The hall outside Kaleigh’s room was empty; all the other children were attending classes. Slowly she made her way to the staircase, and started to climb, with each floor that she reached her anticipation increased. Finally she reached the landing of the last set of stairs, leaving her on the 13th floor. She walked down a narrow hallway, and when she reached a door she turned to look in and see the library. She stood in awe, walking into the large room she tried to take in the glory. The floors were wooden; the ceiling high, straight ahead was a reading area with a small coffee table surrounded by four overstuffed chairs and two overstuffed couches behind this reading area there was a large mahogany desk, with assorted materials neatly arranged. To Kaleigh’s left and right stood rows and rows of books. Kaleigh had been to many little bookshops, she loved them, they were quaint, and had many wonderful books, but she always wished there were more books. Now she was in a place with more books than one could ever read in a lifetime.
Kaleigh stepped over to the couches and sat down. She tried to take in every detail of her surroundings; she grabbed a pillow off of the couch and hugged it close to her as she lay back. Then she pulled the pillow away and examined it; it matched the fabric on the couch blue, red, yellow, and green stripes. Looking down she examined the Victorian style rug, and then smiling she sat back basking in the wonder of a setting that she knew would have been her mothers favorite spot in the world.
“Hello dear!” a soft sweet voice said from behind her.
Kaleigh jumped to her feet and spun around to look at the person addressing her. Taking a step back and tilting her head down she gave out a quiet “hello” in response.
The woman in front of Kaleigh wore a long faded brown skirt, and a plain white blouse, her plain attire brought ones attention to her fiery red hair which was pulled up in a bun. She held out her hand to Kaleigh and introduced herself. “I’m sorry to startle you, my name is Ms. Vienna. I’m the librarian.”
Kaleigh shook Ms. Vienna’s hand lightly and smiled, “Pleased to meet you, my name is Kaleigh”
“Pleased to meet you Kaleigh, I’ll be at my desk” she gestured towards the mahogany desk, “If you need any help.”
“Thank you.” Kaleigh said, becoming a little less guarded than when Ms. Vienna first approached her.
Now that she was standing Kaleigh decided to go and explore the rows of books. She made her way weaving through the many rows stopping when a book would catch her attention. Soon she realized that the library was in the shape of a ‘U’. The center was the hallway and staircase; the outside of the ‘U’ was the actual library. She made her way around to the area farthest from the mahogany desk and the entrance door and a particular bookcase caught her attention. The bookcase was filled with books with red, blue, and green bindings. The titles were all written in a beautiful golden script. A sign above the bookcase said “Fairy Tales”. Kaleigh didn’t know why, but she was drawn to this bookcase, to these books. After staring at the shelves, reading the names of the books nearest her, Kaleigh saw a book whose title she recognized, “Beauty and the Beast”. Kaleigh grabbed the book off the shelf, and holding it close to her turned around to find a place to sit and read. Opposite the “Fairy Tales” bookcase Kaleigh saw a huge armchair. The armchair was a deep rose red color, and it looked as if a king or a queen ought to be sitting in it. The chair sat in a little cylindrical cove in the corner of the room. The curved walls of the cove contained a beautiful mural in vibrant colors. The mural was of a landscape with a castle, a unicorn, mountains, a beach, a forest, and fairies every type of fairy imaginable seemed to be depicted in come way, the whole mural looked so lifelike that Kaleigh reached out her hand to touch it to make sure of its solidity, sure enough it was just as solid as any other wall. The murals beauty captivated Kaleighs’ attention to the point where when the Ms. Vienna came to fetch her for dinner she was just standing there observing it, all the details and colors and objects she had never seen before. Kaleigh was reluctant to leave, as she hadn’t even begun to read, but Ms. Vienna promised that if she would leave her book on the little table in front of the armchair that it would be there the next time she returned to the library. Reluctant still, Kaleigh placed “Beauty and the Beast” on the table and let herself be ushered to the dining hall by Ms. Vienna.
The procedure for dinner was just as lunch had been, Kaleigh waited in the line to receive her juice and her spaghetti, then she looked around the room for a place to sit. The seat by Emily and Amber was empty as it had been at lunch, so that is where Kaleigh went. A little shyly Kaleigh sat down and smiled at the girls. Emily and Amber didn’t seem to notice that anyone had sat down by them; the two were animatedly discussing how mean Veronica and Francie were, and how much fun the Christmas Trip was going to be. Kaleigh perked up at the sound of a trip. Clearing her throat softly Kaleigh looked to Emily, “A Christmas Trip? I haven’t heard anything about that.”
Emily looked up at Kaleigh, seemingly annoyed at having someone interrupt her conversation. “Every year,” Emily started with a voice dripping in loathing, “the entire orphanage goes somewhere nice for a weekend, last year we went to Niagara Falls.” Now, feeling that she had said enough Emily turned back to Amber and started talking as if Kaleigh was no longer there. Kaleigh turned back to her plate, swirling her spaghetti around her fork, occasionally taking bites. Kaleigh was starting to resent her roommates unkindness, wishing for a friend and knowing that she wasn’t going to find one while she was staring at her plate. Lifting her eyes from her spaghetti Kaleigh skimmed the room for a possible friend, everyone was talking to someone; nobody seemed out of place. No one looked like they felt as bad as Kaleigh felt. Feeling lonely, Kaleigh walked out of the cafeteria with a resigned look of friendlessness.
1 comment:
aww that's mean! :'( poor kayleigh. i'll be her friend!
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