Changed by Time ✔

one.

It was easy to wake up. Getting up on the other hand – that's much harder.

Wendy stared at the ceiling for a moment. Processing the dream she had while waiting for her arm to wake up, the uncomfortable buzz running from her elbow down to her fingertips. It wasn't a surprise that her arm had fallen asleep during her nap, it was just a pain in the ass.

"That dream again," she muttered to herself. A memory not of her own, but of one that she truly loved. "I wonder if that's something that's going to become a problem."

She leaned over the side of her couch, grabbing her phone off of the side table to check the time. She let out a sharp breath as she saw the time was just past three. An hour had passed since she had fallen asleep. It shouldn't have been that much of a surprise at that point – she always fell asleep after a therapy session.

Wendy rolled off the side of the couch and onto her feet in a single, swift movement. She shoved her phone in the back pocket of her black jean shorts. She ran a hand through her caramel curls, brushing past the occasional smoky blue streak.

She shuffled around her small coffee table and towards her bathroom, turning on the light and forcing her to squint at the sudden fluorescent brightness. She shook her head, pissed that she just couldn't get used to it after three years of living there.

She stared at herself in the mirror, picking up her hairbrush as she tamed the shoulder-length curls that tangled during her nap and pulled them into a tight ponytail. She turned on the faucet and splashed her face with some cold water, droplets dripping down her tan skin and sun-kissed freckles.

Wendy grabbed the nearby towel and wiped her face, images of the dream running back through her mind. The man who could fly and the woman who loved him with dark blue streaks – Mark and Andrea Myer.

She never saw herself in the dream, probably because she didn't even exist yet when it truly occurred. Exactly nine months before she existed.

She flicked off the bathroom light as she walked through the small living room towards her bedroom. She tore off her loose white t-shirt and threw it onto her bed, digging through her dresser as she picked out a black tank-top and pulled it on. She slipped on a pair of sneakers and grabbed a red and gray flannel from her closet, pulling it on as she went out the door.

Maybe if I really book it, I can make it into the city before traffic gets too terrible, she thought as she grabbed her small backpack-purse and pulled out her phone to call for a taxi. Who am I kidding – New York City traffic is always terrible.

--

Despite Wadesburg only being a twenty-minute drive from the heart of New York City, the actual drive took easily about twice that amount. Not including the time it took for the taxi to come and pick Wendy up.

Wendy quickly paid the taxi driver, pulling on her flannel tighter and buttoning up two of the middle buttons as she made her way up the stairs into the library. She pushed a stray piece of hair back before slipping through the door as it slowly closed behind another patron.

She glided through the entrance and into the large space. It was always surprisingly quiet for such a large place in a crowded city. The peace within the chaos.

Wendy threw a quick smile and a small wave to the librarian, Mrs. Kirchick. She was a lovely old woman who appeared to practically live at the library... or so Wendy thought.

She slid through the aisles, eying through the covers of every section. She occasionally took out a book, read the back, flipped through a page or two if she was truly interested, but eventually put it back in its proper place.

Someone else would enjoy it more than I would, she'd tell herself every time. That wasn't even just for the books she wasn't that interested in, it'd even be for the books that she truly considered reading. But someone else would enjoy it more than she would.

She stopped abruptly as one cover caught her eye. Its base color was black with green and blue vines that entangled the book and its title: Myths and Tales of the Paranormal Around the World. A rather simple title, but it was straight to the point.

She pulled it out, reading the back as it entailed myths that depicted the earliest monsters and supernatural beings. Beings that would create the stories that parents scared their children with now. She flipped through the first couple pages – a tale about the banshees that roamed Ireland and the origins behind them. She eventually shook her head, closing the book back up and placing it back on the shelf.

Someone else would enjoy it more than I would.

Wendy turned out of one of the aisles, her eyes still stuck to the book within it. Maybe this one time, she'd check out a book that everyone, including her would enjoy.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she rammed into the poor soul coming out of the aisle next to hers, forcing him to drop the books and notebook he had been carrying. "My bad, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," the young man she bumped into responded, kneeling down to grab his items.

He had chocolate waves pushed back to reveal his dark eyes. He kept his lips tightly pressed together, his cheeks puffed slightly as they accentuated his jawline. He wore a black t-shirt with a dark jacket over it with a pair of trousers and sneakers. Wendy would be lying if she didn't say that this young man didn't have a handsomely boyish quality.

"Here," she knelt down to help him, "let me."

"Thanks," he responded.

Wendy couldn't help but notice the books he had picked up – Eyes of the Past, The Paranormal Among Us, The Truth of Myths – were all based around the paranormal that had been widely popular on the internet or simple stories told throughout the ages. Not unlike the book that she had been eyeing not only a few seconds ago.

"I'm real into myths, too," she commented, pointing to the books as she handed them back to him. "They're so entrancing."

"Yeah, I've been studying them lately for a project I've been working on at NYU," he said with a slight nod, causing his chocolate waves to bounce ever so slightly.

"I'm Wendy, by the way. Wendy Myer."

"Like in Peter Pan?" She couldn't tell if he was holding back a laugh or not.

She rolled her eyes and let out an awkward chuckle. "You wouldn't believe how often I get that question."

"I'm..." he hesitated as he eyed her up and down, a slight smirk crossing his lips. "I'm Todd West."

"Well, Todd West," she said as a smile crossed her own, "I hope to see you around here a lot more."

"You too, Wendy Myer."

With that, he went down the aisle she had just gone down. She hadn't even realized her face had heated up until after he brushed past her shoulder ever so slightly. She ran a hand across her cheek, feeling the heat against her knuckles.

Well, that's something to think about, she thought, her mind quickly returning to the book. Okay, if even a guy as cute as that Todd can't take my mind away from that book, then I guess it's worth grabbing.

Wendy spun on her heel and hastily went down the aisle, just past Todd as she grabbed the book off the shelf. He looked towards her as she grabbed it, his eyes falling on the book as they widened ever so slightly.

"I guess my interest in these books is just more of a hobby than a project," she said with a slight laugh.

He looked as if he were about to say something, but she had turned around too soon for him to speak. She hastily went down the aisle, her cheeks heating up a second time as she went towards the front desk to check it out for the day.

I guess today I'm going to enjoy this more than anyone else.