Post by Street Rat on Oct 27, 2022 20:19:12 GMT
[googlefont="Shadows Into Light Two"]
It was easy to get lost in the stacks.
Maybe that was why she liked libraries so much. Maybe she just had always liked them, and didn't remember. Libraries were good places, though. They were warm, and out of the wind, and there was always something to read.
The libraries didn't always like her, though. Rather, the librarians didn't always like her. Some of them didn't mind homeless people, and those were the best ones - the ones that just left her alone and let her read, out of the cold. Sometimes they'd let her sleep. Other librarians, though, not so much. Some of them just wanted her to go away, to get lost. She was good at that.
It was the ones who wanted to help that she had to avoid. They looked at her and saw someone to save, so that they could convince themselves they'd done a good deed and pat themselves on the back. They never asked if she wanted to be saved. Too many times someone would take one look at her and decide they knew enough, and then they'd call the police or CPS, and she'd have to run away again, into the stacks.
They couldn't follow her back there. They could for a little while, but... well, it was easy to get lost. After a while, she would come out again - from some other stacks, in some other library. She didn't know why it worked that way, for her. It was just something she'd always been able to do, with libraries.
She peered out of the stacks once more, through eyes not her own. Librarians really didn't like mice, but there were always some around, in a library. Sometimes they were still alive. The girl left those ones alone. The others... well, the others she understood. A little bit of magic and they were...
...well, not good as new. But good enough.
The dead mouse wiggled its nose, moving its body around the corner. It was unnatural, that movement - a sharp angle during the turn, a bit of a bunchiness in the back as the little severed spine overlapped itself for a moment, then straightened out once more.
No one was looking anyway. The girl stepped out into the library, and went to see if she could find a book before anyone noticed her.
Maybe that was why she liked libraries so much. Maybe she just had always liked them, and didn't remember. Libraries were good places, though. They were warm, and out of the wind, and there was always something to read.
The libraries didn't always like her, though. Rather, the librarians didn't always like her. Some of them didn't mind homeless people, and those were the best ones - the ones that just left her alone and let her read, out of the cold. Sometimes they'd let her sleep. Other librarians, though, not so much. Some of them just wanted her to go away, to get lost. She was good at that.
It was the ones who wanted to help that she had to avoid. They looked at her and saw someone to save, so that they could convince themselves they'd done a good deed and pat themselves on the back. They never asked if she wanted to be saved. Too many times someone would take one look at her and decide they knew enough, and then they'd call the police or CPS, and she'd have to run away again, into the stacks.
They couldn't follow her back there. They could for a little while, but... well, it was easy to get lost. After a while, she would come out again - from some other stacks, in some other library. She didn't know why it worked that way, for her. It was just something she'd always been able to do, with libraries.
She peered out of the stacks once more, through eyes not her own. Librarians really didn't like mice, but there were always some around, in a library. Sometimes they were still alive. The girl left those ones alone. The others... well, the others she understood. A little bit of magic and they were...
...well, not good as new. But good enough.
The dead mouse wiggled its nose, moving its body around the corner. It was unnatural, that movement - a sharp angle during the turn, a bit of a bunchiness in the back as the little severed spine overlapped itself for a moment, then straightened out once more.
No one was looking anyway. The girl stepped out into the library, and went to see if she could find a book before anyone noticed her.