Insomniacs Unite | Closed for askunamusedloki
There were worse places than the library to spend one’s evening when the familiar grip of insomnia wound tight and made finding sleep impossible. The safe haven located on campus was open twenty-four hours a day during the week, providing a place to study and escape for those that might need such an option. Charlotte, for one, had grown familiar with the atmosphere during the emptiest hours of night, when there was scarcely anyone else seeking distraction in the building. Ce la vie for a Liberal Arts student with a busy mind and a touch of wakefulness.
It was fair enough to say that the young woman possessed a love of reading, but more over, a love of moving about while others chose sleep. It was far more interesting to find herself in what would by anyone’s standards be a dizzying array of books than to spend the night in her dorm, attempting to keep herself entertained within its four walls.
There was rarely anyone else lurking about when Charlotte chose to visit the library at such odd hours, aside from the stray student diligently working on a term paper or some other mammoth assignment in the computer area. For the most part, she was able to roam and browse the shelves at her own leisure, without paying much attention.
On this particular night, however, a bit more awareness of her surroundings would have served her well. She had been strolling rather aimlessly through the fiction section, watching as the titles bled over into the poetry section, and so on and so forth in her uninterrupted bubble of distraction when she felt herself stumble into something solid.
Someone solid, as it turned out.
She gasped a bit in surprise, not having expected to run into anyone, either metaphorically or quite as literally as she had. Her cheeks flushed slightly as she righted her balance, blinking a few times to clear her vision.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologized, “I just wasn’t watching where I was going…”