Vagabonding.1 [COMPLETE]

5. The Irish Car Bomb

"Wake up... Wake up... WAKE UP..!"

I jolted awake as someone shook my shoulder harshly. It was at this moment that I decided that getting woken up this way was getting old, real quick. I turned around swiftly and the person backed away. A guy no older than twenty with bright red hair, green eyes and a light dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks, points at the exit to the building. Not to mention, he looks like he can take on a bear with all those muscles he has. If that's not impressive, then I don't know what gets your panties in a bunch.

"You've got to go! Get your stuff and go home, boy!" his voice carried a familiar English accent that was rare around these parts.

I blinked, "Libraries aren't open all the time?"

"Can't, they don't pay me enough for this," he said as he pointed towards the exit again. "Now get on home and sleep in there all you want, your mum will have no fuss about your laziness unlike me."

"But, I don't have a home," I said as I began to panic, "I'll have to see if there's a park near here then."

"Sorry to hear," The man said harshly. "But it's not my problem as far as I'm concerned."

"Wow, man... not even a shred of pity!" I said under my breath as I bitterly pushed away from the table and stoop up. "Don't you have a soul?"

The man groaned behind me and stopped walking, he began to flex and pace furiously before flipping the table I was seated at, "Why does everyone always say that?! EVERYONE! I HAVE. A. SOUL!"

"Hey! I was just joking!" I began to back away but stumbled on my own two feet as I struggled to stand up. My legs kicked out as I began to slide my butt against the carpeted floor in an effort to stand again, "That's a saying that applies to everyone!"

The man looked at me and I saw his skin beginning to twitch with huge muscular tremors, his clothes getting too tight before they ripped off of his rapidly deforming body. His face became more sunken around his cheeks and eye socket, his nose large and dented, his teeth chipped and yellowed from what smells like years of not brushing. His eyes became a single color of bright yellow with no pupils to be seen, while his skin became a dark green tone with slashes of scars on his arms and chest. In all honesty, it looked as if even his scars had scars.

I finally stopped gawking and managed to turn around to run towards the exit with record time before slamming into the glass door. I pushed and pulled at the door's handle but it never gave in to the pressure.

Locked?!

No, no, no, no!

I dashed to the left and took the stairs that I saw. At the head of the stairs, I noticed the sparse shelving and lack of books, but continued to dash forward as I looked for an exit.

What in the world is up with this town? Was everyone like this?! There's no way that I could have forgotten this much, could I..?

I heard the monster coming towards the opposite end of the hall as his breathing hung heavy in the air, his footsteps quaking the thin ground beneath my feet. Gazing around, I felt my heart frantically thump against my chest as I spotted a bathroom that was way too close to his side of the room. Just as I hid behind a shelf, I managed to spot the top of his head coming from the bottom of the steps. I needed to somehow get in there, there's no way he could fit through those doors with that new body of his.

My new plan was settled in an instant: I'd have to get in there no matter what and pray for a cozy spot in heaven. I nodded one last time to myself before ducking back downstairs where I came from; luckily, I was undetected and paced myself towards the upstairs bathroom once again. Down through the darkened maze of shelves and countless books, I stayed crouched towards the ground to remind myself to not hurry. As soon as I took the stairs, the bathroom was right at the top of it.