Finding Finley

Chapter 2: Back to Bed

Erica woke up every night to the creaking and groaning of her massive hidden library. The old wood creating a large building underground was surprisingly creaky and pained. You would think that something made of pure magic would be somewhat into the thought of self repair or at least some kind of rest at night, but no. It just had to shift and cry out like a dying pig at 2 in the morning, interrupting precious dreams of chocolate and kittens.

As soon as Erica would sit up, the large building hushed, maybe guilty for waking her. Normally she would sigh, flop over to her side, and fall back to sleep, but tonight she could see the pale silver light emitting from the ghost walking er... floating by the door. She had no idea what his purpose was, but he seemed destressed.

That same ghost had been around the library for about a week. Erica hadn't questioned it, the library picked up strange things all the time, but this felt different. He wasn't here from a summoning and he wasn't simply passing through, so she became fairly wary of the glowing boy.

On top of that, his stately manor was intimidating in itself. He walked around with his pale glasses and gorgeous, weakly lit hair being undermined by a white collared shirt tucked neatly underneath a sweater, the color of which was unidentifiable. The bottoms he wore were indistinguishable on account of not being leather, jean, or simple leggings.

The boy would occasionally break down crying, softening the shell of superiority little by little, but he usually spent his time picking up books and scanning through their contents. The reason for this was unknown, Erica had no idea what he was looking for, but everytime she tried to ask him if she could help him, his ghostly skin, right around his nose stretching to his ears, would turn a darker color and he would quickly float away meekly but fast.

He usually stayed away from her room, on account of her prized possessions being in it, but as she had said earlier, tonight was special. He walked past her door and glowed. The light had surged to new levels for about 0.2 seconds.

That light was enough to get her fully awake though, and soon she was up out of bed, dark black/navy blue french braids slightly messy from the rough turning of her head. She was up, so she might as well use the bathroom, get a snack, and check on some of the animals.

Erica opened the door to her beautiful, dim lit bedroom and stepped into one of the many rooms filled with rows and rows of crowded bookshelves. The library had special secrets hidden in its walls, underneath layers of dirt and with one a single entrance accessible only to the chosen guardian.

She walked slowly, cold from the sudden change of her warm blankets, and trudged to the jungle room. Erica stepped through the door, and the magically extended room's rainforest warmth hit her, comfort that battled with the horrific monster that the cold had become. It was so warm that she almost fell back asleep, but a sleek, soft jaguar yawned and crawled up to her, pushing its head lightly into her hand, wanting pets.

The jungle room was enchanted to look like the same time of day as it was in the world above the roof, so the sky was dark and star speckled and there were no birds in sight. Erica walked on the small path carved through generations into the heart of the forest, the large cat at her side. The further she got, the more animals she had following her. At one point, she almost tripped over a small baby howler monkey that was asleep on the path.

Carefully, she picked it up in both hands and set it back on the path behind her, looking at the faint blue light that she created as she walked, fading into small sparks of magic, swirling in the air around the small monkey's sleeping form before disappearing altogether. She gave a small smile of affection and returned to the path.

Erica walked through the beautiful faded gray colors of her emerald green jungle until she reached a small waterfall that silently spilled liquid over its edge into the small pool below. She rolled up her pant legs, put her feet in the warm water, And fell back asleep, laying among all of the friendly forest creatures amidst a small pile of fluff and talons.