The Lights They Snuffed Out

🕯 Chapter 6 🕯

With it still being earlier in the morning, inside the library was rather crowded. Mirabel spotted Felicie behind the front desk. The woman was assisting an elderly man with checking out a book, writing down on a clipboard and taking the library card out from behind the cover. A line of four people awaited behind him.

As if she sensed her walking through the door, Felicie glances up. The librarian's eyes light up even if she doesn't show it anywhere else on her face.

She swiftly resumed attending to her current customer, handing the man back the book, then asking the next person how she could assist them.

Deciding to wait for her friend to finish, Mirabel makes her way over to the closest bookshelf. The girl begins running her fingers along the backs of the covers, seeing if anything jumps out at her. She has to go just slow enough to get a good peek at each one. Judging by their spines, each book appears to be in moderately good condition.

She ceases after coming across one that catches her eye: a bleak-colored spine among the luminescence. She pulls it off the shelf; its Indigo now in full view.

When the Rain Comes Down

By...

Mirabel flips the book over and even looks inside the cover, not finding the author or a summary. Even the endpaper at the back of the book proves to be no good.

Lost in her search, she doesn't notice the upcoming figure until they are nearly right next to her.

"I thought I saw a little mariposa fly in."

The teen turns to find Felicie beside her now with a stack of books in her hands, the tower slightly pressing against her chest. With the woman only being a head taller, she no longer has to crane her neck up to read lips. Mirabel loves her sister to death, but she was starting to give her neck troubles.

Unlike Mirabel's, Felicie's rectangular-rimmed glasses were perched along the top of her head, used only for seeing the words on a page. Her chocolate hair framed her oval structure nicely, with the front extending down to just above her shoulders while rising up in the back. The bottom of her swing skirt loosely hoovers just below her knees. The girl wasn't surprised to find her wearing black leather shoes with a square toe and heel, but she was taken aback at how she didn't perceive the clicking against the hardwood.

"Whatcha got there?" Felicie asks, motioning with her head towards the girl's hands.

Mirabel peers back at the book, including only the title, as if anything else would pop up now.

"I'm not sure; I can't find an author or summary."

The librarian situates the books so she can hold them all with one hand. Mirabel's own two can't help but shoot out, even though she knows the woman isn't as uncoordinated as her. Felicie simply takes the book from her outstretched hand and inspects it.

"Hm... I don't recognize it, and there's no card."

Mirabel snickered. "I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

"Hey, now I've got a pretty good memory." The woman challenges, giving the book back and repositioning her other hand under her load.

"Sorry, I would have come by earlier, but Abuela had me and Luisa on a task this morning," Mirabel tells her.

"That's alright, I don't have much time today; we've been kind of busy."

"Yeah, it looks like it," the teen agrees, peering around. "Do you need any assistance?"

Felicie shakes her head.

"Nah, I'll be good; Luis is supposed to come in pretty soon, and I'll put him to work.