"What happened after that?" Rudy immediately asked.


    "I was so confused. I even thought the baby had fallen from the sky. I was used to seeing unbelievable things thanks to you, so my perception of what''s normal and what''s abnormal waspletely shattered at such a young age.


    When I looked at the baby, it smiled even though it was asleep. I didn''t know what to do, so I went inside and woke Elena up. When she woke up and looked at the baby, all the colors faded from her face as though she knew what was going on."


    "Yeah." Rudy nodded and said, "She knew I was born that day, and I had told her that you would adopt me. So when she saw a baby in her hand, she must have realized that something had happened to me or worse, I had returned to my timeline."


    Reba caressed her hand on the diary and continued, "She started asking me so many questions, but I couldn''t answer them as I was as oblivious as she was. We spent the night talking, and she told me a few things about you.


    She said you asked her to tell me everything once you have returned to your timeline. I listened to her with so many questions in my mind. It was so hard for me to ept the fact that you had gone away.


    But… I was also happy that the baby was you. So, of course, I decided to raise you even though I didn''t know how. I read books and learned whatever I could. It was hard, but I loved every moment of it.


    A weekter, when I was in the library with Jessica and Elena, looking for more books, I…" Reba lowered her gaze to the diary and said, "I came across this."


    She once again showed it to Rudy and said, "As you can see, it''s so unique looking. When I was gazing through the books, my eyes immediately locked my gaze to this diary, and I felt attracted to it.


    So I took it from the shelf and dusted it before opening it. And just like a normal person would, I first flipped through the pages to see what the book was about, but much to my surprise, it waspletely ck.


    Elena was with me, so I showed her the diary, and she said it must be some kind of journal. I decided to put it back on the shelf and went home. I gave you a bath, fed you, and went to bed with Jessica and Elena.


    That night, I had a dream in which I was walking across the library. Everything was so dark, and the only lighting was the moonlight from the ss window. The dream felt so realistic, and I obviously never realized it wasn''t a dream.


    I tried to bang on the doors, but there was no response. And then… I heard a soft rustling sound from the other side of the shelf in the corner.


    My heart skipped a beat, and I kept hoping for it to be a rat. I quietly made my way to the other corner so I could peek from behind the shelf, and I did the same.


    When I peeked… I saw a shadow standing under the moonlight, facing me… as though it knew I was going to be there. I even thought that the shadow was mine as it was standing still.


    But then… it moved. Slightly, but it moved. And I immediately made a run to the door even though I knew it was closed. I kept ncing at the back of my shoulder, again and again, to check if the shadow had caught up to me.


    Suddenly, it stopped in the middle of the hall from where the moonlight was falling directly on top of it from the ss roof. I had a better look at the shadow.


    It waspletely ck. It wasn''t a person wearing a ck robe, it was a shadow. It was also emitting a ck aura— just like how the steames out from a hot cup of coffee.


    It just stood there and stared at me. Although it had no eyes or any facial features, I somehow knew it was looking at me. And then, it slowly raised its hand and pointed it at me.


    I gulped down in fear as my body trembled, but then it moved its hand to the right on the shelf. I… just knew that it was asking me to go there, so I did, and there I saw the same book shining.


    ''Do not ignore.'' It said.


    It was the same sweet and ethereal voice I had heard the night of my birthday, so I knew that shadow was there to tell me something and guide me.


    I hurriedly ran to the book and pulled it out as the books around it fell to the floor. I was too scared to focus on anything, so I grabbed the book and ran to the moonlight so I could see what the shadow was trying to say.


    When the moonlight fell on the book, it automatically began to write something on the cover."


    "R & R?" Rudy wondered.


    "Yes. And then, I flipped the first pages as an index, or you could call it ''tables of contents'' appeared on the first page. They numbered from 1 to 19, and they were named after years.


    On the next page, there were five instructions written in bold letters—


    1) Read One Page Every Year.


    2) Do Not Try To Read Ahead.


    3) Do Not Show It To Anyone Unless Necessary.


    4) Do Not Let ''Him'' Read.


    5) Do Not Reveal Anything to ''Him''.


    And then… I woke up from the dream… but the book was in my hands, and everything was the same. The next day, when I went to the library, I realized that it wasn''t a dream… but I was actually therest night."


    "Let me guess, you saw the same books lying on the floor, which you had dropped while pulling out the diary?"


    Reba nodded in response and said, "Indeed. But I have no idea how I went in and out of the library sote at night."