Representative

An Empty Library

Maroosa : 5:54pm

I giggled as the English man struggled to speak Russian. Vanya had informed me he'd be helping me. In what I do not know. Standing up from the sofa, my bare feet touched the wooden floor. Even on my tip toes, the man was taller than me. His name was Laurence, or so I had been told. I guessed he would be teaching me English, my third language to learn. I let the ends of my fingers grip the bottom of my short, white dress that puffed out. I was different. The heat hurt me. Even at this temperature, which others considered cold, I was boiling. Summer was a burden to me.

I gave Laurence a smile and stepped forward, placing each foot in front of the other carefully and concentrating in going in a straight, forward movement which others may have been taught. It took him a moment to realize I was following him, when he turned tail and led out the room. I stayed a few paces behind him, not wanting to cause him any discomfort. Foreigners tended to prefer more personal space, Vanya had warned me. I'm worried about Vanya. He's been up to his nose in paperwork for days now, I wish I could help him, but I barely understand any of it.

The tall walls surrounded us as we walked up a set of wooden stairs, this area didn't have carpet. As we headed upstairs, the landing did. I put my hand on the wooden banister gingerly, looking around as I did so. There were beautiful paintings on the wall, some of people that I did not recognise, others of beautifully decorated objects. A vase stood at the end of the corridor, where it thinned to pass through a passage then spread out again on the other side where doors aligned either side. Laurence seemed to know where he was going, he didn't look over his shoulder to see if I was following him at all, trust was a strange thing in that regard. As we entered the passage and next corridor, there was a mirror. I caught a glance of my long, ringletted white pair. It was tinted pink ever so slightly if you looked carefully. My skin was pale. Much paler than Laurences. I suppose years of snow does that to you. I took a look at the man who was guiding me: he was tall, but not as tall as Vanya; had dark hair, much darker than Vanya's; he wore a suit a dark purple colour. I blinked again. Everyone here seemed to wear dark colours, dark suits. Even Vanya wore a black one today. He apologized afterwards, which was kind of him. But, it's not his fault I'm different. Dark colours hurt my eyes badly. I don't know why.

"We're here"

I looked up, surprised and taken away from my thoughts as Laurence spoke. I looked around curiously. We were in a library. There must have been hundreds of books towered up, all lined up on the shelves. There were even ladders leading up to some of the higher books. Laurence started off again, and I jumped forward to make up for his bigger paces before walking quickly behind him. He stopped at a smaller rounded table, with four chairs. He pulled out one, then made a hand gesture that meant 'do as you please but get the job done', before heading around to the other side and sitting down. I looked confused, there was no way he could know my herd language. After a second of eye contact, I caught on and sat down, mentally telling myself off. It was like communicating with an animal, I should know how to do it.

Laurence opened his briefcase beside him, I recognised the electronic device he brought out: a laptop. We'd been forced to hand over our phones. He also took out an ipad and I recognised the bright blue light. It was welcoming to my eyes, which were used to strenuous hues. He opened up google, then went to google translate. The language must have been in English, but I recognised the page, as I had used it before. He started typing, and on one side I could see the unknown language, then my own: Russian.

'What is your name?'

"Maroosa"

He gave me a smile that I had responded, then went back to typing.