Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 7

divisions and labyrinths of bookcases overladen with leather bound burdens were common enough for him to feel nothing but a bitter familiarity.
    In hindsight, it was these vital Responsibilities, his democratic attitude and aptitude in his tasks, which gave him respect and granted him high esteem. This in turn ensured the Northern County met all his needs to encourage his benevolent governing: this floor of the building alone contained a significant portion of the county's budget kindly donated to him. Especially, as people would not dare to antagonise Jeremy by being deliberately troublesome. Jeremy was unforgiving on betrayal, especially considering his eternal heritage, rising like a phoenix from a traitorous arson attack
    Ledgers lined the walls and bookshelves with a lingering must, covering centuries of miscellaneous entries. In a corner near the entrance to the room, stood a single iron filing cabinet – the only one of its kind that exists outside antiquated pictures of office cubicles.
    The top and middle drawers contained his summaries of the county's history as well as a contact ledger that contained details of any person who may provide important services, and their respective contacts. The two at the top of this list were the grocery delivery and IT services, both of which solely exist due to Jeremy's unique position and modern situation respectively. The bottom drawer contained some of his journals, library summaries and a button that, once pressed, mechanically slid a bookcase to the side, to reveal a large room.
    This room contained a large, geographically accurate map covering most of the floor and a server screen on the wall in the corner that held the council-only communication device. It looked like a plain television screen; however, it filmed, recorded, transmitted and received video conversations to the populace, council members or individual people. It also acted as the central server for all the electronic equipment on Jeremy's side of the Wall.
    In short, there was a lot to maintain and take in – even given the lack of human interaction – with it often filling up Jeremy's time in his normal routine. Yet, what he did know was that the red flashing button on the edge of the screen was not a good omen, worse than the usual dark atmosphere of the place. He walked over the map of the Northern half of the British Isles projected on the floor and tapped the corresponding flashing section running across the hanging screen.
    Whirring mechanically, the screen refreshed the map of his grounds, focusing on the entrance to the property. A crosshatched line appeared and bisected the lower half of the screen, loading a corresponding section onto the floor map, highlighting the only entrance to the property that remained after the great Wall was remade, in a red haze. It was indicative of an intrusion, if the aged manuals were accurate. Yet the yellowing loci around this area on the screen indicated security had been activated, but not breached as well.
    This was trouble. Being alone mattered little, as Jeremy was quite proficient in his decades of experience, but the fact that a breach has occurred, or a glitch in the system has manifested, were, in both cases, seriously problematic forecasts of further stressful times. Ignoring the pounding of his heart and shortening breath, he uploaded the full security system onto the screen. A detailed status report of the computer system and the current situation ran across the screen simultaneously. The rough stone brickwork of the room began folding into itself like an anatomical puzzle piece to reveal other screens, streaming live images from the cameras along the Wall and the path to the library. None were triggered or had anything of interest except for the camera screen that had triggered the alarm.
    It presented the usual image, focusing on the path towards the library, facing away from the gateway on the Wall. Foliage and bracken were thick and undisturbed. The one discrepancy in this mundane image was a chestnut blur across the corner of the screen.
    Relief was palpable in Jeremy's chest, leaving him uneasy at the hollowness within his ribs. Stupid! Emotions shouldn't make me react like that , Jeremy scolded himself, it was just a leaf! He amended quickly; nothing could get past the gate without triggering the other security as well . Satisfied with his reasoning, he sighed and resumed his wandering through the building and out into the grounds. As he