You can find parts 1-6 here:
Finn felt relieved. That overpowering sense of being lost and confused was ebbing away . Or so it seemed . There was still that lack of taste even though the tea offered by Hedgehog had seemed appealing and comforting.
The certainty that had gripped Finn’s mind a moment ago was still there. It was fragile though. The images of these past few days or were they shorter? How long had these pictures and strange moments being going on?
Finn got up. Time was still difficult to measure. There appeared to be no consistency in the recalling of the journey. Encounters and the memories were hard to recall.
All the confidence that went with that bold assertion of “ I think I’m ready to make sense of what is happening “ was drifting away . Finn felt a nagging sense from somewhere that ‘ being ready ‘ was not quite what was going in inside. On the contrary the ‘being ready ‘ feeling was escaping rapidly.
Looking around too the shop was disappearing. Where the cheap nick-nacks had been displayed were small humps of decaying materials. Looking again Finn recalled – from somewhere – the memory of a phrase – what was it? Why did it keep picking inside the jumble of memories as if it were pushing to escape No Planet B? What did that mean? Why was it so important? Was it important? Why did it keep shouting out?
Finn looked again and stopped suddenly. The sense of smell had come back. The room or was it something bigger stank. Finn couldn’t be sure if the return of taste and smell were blessings or not. The overpowering smell of decay provoked such a reaction inside that Finn was barely in control.
The library had gone too. All those who had offered tea or had seemed reassuring were no longer there either. The stacks of books were – like the nick nacks – nothing more than piles of moulding and decaying leather and paper.
Finn looked again at the piles. Images and squiggles were disappearing almost as if they were being sucked up. Trying to read the lines made Finn’s eyes hurt. Somehow the answer Finn had been seeking was here . Looking again Finn tried to focus. Moving closer to one pile and bending down to pick up a book Finn notice the pictures on the pages.
As Finn looked next to the pictures were lines of squiggles that with deliberate focussing and trying to be calm Finn could start to make out letters. And assembling the letters made words and then sentences. Finn was breathing very quickly.
These sentences might be the answer. But why this book? Or all of them that was left why this particular one?
Finn paused. Looked again and this time the rag tag of
jumbled letters started to form a clear sentence. Trying to be calm Finn spoke
out loud the first sentence.
