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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 5:40 pm
When Cambria and Zac had suggested getting out of the house before, Evan had sort of pushed the idea aside. It had been easy to just nod absentmindedly and disappear for a few hours. He’d learned how to perfect his hiding, thinking it might just be easier if they didn’t see him around. He got out of their hair, they thought he was gone—he’d just play his video games for a while.
It was a poor ruse and not what they wanted.
Evan figured they’d be getting frustrated with him sooner or later, and after one of Zac’s long, exasperated sighs, he worked up the resolve to actually go somewhere.
They had moved only just recently and both Cambria and Zac had mentioned the library (along with a dozen other public, ‘safe’ locations) plenty of times the past week.
So, Evan had asked for a ride there.
It wasn’t so bad while he was in the car; he had Cambria to talk to and keep him company.
But.
Stepping out of the car, knowing she was going to drive home and be gone in just a minute, filled his stomach with a sudden sense of dread. He felt like he was back in kindergarten, stepping out of the car for his first day of school.
He’d glanced at the car behind him and forced a tiny smile, but he knew how unconvincing it probably was and turned away quickly.
Being outside was dangerous so he quickly moved inside. He had his ID ready—an old ID, from before, but he didn’t look too different. Sans the different colored hair, at least. And a little more paranoid. And a little more pale.
He entered the library with caution but was relieved to find that there was no line—only a friendly looking woman behind the front desk.
He approached awkwardly, hesitantly, afraid to interrupt her if she was busy with work. In a voice just a little too quiet, even for a library, he managed to mumble, “Hi, I’m sorry to bother you, but I think I need to get a library card. If. If you can manage. I haven’t been in a few years.”
He chewed his lip, ready to fill out any necessary forms or just pass her his card. He didn’t know how this was supposed to work; he was just ready to try to disappear quickly.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 6:42 pm
Emily had glanced up from her computer briefly when she heard the whir of the automatic door and saw a young man enter. Her eyes had gone back to the computer after she had seen that it was just one person, and until he spoke again, she had just assumed he had gone into the library to find something to read.
With a smile she looked up again. “A library card? Absolutely!” Rummaging in a drawer for a moment, Emily drew out a piece of plastic and a small piece of paper. “Go ahead and fill this out for me, and let me take a peek at your id, and we’ll get you all set up.”
She scanned the three cards under the bar code scanner that sat by the computer and handed them to Evan. “We just got these in…about two years ago, there’s a large card for your wallet, and two smaller ones that you can attach to keys, or whatever else you’d like to attach them to!”
It was so good to see young people come into the library, and not super young, not like Giulia, but young adults.
“I’m glad you’ve decided to come back. It’s people like you who keep our libraries going, we appreciate your patronage.”
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 6:58 pm
Evan found himself nodding somewhat absentmindedly. He handed her his ID card and began filling out the form. He didn’t bother telling her that the address on the card was wrong; he didn’t know the address to their new house and he hadn’t been back to his house in ages. But that wasn’t exactly information that you shared with a total stranger. He wrote down the proper phone number at least.
“Uhm, I think this is everything,” he said, hesitantly sliding the filled out form over.
He hoped it was, at least. He glanced at the woman and tried to force a smile but it was short lived and he found himself looking away quickly. He tapped his fingers on the desk uncertainly, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he waited.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:50 pm
Taking the form and the ID, Emily smiled, taking a moment to verify that the picture matched the boy in front of her, though when she read his name, she paused. “Evan, hm? What a nice name. Not one you hear very often.”
Her pulse had increased and for a moment she felt rather dizzy for a moment. Sanidine...no, Michel had said he would be bringing Evan to the library, but...but was this him?
Emily stared blankly at the form and began filling in the address onto the computer, mixing up some of the numbers on purpose...there was no way she was going to put in where this boy lived in case he really was the Evan she had fought and researched so hard to help...and if it wasn’t him...well. At least he wouldn’t rack up any library fines...sort of. He wouldn’t get the notices for the fines, so he wouldn’t rack them up. It was a good deed no matter how you looked at it.
“And you’re all set, you can check out up to ten books, and up to five movies with your card, books have a two week lending limit and movies are one week...if you want to renew, you can head to our website, and the last six numbers on your card--that will be your id, you can just renew right from your own computer at home...um. For movies, you can only do this once, and with books, you can do it twice so long as there’s no wait list for the books...can I help you find anything to read today?”
There. That had come out sounding quite natural. She was proud of herself for that.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:04 pm
Evan glanced up when she spoke, partially out of courtesy and partially out of confusion. “It’s not common?” he asked about the name, but apparently thought that was a stupid question and promptly changed the subject.
“I don’t want to bother you, you’ve done enough for me, thank you. Though, uhm…”
He glanced behind him—and around—and didn’t see anyone, so maybe it wouldn’t be so obnoxious if he asked for just a little more help?
He bit his lip and forced himself to make eye contact. “Do you…I’ve been spending a lot of time at home. Uhm. Sick. And…I’m just looking for something to sort of pass the time. Do you have any suggestions? And, uhm—recipe books, maybe?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:10 pm
“Of course!” Emily smiled brightly and stepped out from behind the desk. “Follow me, and I’ll show you some of my favorite books, as well as all of our cookbooks. Now, we don’t have many, but if you’re looking for something specific, I can see if we have it over at the main library, they have a much larger selection of things over there...but I’m quite partial to my branch here.”
She led him to a small section with about twenty cookbooks and smiled. “Pick whatever you’d like, and when you’re done, come back to the desk, I grab you a few books that I like to read when I’m sick. I do hope you start to feel better soon...it’s no fun not feeling well.”
The more he spoke, the more sure she was that this was indeed the boy turned youma turned boy, and she was growing rather excited...though to really find out the truth...she’d have to ask him directly, which she could do later. Or rather, Bellite could do it later.
“If you have any other questions, just come see me, or like I said, if there’s more cookbooks you’d like, just let me know and I’ll order them.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:15 pm
Evan trailed behind the woman akin to a lost puppy; he made himself as small as he could and would have hid in her shadow if the library lights had been bright enough to have her cast one.
“I’m not looking for anything specific,” he confessed. “Thank you, though. I’ll, uhm. I guess I’ll take some time to look and then meet you up front.”
He forced another smile, and though his brows remained knit he allowed himself to be a little proud of himself.
His first instinct was to grab the first few books he saw and join her at the checkout desk immediately, but Cambria probably had only just made it home and he didn’t want her to drag herself back out to pick himself up. He glanced at his watch and told himself he’d make it twenty minutes before he called her.
Just twenty minutes.
The library was quiet, and empty enough that he didn’t feel immediately threatened—and this librarian woman was nice enough that he almost didn’t even feel out of place.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:17 pm
She watched him for a few minutes, then spent a few more gathering up a small stack of books and bringing them over to the checkout counter. Nothing too...intense, happy books. Nice fantasy books that had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with monsters. Books that she enjoyed getting lost in and she hoped he felt the same about.
When she had her small pile ready for him, she scanned them all into the computer and placed them into one of the bags she gave to the patrons who she felt deserved them. For Evan, he got a cute one covered in small kittens.
She walked over to him and smiled. “Did you find everything you wanted? I have the the ones I picked out all ready for you up at the front” Emily wanted him to feel welcome. She wanted him to return...and most of all, she wanted to really know that this was indeed the Evan she thought that it was.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 5:18 pm
Evan was trying to focus on the little things, like how nice this woman was being to him. He wondered if she was that nice to everyone or if she was just good at picking out when people were feeling particularly pathetic and needed a little extra attention.
He glanced at her with another polite smile. “I’m ready,” he said. He’d made it nineteen minutes, and figured it’d be at least one more to check out. Plus, there was a part of him that was a little eager to see what the librarian had picked out. There was something intimate, something special about a book recommendation, but Evan was too desperate to look normal to really put much thought into it. Out of habit, he flashed the two cookbooks he’d picked out, and then turned towards the counter to check out.
“Thank you,” he said, and would go on to say a few more times as she checked him out.
If she’d wanted to make him feel welcome, she’d succeeded; not only was he excited to be home, but he was excited to see what was going home with him.
And maybe to try out a new recipe or two for dinner.
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