She was broken.

i

She sat at the end of the circular table waiting for something interesting to happen but it never came. She moved her thumb along the corner of the old book, anxiety creeping away at every page. Flip. Another flip, another chapter, another end. She closed the old thing and placed it back on the shelf.

Any person could've answered that if they went to this library, they would've seen that same girl. She was like a lost puppy knowing what she was doing, just not quite where she was going.

She picked up the polaroid that was seated neatly next to the book. Click. The camera took one photo out of probably 100 already taken. The photo was of the book. You could see the olden look of it, 'Romeo and Juliet'. Such a good book, such a shame they died in the end she thought. Once the photo was presented out of the camera she shook it, even though she knew that this damaged it.

One more photo shouldn't hurt, right? She took up the camera and turned it so the camera was facing her. She attempted to fix her hair, but she knew it was no use as it never stood still. The sudden flash made little dots flicker in her vision. As she took out the photo, she was disgusted.

My hair doesn't even look good. Whats up with my smile? Has my nose always looked like that? Should I just throw it away?

Questions kept on pouring into her head as she thought she would never be good enough. But she didn't think that across the library would there be a person drawing her.

She scooted out of the seat and went to go get a different book. Theres no harm in learning how to draw, so why not learn. She pulled a dusty book off the shelf, and flipped through the pages vigorously. Everything seemed to catch her eye, from the perfect rose, to the drawing of a dead body lying in the street.

The eyes of the girl sparkled as she saw a drawing of an old piano. She took it back to her seat trying to avoid the awkward eye contact with the librarian.

Digging through her backpack, she found a white sheet of paper, probably from when she wanted to draw but never found time.

He saw her eyes scanning over the pages, huh, I remember when I used that as a reference, hah the piano was always the best drawing in there. He got up from the table leaving his artwork on the table. He walked past her table nonchalantly just to get a glimpse of what she was drawing. A small smirk appeared on his face when he saw her opened to the piano.

The girl saw the smirk and covered up her paper not wanting it to be seen by some stranger. His expression was turned from happy to sad at her movement.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to look at you in a vile manner, I was just surprised that someone was drawing the piano! Hmm is that the book on drawings of almost anything?"

She nodded her head hesitantly not sure why he was talking to her. She got her camera and took a picture of him. Once the flash hit, he was confused why she was always taking pictures of basically nothing.

"Do you always have to be taking pictures, my goodness."

"Well ya' see the reason I take pictures is so I won't forget the moment. Because any moment could be your last, and we wouldn't want to have a photo of us dying, would we?"

He just stood there gaping. He never meant to sound rude to her, but it must've came out that way. After all, you cant stare at someone you just met and expect them to be happy you smirked.

"S-sorry, I may have come off quite rude then," she was fixing her hair and playing with her fingers like this was the end of the world, "but my names Angelica, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Her voice was so filled with life that you would never suspect her to be sad. Yet thats all she was. He said his name was Hayden, such a pretty name to her, but he thought it was a disgrace of one.

He grabbed her hand gently as he led her to the table he was sitting at. Once he showed her the paintings he did of her, she was speechless. No one has made a drawing of me, let alone anything this beautiful. She turned to face him a smile wavering at her pale lips. He could tell she wanted to say something, but she didn't want to ruin the moment because this was all she had left.

She quickly turned back around and left the library only grabbing her book bag while leaving.

Goddamnit Angelica! You messed up again, you were not supposed to be a major fuck up! They're right you deserve to die, you can't even talk to a stranger without messing up. You couldn't even talk to a stranger WHO GAVE YOU A COMPLIMENT WITHOUT MESSING UP!

As she left the tears were flowing down her face at the fact that she thinks shes not good enough, yet she is all he ever wanted. Yet she won't last that long for him.

He went back to his seat in shock of why she left, weren't we having a pleasant conversation, she probably just had to do something! He sat there thinking, all these thoughts swirling around in his head like the creamer in his coffee.

As he took his last sip, all that went through his head is if he was going to see her tomorrow. And what book she was reading, and how her single tear could be the same tear he would shed at that book.