Black and Blue

Chapter 8 Shelving

I woke up without even knowing that I fell asleep with the blinding light seeping through my window. I roll off the mattress with the faint squeak of the springs underneath me. I stretch out my sore muscles and heard a ricochet of cracks run up my spine.

I look outside to see that it's about 8 in the morning. I should probably get on the next bus to the city for my job at the library.

I look down to see that I'm still in the same outfit that I was in yesterday. I peel off my grimy clothes and slip on less grimy pair of black pants, Converse, and an over sized long sleeved blue shirt.

I pop out the screen from my window and climb through. This time I didn't even bother to put the screen back on or to close it, I just left it open.

As I was walking across the lawn, I see an unknown car pull up to the front of Hell. I stop in my tracks when I see a very pissed off eighteen year old boy jump out of the car and stomp over to the front door, completely ignoring me. I'm used to it anyway. He's probably another person the Demon owes money to again.

I don't know what took over me, but I just stood there watching as the boy bang his fist on the door. The door creaks open and the woman from last night pokes her head out with a shocked expression on her face. I guess she decided to spend the night.

"Reese," she breathes out. "What're you doing here?"

Oh, so she knows the kid.

I see his nose flare and his hands clench into fists to his sides as he sees the woman open the door wider to see the Demon behind her.

"The really question is, why are you here?" Reese's glare deepens on her.

"I-I, um..." She looks around, searching for an answer.

The boy holds his hand up, signaling for her to stop. "Never mind." He brings his hand back down and turns to leave before looking over his shoulder and saying, "Just explain it to me when you get home... Mom."

She's his mom. I don't know why but I was shocked from hearing him call her mom. After I snap out of it, I look over to see Reese making his way to his car and lean against the passenger's door, tapping away on his phone, probably calming himself down before he drives. I realized that I was wasting my time and the bus would be at the stop any minute. I make sure the front door is closed before I start walking again. Reese must of heard my footsteps because he looks up from his phone. We make eye contact, and he nods in acknowledgement. I look away, not used to being seen, and kept my head down as I make my way to the bus stop.

~~~~

I'm sitting on the bench of the bus stop and combing through the knots in my long hair. I see the bus approaching from down the street and get my money ready, which I pick pocketed from some random guy's pocket on the way here. It wasn't really hard. It was just about to fall out of his pocket anyway and it was in his back pocket, so I was able to snatch it up without him noticing. 

I hear a honk in front of me. I look up from the money to see the bus is waiting for me. I quickly get up and get in before paying my fee. Sitting in a window seat, I rest my eyes, waiting for my stop.

~~~~

"You're early," the woman from the library stated obviously.

I nodded my head, not knowing what to say.

"Well the employee that's suppose to train you isn't here yet. So..." She disappears into a room behind the desk and comes out and round the desk with a cart full of books. "Just shelf these books to where they belong. Okay?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"Great!" She clasps her hand together and smile, most likely thrilled that she doesn't have to babysit me. "Just do this to pass the time until the person gets here." She walks back around the desk and picks the phone up when it rings.

I drag the cart over into the Adult section upstairs using the elevator. Since I was in no hurry, I would read the summary of each book before putting it in its place.

After reading the summary of The Reapers are the Angels, I was about to place it on the shelve before hearing a psst coming from behind me.

I knew the psst wasn't for me but I turned around anyway to find no one there, only shelves full of books. Shrugging my shoulders, I turn back around, and I continue to put books back. 

I then hear another psst. I turn back around seeing only the shelf again.

I was about to turn back around when I hear the shelf whisper, "Hey you with the blue shirt. Look over to your right a little."

I turn around and look to my right to see no one. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

I hear the shelf sigh in frustration. "I meant your other right."

Doing as the shelf said, I see these big hazel eyes peering over the books in the shelf to me. I take a step back from seeing the eyes so suddenly.

The eyes brighten when I take notice to them. "Wait there for one second."

I stand there with slight confusion on my face. A woman, about 25 years old, approaches me from down the aisle. She's slightly taller than me with a silky blouse on and some fitted jeans. She has this huge smile on her face, and her smile widens when she stops at about three feet away from me. She peers at me with big hazel eyes.

She's the creepy pair of eyes on the other side of the shelf.

"Hi!" She exclaims while waving. "I'm Ivy!"

I stand there awkwardly. Nobody has ever been this excited to meet me.

I look behind me to see if she was talking to someone else. When there was no one there, I realized she was talking to me. I turn back to Ivy to see has an expected look on her face. I don't know what she wanted me to do, so I just flat out stare back at her.

She clears her throat to ease the awkward situation but still smiles. "You're suppose to tell me your name."

"Oh," I say with realization. "It's, uh, Xander."

"Well..." She sticks her hand out. "It's very nice to meet you, Xander."

I look at her hand confused. What do I do? I then remember seeing business men greet each other by shaking the other hand.

I hesitantly reach over and place my hand in hers and slowly say, "It's nice to meet you, too."