Nose in a Book
Dom had gone off who-knows-where, and Adiel had promised him that she would stay put because she didn’t know her way anywhere. However, a rather pesky street cat decided that that wouldn’t do, jumping out of the shadows and knocking over metal trash bin lids with a yowl that spoke of Hell. Scared out of her wits, Ellie screamed at the top of her lungs—
—and with a pop! ended up on a street very far away from where she had been standing purposely still.
Adiel never did forgive that cat.
The library had just been down the street and around the first corner to her right. The lights were like a beacon, really, warm and inviting and promising comfort and some quiet to calm her nerves. She’d slipped inside, wide eyes taking in everything from the numerous bookshelves to the people sat in cushy chairs and lounging on old couches to the man sitting behind the counter with a crease between his eyebrows (noticeable as they were) and a twitch to his eye at her entrance.
Computer’s are over there, he had told her, looking up at her briefly before turning back to his computer. And jumping, she had rushed over to where he had pointed, seeing a bunch of teenagers sitting at the computers with headphones plugged in and music blasting into their ears that even she could hear.
They were looking at websites that had little to nothing to do with books, and she briefly wondered what they were doing in a library when they could have looked up funny videos and silly blogs from home. When they looked over at her, she felt about ten times smaller than she actually was, returning back to what it was like in school back in the city, before she scurried off to the stacks and lost herself in the fiction section.
She was found a few hours later by the librarian telling her she had to go.
~+~
Gerry Howard was a whole lot of things, and patient with kids who disrespected the library was not one of them.
When a spit of a girl had stumbled into the library, looking wide-eyed and confused, he assumed she would want to use the computers just like anyone else her age these days. No one appreciated a good book; no one wanted to sit down and curl up with an age-worn friend and read their stories in the musty pages. It was all about the internet and kindles and ebooks and whatever else. So without even bothering to look at her, he pointed her to the computers and ignored her.
And just like he expected her to, she walked off in the direction he pointed.
The rest of the evening had thankfully fallen into silence after that intrusion, people once in a while coming up to him with a book and a library card, or a book they wanted to return, or a question that needed answering just that minute. This only happened every once in a while, however, which was just fine by Gerry. He wasn’t much of a people person, after all.
Finally, nearing closing time, Gerry left his seat to go shoo the last of the teenagers from the computers, noting offhandedly that the girl who had stumbled in earlier wasn’t there.
He thought for a moment that she had already left, but he would’ve remembered her leaving – she was a small thing, but a small thing in a strange set of clothes from an oversized sweater to a dress that was more dress-shirt and boots that were clunky and around a size too big, if he were to hazard a guess.
So he walked through the stacks, looking to see if she was hiding out there and making some kind of mess of the books. He finally found her near the fairytales, curled up against the wall and reading a large book of different fairytales and stories that he had perused himself before deciding that fairytales were a bunch of bullshit.
She had been completely engrossed in the stories, though, something he didn’t often see on the faces of kids her age, and so he felt maybe the slightest tiniest hint-whisper of guilt for telling her she had to go.
She had simply looked up at him with those wide eyes that seemed perpetually surprised before smiling vaguely and nodding, putting the book onto the return cart (like you were supposed to) and leaving without another word.
He had closed the library for the night with a bit of a funny, hopeful feeling that had no right to be in his chest in the first place.
Stayed there, anyway.
~+~
The next time she went to the library, it had been a month after she had been found by Dominic and she had actually asked him for directions so that she knew where she was going.
It was earlier afternoon this time, yet the same man who had been sitting behind the counter that first night was sitting there again, a different book in hand but the same drawn expression on his face. She hadn’t even waited for him to tell her where the computers were – she went off to the stacks by herself, found herself in the fantasy section, and picked up the nearest book before curling up in a free armchair and losing herself to a world not at all like her own.
When she heard the librarian make his rounds around the building to tell any stragglers that they had to go, she slipped the book she had been reading onto the return cart. She then hid within the nearest nook that she knew would hide her, covering her face with her hair and closing her eyes as she hoped for the best.
The librarian walked by her without ever noticing. She knew she was safe when the lights went out and the distant sound of a lock was turned.
Tucking herself in more securely into her nook, Ellie fell asleep and had the first warm rest she’d had since she had entered Westfield.
~+~
When Gerry saw the girl again, he couldn’t help but feel relieved to see her. He didn’t know why, as it didn’t make any logical sense, but seeing her again let him know that she was safe and she hadn’t died in some gutter or whatever.
Good God, the optimism he had for humanity’s survival.
However, when he went around the library to tell her she had to go, she wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and Gerry briefly wondered if he had missed her leaving with the rest of the crowd. He also briefly wondered if he had imagined her (which was…surprisingly likely even though he told himself it really wasn’t), before he saw something move in a nook between wall and bookshelf, a chair in front of it.
Hiding, was she?
Having half a mind to tell her he found her, he thought back to when he had first seen her that evening and when he first saw her period, and realized she was wearing the exact same clothes. Of course, it was completely possible that she happened to put on the same outfit, but the clothes had looked a bit dirtier, she had had a smudge of something on her cheek, and she looked thinner in the face.
He walked passed her purposely, turned out the light, and locked the library behind him.
At least he knew she’d be safe for the night.
~+~
The first time Ellie spotted an apple close to her hiding spot, she thought someone had left behind their snack when they went off to find another book and just never bothered to come back for it.
(So of course she ate it for them.)
The second time, it was a apple juice box and a Pop-Tart, which wasn’t as good cold as it was warm but she enjoyed it anyway, and the juice was nice on her stomach.
Progressively, different snacks ended up near to where she would hide out for the night, until finally Ellie hide behind a fairly-crowded bookcase and watched out for the mysterious snack giver.
When she saw it was the librarian, the surprised smile on her face wouldn’t leave for the rest of the night.
And the next day when she saw him leading someone to a section of the stacks with books they were looking for, she waved the pear she was eating purposely at him, hiding her smile behind her book when he flushed in embarrassment.
~+~
He didn’t really know why he’d decided to leave her snacks and drinks.
Maybe it was how he saw her progressively get thinner.
Maybe it was because he saw her biting at her nails sometimes while she read, showing that she needed to bite on something but hadn’t had anything to chew into for a long time.
(Maybe it was because he was a softy, but like he’d ever admit to that out loud ever in his life.)
~+~
In the middle of September, well into a routine by then, Ellie decided to break the usual routine by approaching Gerry with a book in hand, sitting down in front of the counter, and reading quietly to herself.
She had felt his eyes on the top of her head before he finally moved on with his routine, adjusting awkwardly into the new one.
~+~
When Ellie had moved from the stacks to the patch of floor nearest him, Gerry hadn’t known what to think or what to do – so logically, he did nothing.
The second time she did it, he’d stared at her for a very long time before huffing a sigh and turning back to his work.
The third time he’d asked her what she needed, and she had told him plainly ‘nothing’.
This went on multiple times until the twelfth time, where Ellie had called out his name for help on how to pronounce a word and Gerry had squatted down beside her, saying the word slowly and nodding once she got it.
And instead of getting up and returning to his seat, the librarian made himself comfortable and started to read the book aloud to her.
~+~
Gerry had a very soothing voice.
He would read things out loud very articulately, with a sense of purpose behind the words. A sense of meaning that she wouldn’t have gotten by herself, that she could only get with the tone and inflection Gerry put behind certain words and passages.
He always spoke softly, and sometimes when they just spoke (she asking a question, he answering it), she could sense hints of sarcasm, a patience that was thin yet steady, and a sadness he never talked about.
Ellie liked it best when he read aloud.
She could relax and imagine everything he whispered.