“Gnyeuuahhhhmmm, mmmph.”
The sun rose, gradually climbing orange over the sky with yellow streaks spreading out. Forward across the grass coated in dew Elise move, birds chattering off to the side of her as she went. Squirrels charged with a rampage across the grass and over the trail, several feral cats moving right after them. Her eyes looked down at the movement, missing by two seconds.
The trail swerved left and right out of the forest, the town of Emerton a good hundred or so meters ahead of her. Her left arm swayed as she went on, book in hand. Right as she cleared the trees her right hand raised, a yawn escaping her again. The sun climbed higher and higher as she slowly progressed, closing ten meters in ten seconds.
Her face drooped, her stumble ceasing gradually rather than immediately. The bask of the sun’s glow struck, carrying with it a brilliant warmth. A mumble left her, a mumble that quickly became a murmur of pleasure, “Oh man, had I known I’d be here this early I would’ve tried to sleep a bit earlier. I told him that Vulper would shove me out early, blast it.”
Ahead following a walk of over two minutes was the sidewalk. Already out and about were several. Of them stood a mailman and an officer, both with coffee and donuts in hand. Further on a woman and her dog, stopped beside a man dressed in jogging attire.
Right at the edge of the town where she was about to enter stood a man in front of a shop. A rather stocky individual, older in appearance complete with wrinkles and parting white hair. Dressed in a vest with a name tag, he stood before the door of a shop with a key in hand. The knob could be heard turning, the man simply fidgeting with it.
Rocks crackled in front of Elise, a bit of dust flying off of her shoe. Her eyes shot down, rocks tumbling that had been piled right where she stepped. The man in particular turned, having clearly heard the rocks. Upon seeing Elise he simply smiled, waving with his free hand, “Ah good morning Miss Elise. Lovely day isn’t it? That lovely sun, that brisk breeze. Perfect.”
“Heyyy Mister Vilmur. Yeah it is,” Elise commented with a yawn following, “Ueaugh.”
“Oofta, you sound tired yet. Come to think of it, I don’t recall you coming into town so early.”
“Oh uh, I was woken up in the middle of the night is all. My uh, sister decided to let me know about this fire off to the West that happened I guess. I never saw much though by the time I got out of bed, couldn’t get back to sleep after either.”
“A fire? Huh. Never heard anything about that from Old Joe. A forest fire?”
“I don’t see how it didn’t spread if it was. Eh, doesn’t matter I suppose too much; though I am sort of curious in case something happened that my family should be aware of.”
“Well Old Joe is at the cafe if you want to ask him.”
“Ah that’s fine Mister Vilmur. Say is uh, is Ms. Bell in?”
“Holly uh, yeah should be opening the library soon I would like to think. Got another book to return Elise?”
“Yeah, here soon I do. Thanks Mister Vilmur,” Elise said with a smile.
She turned way as the shop door opened, breezing by as Vilmur went inside. Her eyes darted left, seeing another officer leaning against a tree next to the street. Smile continuing, she approached, “Good morning Officer Hansel.”
“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite rogue. Heh heh, good morning to you too Elise. What’s up?” he replied.
“I was just wondering if you or any of the others heard about a fire that broke out to the West sometime last night?”
“A fire? Mmm, no, don’t think so. Why, did you hear about something?”
“Yeah my sister woke me up in the middle of the night screaming about a fire and smoke off West of our place. By the time I got dressed enough to head outside I didn’t see much. Was wondering if she’s crazy or if I’m crazy.”
“Haha, yeah sorry Elise, I haven’t heard anything.”
“Oh uh, alright. Thanks anyways Officer Hansel.”
Elise carried on again, turning back to the direction she had been heading in originally. The book she had in hand was raised up, flipping open a few hundred pages to the tail end with only two dozen remaining, “Just as well finish this up while heading to the library I guess. Feeling more than awake enough now to read it.”
Carrying on with eyes set to the pages, she swiftly moved around a pole, stopped at a street, and turned left down another street. Her eyes set to the paper, though slightly ahead to see what was in front. Signs of the smile she had prior utterly faded as she kept on, dancing across the pages with each flip.
“Hi Elise,” came the voice of a male off to the left.
“Hi Mister Watson,” came her reply, a slight wave of the right hand with a slight turn of her head, “{Why is it that random people I haven’t said many words to talk to me more than my own clan? Heck, they’re friendlier too. Heh, maybe I should go find a cardboard box to live in so I can just stay in town or something.}”491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufA0qYMuX1
491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETll6nCXdq
An old bell rang alongside the clutter of an old knob. With a creak the old door to the library opened, shutting with a bit of a thud behind Elise. She carried forward, book shut in hand as she approached the counter. Stationed in the chair was a large newspaper, bold with scribbles all over it. Gradually it was lowered, revealing the green eyes of Holly, “Hmm?”
Elise stopped at the desk, her book plopping down onto the counter. The newspaper lowered revealing a smile spreading quickly across Holly’s face, practically ear to ear. Elise looked to her with a slight chuckle.
“Heh, what a surprise. Good morning Elise.”
“Good morning Miss Holly,” Elise laughed rubbing the back of her head.
“You’re in a few hours too early. Breaking schedule, why would that be. Mmm, ah, I know. Already bored of that novel eh?” Holly replied with a grin.
“Oh heavens no, I actually really like Space Fighters; though for a Sci-fi novel it sure keeps its focus on the romance.”
“Well, romance sells these days, what can I say,” Holly giggled taking the book from the desk, placing it into a basket on the side, “So what can I do you for this time?”
“Well I said I’d try fantasy so, fantasy I guess. Anything you want, I don’t care what the age rating is. Young Adult, New Adult, even Children’s. I’ll take it.”
“Weee! Alright alright uh, Franklin,” Holly called out.
A man emerged from the bookshelves looking as groggy as Elise had been, “Whaaaat?”
“Fetch Steve Fireman, three of them. Oh and Larry’s Quest too. And whatever else you know I like to read.”
“You know this is a library, why are you yelling?”
“I do what I want Franklin, you and the others need to learn to deal with it.”
“Whatever,” he mumbled turning back into the rows of books.
Holly turned her attention forward again, resting her chin on the backs of both hands, “So what’s new?”
“Not a lot, kinda tired. My sister woke me up yelling about some fire to the West last night though I never saw anything. Did you hear anything yet?”
“Mmm, a fire to the West you say?” she murmured looking right into Elise’s eyes, “Well not really. Though if I hear anything I’ll make a note for you.”
“Oh, alright,” Elise replied as Franklin dropped several books atop the desk before turning way to return to the shelves.
“Thank you Franklin,” Holly replied, still looking at Elise.
With a yawn Holly turned her head to a monitor on the desk, “Alright so, let’s see. Eh, I’ll log these later. Stupid software updates all the time, they make life so annoying.”
“Life annoying? Do they now,” Elise murmured grabbing hold of the books.
“Well, not the end of the world I suppose thooooooough that’s the end of my time off tonight. Oh, on that note I have a note for you.”
“Hmm?”
“Alto stopped by earlier, he’d like for you to meet him at the park. He wants to talk to you about something along the lines of your destiny.”
“My destiny?”
“No idea, he was purposely being cryptic and I had neither the time nor coffee to deal with that, haha. Something going on there with-”
“No no, not at all. My life is too hectic for such things-”
“Haha I was just joking around.”
“Well, thanks for the message. And thanks for the books. Eh, I had best be getting back then. No point in lugging these around for half a day to go drop them off at home and come back right away.”
“True true. Take care dear,” Holly laughed waving as Elise departed with books in hand.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1h52wFEspY
