The Library Chapter 8
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The Library Chapter 8

It All Ends Here

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The Library Chapter 8
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Thomas sprinted ahead of me down the hallways we had been so happy to finally escape. His cape blew behind him like a wave of darkness threatening to swallow him whole. We made our way back to the privy chambers, and before I could even suggest a plan, Thomas pushed me behind a tapestry and burst into Anne's chambers, alone. Two men wrestled him out of the room and against a wall until they could restrain him. Thomas stared at where I hid behind the tapestry as if willing me to stay put. The men then led Thomas down the hallway and out of sight, only the clack of their heels could be heard echoing down the stone hall.

I cautiously removed myself from my hiding place and entered Anne's rooms slowly. She sat upon her throne, tired, beaten, and alone. "Anne?" I called softly up to her as if she were a hurt animal. Her eyes jumped to attention and zeroed in on me as a cat would to prey. "You!" she roared, but as she descended the dais to come for me, two new men swept into the room in dark, ominous cloaks. The two men bowed quickly, and the taller of the two stated, "your majesty is required by his most holy self, King Henry, to be escorted to the Tower of London and await your trial from behind its safe walls."

Anne's harsh looks softened to those of fear, a fear of something you've expected finally coming true. "I am the queen, you cannot take me anywhere until I speak with my husband," she tried to say confidently. "We thought we might hit this snag, he does not wish to speak with you madam," interjected the shorter man. Anne looked around for a way out of their grasp and looked at me, "I must have my lady with me," she proclaimed. The men looked at me, "fine, we will give you a few moments to collect the necessities," stated the first man, and Anne hurriedly pulled me into her sleeping chamber.

"I will forgive your backhanded ways if you do me this favor," she said, ever concocting schemes. I looked into the fear in her dark eyes, and replied, "of course, your majesty." What more could I have done? She wasn't supposed to be sentenced to the Tower for another year. The best place to set history straight would be from the very cell that held her. So, she gathered a few gowns, her crown jewels, and a book or two, and I carried them out to our captors. They took us out, down the hallways once more to where Thomas and I had almost escaped, put us each behind them on their horses and galloped off to the Tower.

As we rode, I wondered where Thomas would be held captive, the Tower or remain in the palace. The cold night air stung my nose and made my eyes water as we raced towards the towering building where so many had died before Anne. The Tower guards let us in, and we were led to a stone cell that was just off the main yard, the place where I had first arrived. Anne immediately broke down and lay upon the meager bedding in the cell. I sat by the window and gazed up at the full moon, hoping that Thomas had a plan for how to escape this mess.

Anne and I stayed in the Tower for a week and three days with no news. She took to being very isolated, and often I found her rereading her Bible, much in the same way Katherine of Aragon, her predecessor, had clung to her religion in her last days as queen. She screamed and cried in her sleep, but I didn't let on that it kept me up most of the night. On the fourth day of the second week, a guard appeared in Tudor livery. "It's time," he said as he unlocked the door.

Anne came from the shadows of the cell dressed in a gown of the lightest blue, her crown jewels glittered in the early morning light as I followed her to her hearing. We entered a hall with a long table at the far end, where every seat was filled with a member of the king's council, including Anne's own uncle, Thomas Howard. Anne walked bravely to the center of the room, always commanding the stage that was her life. A herald read forth the charges against Anne - witchcraft, treason, heresy, her lack of a son - but a key element to Anne's final trial was missing, the charges of adultery and incest. How could everything have gotten this inaccurate?

Anne stood the trial for the next week. Each day she went into the hearing dressed as a queen, her personality and jewels filling the dark room with glowing pride. By the end of the third week, I had not heard from or of Thomas once, I was sure of the fact that he was not being held in the Tower, for he had never turned up in the vast amount of time I had spent there. That night, I once again sat at the window, staring up at the now waxing moon, hoping and praying for an answer. When suddenly from across the green I heard the sound of wood being sawed. This was it. The end.

Anne's eyes fluttered open at the sound, and a huge gasping sob racked her body. I went to her side and she clung to my hands as if I were her last hope of holding onto this life. We sat holding each other in the darkness until dawn arrived. Anne had finally passed out from exhaustion just before the sun began to rise, taunting us with a new day. Within a few hours, a man came to the door and asked me to prepare her. As he left, I returned to Anne's side and gently woke her. Her dark eyes were filled with the sadness of a thousand lifetimes as she rose.

That's when it hit me. "Anne, switch me," I said bursting with my new idea. Her eyes turned cold as they had been when I first met her. "What?" she inquired in a scratchy tired voice. "Anne, you're not to die yet, I know the future, this is your end, but it has come too soon," I blurted, "let me take your place, if I'm no longer here, then I am no longer changing your timeline." Anne looked as confused as I felt, but I knew what I was saying would work. I was never supposed to be here in the first place. Maybe if I leave, things will return to what they once were. The witch had said "when runs the tears of blood, thy curse will be undone," this had to be it! I just had to be the tears of blood...

When the guard returned for Anne, he found both Anne and her lady-in-waiting dressed in heavy veils. I stepped forward first in Anne's black gown, her jewels glittering on my fingers and wrists, her "B" pearl necklace around my neck, and a heavy black veil covering my hair and face. She followed behind in my dark riding gown with a smaller mourning veil over her face. I shakily followed the guard onto the green where a newly erected scaffold stood, smelling of sawdust and dew. I had read about so many beheadings, but they feel much more unjust when it is your turn to scale the steps.

My heart was racing as Anne guided me up the steps beside her, and a black Bible was offered for my hand. The priest prayed over me, and I was guided to the block. It was so small, and I began to think of how small and insignificant my life was leaving it here in 1535. I knelt, and Anne removed my veil.

I kept my eyes closed, and felt for the cold block. I lay my head down, praying no one would recognize that I was not Anne, but also hoping someone would step forward. I opened my eyes just enough to see the executioner step forward and draw his silver sword. My stomach flipped and my heart threatened to beat right out of my chest. As I began to close my eyes again, I saw Thomas whip into the yard, something held aloft in his hand. It looked like a book... I opened my eyes entirely and tried to make out what he was doing as he raced towards the scaffold.

"Halt!" Thomas cried. The priest held out a hand to the swordsman, and Thomas was allowed to approach the stage. "I have here a pardon from his majesty, King Henry VIII, for his queen, Anne Boleyn," he proclaimed to the gathered audience. That wasn't right, Henry never pardoned Anne... Thomas pulled Anne to him and began to whisper, but Anne pointed at me kneeling before the block, awkwardly waiting for the sword.

Thomas pulled me up and studied my face with fear. "What are you doing?" he furiously whispered. "I had to do something! She isn't supposed to die yet!" I explained. Thomas looked around at the people who stood here, waiting for the greatest usurper England had seen since Henry VII to be gone from their lives forever. We both knew this terrifying setting would repeat itself within the year, and we gazed at these people who didn't understand what a huge moment this was in their history, our history.

Thomas gathered himself back up and asked to escort Anne and me back to our cell to collect Anne's things. Away from prying eyes, Anne took back her jewels and gown, and Thomas began explaining to her what would happen within the next year, telling her to be strong and know that the world would always remember the woman who dared to change the world all by herself. Anne sat in silence, drinking in his words, and staring at me with a look that seemed to say thank you.

Thomas saw Anne off on a horse of her own, surrounded by a royal guard of men to take her back to the palace. Thomas turned back after she had gone and said, "this is it, you found our way out weeks ago," as he held up the copy of "Utopia" that I had rescued from the library trash. "They don't know about our world yet, but to them, our world is a utopia, this is it, the tears of blood weren't Anne's or yours upon the scaffold, they were her tears upon realizing Henry's ultimate betrayal. They have been shed, the curse is undone if we leave now everything will reset itself as if we were never here! When you get back to your time, read your book, that's how we'll know we did it, history should be set straight once more!" Thomas explained.

"So this is it?" I asked, saddened by the prospect of going back home without my faithful friend. "It is," he repeated softly. He opened the book and laid it upon the ground before us. "There is no one I would have rather faced the Queen of England with than you," Thomas said bittersweetly. "I will miss you," was all I could even think to say. He stepped forward, leaned down and kissed my lips gently. We stood there connected over the book for a few minutes. He released, looked into my eyes as if he could read a thousand stories in them, grabbed my hand and we stepped forward into nothing once more.

We lost each other's hands as we fell into darkness, it felt once more like hours and hours of falling. It felt good to finally be going home, but I watched as my tears fell back towards where I had fallen as gravity pulled me further and further into the future. And then with a painful fall to the ground, I was once more in a library, laying on the floor next to an open book.

I closed the book to ensure I didn't fall back through, but the title wasn't what I had expected. The book stated in large gold lettering "Henry VIII: Divine Leader or Wife Killer." I quickly sat up and looked over at Thomas laying on the floor, still knocked out by the fall. Suddenly, down the aisle, I saw a man in a suit start walking quickly towards us. I grabbed Thomas and tried to wake him, he came to slowly. I turned his head to see the man making his way towards us. He grabbed the book from the floor, my hand, and once again we were running.

We ran through aisle after aisle of books and finally found the door out of the library and into a street where cars and people hustled and bustled about their lives. Thomas guided me through the throngs of people, quickly losing our pursuer in the cold streets. I looked around as we flew past buildings, trying to place where we were. Finally, we ran by a young boy who stood holding up a newspaper with the headline "U.S. IS VOTED DRY." I pulled Thomas to a stop and looked into his eyes, "you're from 1918!?" I shouted over the volume of the crowd, he looked around the street for our pursuer, and finally looked at me and said "yes, I just hoped you wouldn't ever have to get involved."

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