Let's Be Birds (OLD VERSION)

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O C T O B E R

"If a girl cries in a library and nobody is there to hear her, does she really make a sound?''

"Candela," I say into my cell phone gently. "Candy, I'm gonna have to call you back."

My friend Candela groans over the receiver. "I was just going to ask you something!"

"Can't it wait?" I look up at the crying girl as she wipes her face and looks through yet another book, a picture book this time. "Something important just came up."

"More important than your best friend?" I can imagine the face she's pulling; a pout, with her arms folded.

"I'll call you back, Candy."

"Fine! But you better call me,"

"I will."

"Speak to you soon!"

"Yeah,"

She cuts the phone line and I look up to where the crying girl was standing. She's still there, but this time she's looking towards the window as if it has the answer to all her problems but won't help her.

I wonder how to approach this - or if I should even approach this at all. Would she call me nosey? Would she think I'm freaky or tell me to go away?

"Um, excuse me?" I say, approaching her. She wipes her face once more, perhaps to clear any tell-tale signs of tears, before looking over to me. "Can you..."

She looks at me, her eyes widening just a tad. She wipes them again before speaking to me. "Sorry, do you want me to move?"

My voice catches for a second and we have a slightly awkward stare off before I clear my throat and gesture towards the bookshelf. "Uh, could you help me find a book to read?"

She blinks. "A book?"

I nod. "To read.

She reads the tag on the shelf. "You like Romantic era poetry?"

I'm not even sure what that is, but I nod earnestly anyway. "Sure. I'm totally into..." I glance towards the shelf briefly. "John Keats."

The surprise on her face doesn't leave at all. "Okay... well, um... here." She picks out a thin book and hands it over to me.

"'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' Cool." I say, flicking through it.

"Have you read it before?"

I stop flicking through the book and look at her. "I'm sorry?"

"I said, have you read it before?" I shake my head. "It's really good, Coleridge really takes the idea of The Gothic to new levels, especially with the idea of nature vs. humanity."

I nod, smiling because I have no idea what she just said. "It sounds good, uh, thank you,"

"You're welcome," She looks at the book in her own hands and clears her throat.

"Hey, um," I start, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a pack of tissues that I had randomly stolen from Candela this morning when she asked me to help her with her geometry homework. I cautiously present the packet to her, hoping it won't make her more upset. "You can have the whole packet if you want,"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah,"

She takes it from me, smiling gingerly though her smile seems to be weighed down by something. I can't place my finger on what it is though. "Thank you,"

"It's nothing. See you around?"

"Okay,"

I wave at her and start walking away. The librarian gives me a bright smile as I check out the book and then leave, entirely forgetting my reasoning for going in there. The streets are warm and alive and there are people everywhere I look, getting on with their everyday lives. I'm left wondering what had made the girl cry until Candela calls to tell me off for not calling her back sooner.

It's only when Candela starts lecturing me about how I need to learn to keep my promises and stay on track of my commitments that I realise I don't know who the crying girl is.

At all.

CAMP NANO JULY 2K15

WORD COUNT: 40K :)