougher, wiser, and older.”

“More mature, too! I don’t believe a word of it. Sparks is the same Sparks. She just reads a little slower. Jake reads more, but he always read.”

Susanna debated, “Jake is finishing books now!”

Milo countered, “Julie Chen always loved books.”

“Of course,” Susanna clarified, “but she added novels to her reading list. I learned reading is difficult on your own. An author partner makes it easier.”

“An author partner? You mean long-dead authors? Wait! Wait! We’re getting off topic. I can’t be in two places at once!”

“For sure, if you go tomorrow, your princess, perfect-model blonde, fake-smiling, Mean Girl Katie Lake, can’t follow you.”

“But I’ll have to tell my mom to tell Katie’s mom some excuse for not attending the birthday party!”

“You sound like you’re getting married, Computer Games. It’s just a birthday party. Don’t worry, though; we all get married. It’s not too late for you,” and Susanna giggled. “That’s how humanity progresses to the next stage of people and science. We all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. Every scientist. Every writer. Every game designer. They all learned from someone who came before. That someone was born on this planet.”

“Susanna, you’re acting weird. And you just made up all that author-partner, stage-of-humanity, and marriage stuff!”

“Well, not exactly.” Susanna held out the worn-down #2 yellow pencil to Milo. When Milo did not take it from her hand, Susanna placed it beside his laptop. “The Questioning Book told me those things. He’ll tell you wise things too, Computer Games. He only needs one more student to reach one hundred. Then he can go back to his planet as a human again.”

Milo’s eyes went wide. He felt the pencil’s ancient power, even without touching it. But still, he refused to pick up the old, worn graphite and yellow thing. He was naturally skeptical. That’s why he never joined Katie Lake’s mean crowd. He knew picking on other students came next. He wanted no part of that. His skepticism was a good thing. His relationship with Katie Lake put him into the ‘Cool Kid’ group. The effective, honest nature of being a ‘Cool Kid’ worked for Milo.

Still, Milo allowed himself to observe that the wood was tarnished and a bit dark from years of being held. The carvings told a story. Sparks’ lightning bolt. Jake’s frame. Julie’s reflection pane of glass. Susanna’s two stick figures, one reading a book to another. Four readers. Four marks. Four stories. Four friends!

“Interesting tale, this Oliver—this Scary Questioning Book Monster,” Milo said. “That’s just like in Blade Maze Runner’s backstory.”

“One, Computer Games—he’s not a monster. He’s a kind, compassionate guy, really. Funny sense of humor, too. Intelligent, highly intelligent.”

Milo glanced over Susanna’s shoulders. He refocused his eyes on Susanna’s big Latino Afro. Then her clothes, which are aesthetically pleasing, look like they came straight out of a catalog website. Katie Lake was right: Susanna had style. “Most successful criminals are, Susanna.”

“Milo, you have to choose. It’s either the Katie Lake group, where you’ll probably end up bullying kids like me, or The Questioning Book Club—where you can save a guy’s life who saved hundreds of children from poverty and crime by teaching them to read, and on top of that release him from three hundred years of horrible, ghastly torment.”

“Torment he deserved, Susanna!” Milo said, peeved. “Girls. I was doing fine by myself, and then now—just a ‘Cool Kid’—doing what I want, going my own way, and now I’m involved in all this girl drama!” Milo stuffed his turkey sandwich halfway in his mouth, closed his laptop, and got up in a huff and left.

Susanna stared down at the worn #2 yellow pencil on the table. Milo could no longer talk with a turkey sandwich hanging halfway out of his mouth. What a perfect excuse! What a perfect getaway!

Silence.

Suddenly, Milo turned back and, in two steps, grabbed the worn-down #2 yellow pencil, pulled his turkey sandwich out, and said, “I’ll go help the guy out. It’s the least a bro can do.”

Susanna laughed. “People are messy. If you don’t return—”

Milo gave a hearty laugh. “I’ll return. Sparks, Jake, Julie, and you returned. And so will, Computer Games.”

“See you at the party,” the Mean Kids all yelled to Milo. Katie Lake, the loudest of them all.

Milo gave a fake finger point, followed by a thumbs-up symbol. Then he turned and left Susanna again.

Susanna nearly girl-clapped. She looked at her food and wrapped her sandwich in the napkin. She got up happily and stood. Then she turned and flashed a big, two-handed happy wave to blonde Katie Lake.

All the girls and guys at her table waved back.

When Susanna turned to leave the lunchroom after emptying her tray, she saw Milo going out the Maplewood Middle School exit door.

“I hope he went,” Susanna Cordova thought cautiously.