Sentiment of a Witness: I Ain't Ever Seen Two Pretty Best Friends

𝙰 𝚂𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙺𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝙻𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚄𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗

My plan had been to leave the dorm before any of my dormmates awoke and spend the time until class started in the school library. But, as usual, the universe's plans didn't line up with mine.

As I was making my way to the door, I heard a groggy voice, "Well, you're up early."

I inwardly groaned and turned around to see a curly-headed boy sitting up in one of the other three beds, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

He blinked a few times and looked at me, nodding slowly. "We're not running late, are we?"

I shook my head as he squinted at the clock above my head.

"Dude... it's not even six-thirty yet-" he looked back to me and shook his head. "You had breakfast?"

I nodded and tried not to smile at the surprised look on his face, "right... you know we don't start until eight-thirty, right?"

I nodded again, and he blinked again, "wow... I think I worked out who the super-organised roommate is then... see you 'round then."

He swung his legs off the bed, pulling a face as some of his joints cracked, and walked towards the bathroom muttering something along the lines of "freaky" and "crazy guy."

I could only assume he was talking about me. Which is funny because I have to say that he is one of the most, if not the, craziest person I've ever had the fortune and misfortune of meeting. And I've met Jupiter and Hawthorne.

Watching as he shut the bathroom door, I let out an amused sigh, turning to open the door and leave before any of my other dormmates could wake up.

I walked down the halls of Graysmark, confident that I knew where the library was. And I did – just not where any of my classes were; I just thought I'd either wander around the school hopelessly until I came across someone who could help or try and work out where to go based on the names of classrooms.

Oh, sweet Divine, did it hurt my brain.

It took me a little under half an hour, and way too many wrong turns to find the library. I looked up at the double oak doors, engraved with gold, suddenly questioning if this was a good idea or not – I could have just feigned sleep until my dormmates had left.

It's hilarious that I even just thought that the three of them could get up early on a regular school day. The only times they would ever get up early were on birthdays and other special days, or the fucking weekend when I just wanted to sleep-in. They were, and still are, idiots.

Absolute dumbasses.

Trying to shake the fear of... whatever lay behind the doors – whatever lay behind them other than the rows and rows of precious books – I placed a trembling hand on the door and lightly pushed. It swung backwards with a low creak, revealing a large room filled nearly entirely with books.

I felt like I had just walked into paradise.

Every wall of the room was covered with a roof-high wooden bookshelf. Throughout the room stood many other bookshelves, categorised with books. It seemed that the librarian had run out of room for quite a few books as the desk at the front of the library was nearly completely hidden behind stacks of them.

I approached the desk, wondering if anybody was there when the topmost books of two hazardously stacked piles disappeared before reappearing further along the old wooden surface.

I watched as the next few books were taken from the pile, this time catching a glimpse of a pair of large, wrinkly hands as they placed the books on top of the other two. I continued to stand there as the two piles shrunk and the new pile grew, unsure what to say to get the librarians attention, nor what to say after that.

Eventually, I could see wispy white hair of what must have been the librarian's hair, or at least what they had left of it. As the books continuously moved, more and more of the librarian's face was revealed.

He was an older man, dressed in a white collared shirt, slacks, a colourful sweater and tie. Thick, round glasses framed his eyes, and a moustache the same colour as his hair sat above his upper lip.

When he finally looked up, the man squinted at me as if trying to work out if I was actually there or not.

"Ah, hello there! You're up early, aren't you?" his voice was low and reedy with age.

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, walking closer to the desk.

"Are you the librarian?" though it was pretty obvious, I wanted to be sure.

The man chuckled. "Yes, but no."

I frowned, "sorry, but how can you be the librarian but also not be the librarian?"

"Well, my sister is the actual, employed librarian. I just help her out in her old age, but she thinks I'm here so that she can look after me," he responded with a sparkle in his eye.

I laughed softly and looked around at the shelves again. I still couldn't really believe it. The student library at Graysmark is still, by far, one of the best libraries I've ever been to.

"Aha, you like books, I take it?"

I turned back to the librarian-but-not-really-librarian and nodded.

He smiled, "they're truly magical, a real wonder." He looked up at the large shelves, "you've still got a good hour and a bit until classes start, so go ahead and find something that tickles your fancy, though, I'm sure that's the reason you came here."

I nodded my head and grinned.

"I'm Mr Cortisone, by the way. My sister, Ms Cortisone, teaches Languages as of this year."

He extended a hand to me as he spoke, so taking it, I replied, "I'm Jack, Jack Korrapati."

Written: 14 December 2021

Published: 3 January 2022

I forgot to upload yesterday... but it's here now! I hope you enjoyed it! I also wanted to let you guys know that I've recently started a 10-week online writing course for teens (it actually starts today), and I'm going away for a week with my family, so updates may be slow.