I crashed into the sidewalk, landing on my hands and knees. The car that had almost hit me slowed a few feet away, rolling down the tinted window. At the wheel sat a fat woman with black hair and a hideous scowl on her face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, idiot girl?!” She screamed at me in a nasty voice. “Go jump off a bridge the next time you try to kill your self!”

And with that she sped away in her loud, red Chevrolet.

Well someone’s having a bad day…

I guess that makes two of us.

I turned and sat my butt down on the cold ground, inspecting my scraped knees and hands. My bag and all its contents were scattered around, some of my books out on the road. Luckily none of them were directly in the way of cars passing by. I sat there for a second, dazed, watching people and cars zoom by, as if nothing had just happened. I was surprised I didn’t feel my heart pumping and didn’t feel intense shock. I wiped my stunted tears off my face with my bloody scraped hands and got to work picking up my stuff.

I stood up, rather shakily, and brushed off my plain reddish skirt. I attempted to smooth my frizzy brown hair (with no avail), and started my walk to the library just a few blocks down.

As soon as I walked into the doors of the library, I felt as though I had made it to home base, to my safe zone. The world outside was hostile and cruel, but the library was safe and loving. It smelled like a warm comforting tale in an old cottage, next to a candle and some tea. The rows and rows of books full of knowledge and history and stories filled the shelves from the floor to the ceiling. I breathed in the stale but crisp book air, letting the magic fill me up. I came here because the wonder of the library helped drown out everything else. Everything that tried to convince me life was only cruel.

I walked up to the front desk and gave the kind librarian all the books I needed to return. She raised her blonde-almost-none-existent eyebrow at me.

“First of all, what happened to the books?” She swiped a finger over a dirty spot on one of the books. Her voice was soft and soothing, but full of concern. “And second of all, what happened to you?”

“Oh, I tripped and fell on the way here, it’s no big deal. I’m sorry about the books.” The words came out more rushed and nervous than I meant them to.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry about that! Here, let me help you clean off and I’ll give you some band-aids.” She stood up with a warm smile, and led me to the bathroom. She smelled like hot chocolate.

After she helped me clean off and helped me with my scratches, I thanked her and wandered over to my favorite spot in the library: a cozy nook in the back, with bean bag chairs and a small table. It was sort of secluded from the rest of the library, and it felt like I was safe from everything when I was there. No one would find me.

Except if they did, of course. This was a public library, after all. But nevertheless not many came back here, and that was fine by me.

I wandered around the shelves for a bit until I found a book that seemed interesting, and then I plopped down into a bean bag and settled myself in, a cozy feeling spreading all throughout my body.

~~~~~~~~~~

Darkness.

Silhouettes of book cases and desks and shelves. A light coming from somewhere.

I lifted my head, realizing that I had fallen asleep in a bean bag chair, reading some lengthy storybook. Suddenly fear clutched my heart, and I was surprised by it.

Why did no one wake me up and ask me to leave? Did they forget to check in here?

I stood slowly from my chair, not even bothering to wipe the sleep from my eyes. I stepped silently through the library, noticing a strange ethereal glow coming from somewhere among the shelves. The fear that had initially found me was replaced by curiosity.

I heard a step from somewhere behind me.

As I spun around trying to make as little noise as possible, I thought about how it felt like I wasn’t in my body. It was almost as though I was looking at myself in the third person. I could almost see in the back of my mind the scene as if I was watching from above: a small scrawny girl, hair sticking up everywhere, eyes wide, looking into the dark library, slightly illuminated by a blue light. Somehow I knew, there was no one there except for me. But I looked anyways.

Suddenly a shadow slipped across the wall in the corner of my eye. I snapped my head to look, but it was gone. I stepped in its direction, and turned the corner into a section that was lit the brightest so far. The glow seemed to be extremely close by. My legs continued to walk closer, almost against my will. In the same fashion, my head turned to the right as if someone pulled it with a string. And there I saw a book.

The book was right in front of my face. The letters in the spine were glowing an ocean blue, and they were shifting and shimmering as if they were made of water. It read: “VALTAMERI”. It smelled like leather, and it looked worn and greenish.

I lifted my hands without thinking, and pulled out the book. I could see the pages begin to light up with the same ocean glow. I brushed my hand over the cover, feeling its inperfectness and its richness.

The library had fell away from my conscience, and all that existed in my world was this book. As I stared at it, I felt a weight drop into my chest. I felt like I had lived 10 lifetimes, and that I held all the knowledge of the world. All there was left to do was to open the book.

As soon as I flipped open the pages, a light as bright as the sun enveloped me. It felt hot but cold at the same time, in a comforting watery way. I felt nothing in that moment except an incredible peace. It washed over me like a tidal wave, and after that I felt nothing but content.

The book plopped down onto to ground. The light was sucked away from the walls almost instantly. All that was left a was a quiet, peaceful library, with no sign of life except for a few shadows slipping across the floor and walls from time to time. And a faint crash of waves…

Or maybe that was just the cars passing in the night.