The Diary

The Library

I slid into the passengers seat,
"What took you so long cupcake? I got places to be too you know." My mom started to pull out of the driveway.
"I was literally in the house for like twenty seconds longer than you, calm down." I buckled my seat belt and watched the trees we drove past melt into one never ending green blur.
"Ok, so I'm pretty sure I saw a public library downtown near the grocery store." mom turned onto Main Street.
This town was bleak. There were maybe fifteen stores on the downtown strip, not a mall in sight, and there wasn't a single person in sight.

It was summer, where were all the kids? Back in Ohio me and my best friends, Tammy and Lauren, spent our summers shopping and getting ice cream cones on the way back from the pool. Kids in this town must just sit and watch paint dry because I swear a tumbleweed should be rolling by any second now.
"So I'll drop you off and pick you up once I'm done with a few errands. About an hour or two sound like enough time for you?"
"Yeah sure." I muttered as we pulled into the empty parking lot of a decrepit stone building.

I watched my mom drive off and turned to go inside. The library was small. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead and shelves of musty books lined the walls. Despite my distain for human interaction I went up to the counter. The lady sitting behind the desk wore horn-rimmed glasses and aggressively bright pink lipstick. She was squinting at a screen as she absentmindedly scanned books.
"I'm sorry, do you have a public computer I could use?" I asked cautiously.
She looked up at me, her face became excited.
"Oh absolutely dear, right this way."
She walked out from behind the counter and motioned for me to follow her.
"You must be new in town. It's always so nice to see young faces in the library. Now this section here is where you will find some very interesting books for young adults like yourself. I hear those Hungry Games are very popular with girls your age. VHS tapes and DVDs are over here if you ever want to pick something up to watch at home." She pointed to each section we passed. I had to admit her enthusiasm was endearing and she was getting me a little excited about certain things I saw in passing.
"And these are the computers. My name is Edna if you need anything at all."
"Thanks" I smiled awkwardly as she walked off.

I was looking at the last living dinosaur. The "computer section" consisted of two computers, two plastic chairs, and a plastic table that looked as if it wanted to collapse under the weight of the massive hunks of ancient technology on top of it. I powered it on and immediately heard the loud whirring of a motor deep inside. It took at least five minutes just to get to the home screen. I opened *shudder* internet explorer and put in the first thing I could think of.

'Massachusetts Abandoned Orphanage '
Nothing.
'Abandoned Orphanages USA'
A few things came up but none of them had anything to do with Massachusetts.
'Orphanages 1930s Massachusetts'
I tried desperately to remember the name of this stupid town, I figured that would narrow down the search.
'Orphanages Ashbrooke County Massachusetts'
One article popped up that appeared relevant.
It was from some historic site that put up old newspaper articles and stuff. The website showed a scanned image of a yellowed newspaper with the headline 'Helping Hands Home for Orphans and the Unfortunate Opened by the State'.

The article was dated May of 1930. It didn't mention very much of what I had been hoping to find out, just that the place had been opened by the state of Massachusetts due to the depression. The photo at the bottom was grainy and faded. It showed maybe twenty children, and two stern looking women, none of whom were smiling. They all wore similar expressions, straight, wooden lines for lips and vacant eyes. The group was standing in front of a large brick building, one I recognized as the much newer version of my new home. I felt a chill run down my spine. Everything about that place just gave me the creeps. Thinking about how all of these people had been forced to live there at one point didn't exactly help the homey feelings sink in. Still it was nice to know that the building had at least seen better days. It wasn't very easy to make out in the old picture, but the big windows seemed cleaner and the front steps less decrepit and more grand. It made the notion that this place had once been habitable more realistic.
The article had been pulled from the WhiteFalls Gazette. I know that mom had always just referred to this move as to 'The Falls', which I had originally assumed meant Niagara, so I guess the full town name was WhiteFalls.

I felt kind of stupid for knowing so little about the place where I technically now lived. It felt spiteful to think that it wouldn't matter anyways, we'd move somewhere else in a year or two. We hadn't stayed in one place for much longer than a few years for as long as I could remember. All the cities I'd lived in and the schools I'd gone to just became one big blur of names after awhile. We'd been in Ohio the longest, almost five years I think. It was the only place I think I would consider home. I'd gone to Greendale Elementary, I had friends there, I had planned on finishing high school there and getting my first part time job at the local movie theatre. I should have known better. I loved my mom but she was a little eccentric and sporadic, she had always had a little trouble holding down a job. Don't get me wrong she works hard and she's really smart, it's just she can be an unpredictable employee. She would grow tired of the corporate world and decide to try a hand at painting instead; and then upon realizing that she didn't know the first thing about art she'd go and work in finances. No warning, no time to prepare, she'd just come to me and say she got an apartment in Vermont and we were leaving in a month.
I would never say it out loud but sometimes I wondered if her behaviour had something to do with my dad.

A pinging noise broke my thoughts. It was a pop up installed by the library wondering if I was still using the computer.
I was brought back to reality. I had a mission to accomplish and I was running out of time. My mom would probably be here to pick me up in a little over an hour and I hadn't uncovered any new information.
'Helping Hands Orphanage WhiteFalls'
The same article from before came up and an old listing from when the place first went up for sale. The listing basically mentioned that the orphanage had been closed in the early 1940s and that the bank had been trying to sell it since then. There were photos included, some of them were from when the orphanage was originally built, the rest were taken in maybe the 1990s and showed that the building was in a much poorer state.
I couldn't find anything that was very helpful and was beginning to grow more frustrated.
I reached into my bag and pulled out Lucy's diary. I wondered if I could find anything inside it that would lead me to a better idea of what to search up.
I knew this one might be a long shot but I typed in
'Lucy Anne Baker WhiteFalls 1930s'
A bunch of Lucy Bakers came up on Facebook and I figured none of them could be who I was looking for. Still maybe I could find some old woman somewhere who was missing a childhood diary, it wasn't impossible after all.

Turns out it was, I scrolled through Facebook for about twenty minutes and didn't see a single mention of WhiteFalls on anyone's profile. This was proving to be harder than I thought. I felt defeated and put my head on the desk.
"Hey, um if you're like dead, would you mind if I steal your computer?" a voice came from behind me.
I straightened up and whipped my head around in embarrassment.
Standing behind me was a boy, about my age, with a thick mass of curly brown hair. I'm not  about to lie, he was actually pretty cute and I was less than thrilled to be looking like such an idiot in front of him.
"There's another one right there." I mumbled
pointing at the second computer beside me and turning my head so he wouldn't see me start to blush with self-consciousness.
"Yeah but the thing is that one is painfully slow. So if you want me to suffer I will. I just figured if you were too busy having a mental breakdown to miss it, I'd snatch it out from underneath you." He joked, taking the seat beside me.
"I'm not finding anything I'm looking for anyways. So, sure I guess you can take it. Wouldn't want to cause you any unnecessary suffering." I logged out and stood up.
"You're a doll." He winked, sliding into my now empty seat.
"Thanks...I think." I picked up my bag and started to walk off before realizing I had left the diary on the desk.

"Hey...Lucy, I think this is yours." The boy called to me as I was turning around.
He held out the cracked green book and I walked over to take it from him.
"It's Austen actually, not Lucy." I replied sheepishly, stuffing the diary into my bag.
"Cool name, I'm Ben." He kept his hand extended and I shook it awkwardly.
"Haven't seen you around before."
"Yeah me and my mom we just moved down here, yesterday actually." I smiled, trying to appear friendly.
"Wow that's cool. Do you like it?" he asked.
"It's been twenty four hours..." I laughed a little. He gave me a knowing look.
"It's quiet I know, but it's not all bad.  This place is actually a pretty decent place to live once you decide to give it a chance."
"I'll keep that in mind." I smiled softly.
I turned to leave again, I didn't know how to keep this conversation going and figured it was best to leave while he didn't think I was a total weirdo.
"I'll see you around school." I heard him say.
"How are you so sure?" I asked trying to sound coy.
"Trust me, HSS is the only high school within thirty miles, we go to the same school." he laughed."
"That's fair then." I finished the conversation hurrying back towards the exit.
Once I was a safe enough distance away, I couldn't help but look back to sneak a peek at the interesting boy I'd just met.