Atlas

Four

Grace

The weekend passed by, and it was quite possibly the most mundane weekend ever. Reece had his exam on Monday, and Dimia was at rehearsals, which left me alone. I had an exam on Tuesday, but it was quite an easy one. I discovered that if you actually listen in class, all you have to do is sit for an hour and read over, and you'll be done.

So on Saturday I did that, and by Sunday I was yet again bored – which led to Netflix and a lot of sleep.

On Monday morning, just as I was having breakfast, mom called.

"Hey, darling. How are you?"

"MOM!!" I shoved a piece of toast in my mouth. "I'm good mom." Damn, even on a low quality video call my mom looked good. 

I brushed the crumbs off my chin. "How are you?" 

"I'm great, dear. Your dad and I are going to D.C today with Reece's parents."

"Ah, have fun."

"Thanks, lovely. Is the new apartment alright? Any trouble?"

"Nope, everything's good. I miss you, mom."

My mom sighed. "I miss you too. But hey... let's not forget who wanted to leave."

I chuckled. "Right. Where's dad?"

"Oh he's taking a shower."

"At 5 am?"

"Yeah, we thought we would leave early. June wanted to see Caspar." June was Reece's mom, and Caspar was his young brother, who studied at a boarding school four hours from where we lived in Seattle.

I checked the time. It was 10 already. I was planning to go to the library to drop off a few books, and then go see Reece who would had finished his exam by then.

"Anyways, I'll talk to you when we get back."

"Enjoy, mom."

Once the call ended, I got dressed and carefully put the books in a tote bag. I decided today was a good day to wear a sundress, even though it wasn't really sunny. But it was white and flowy and I liked it so I did.

Early on, after a bit of exploring, I realized the only library that carried the kind of books I wanted to read was the arts library. It had a small section on classic literature, which the science and medicine library did not.

Ever since I was young, my mom instilled a sense of reading in me. She was the reason I loved books.

And the reason I was walking to a place that was nearly half an hour away at 11 am when I could be sleeping.

I walked up the steps of the giant building. It was built so beautifully, like neo-gothic architecture.

An old lady greeted me at the reception, and I smiled back. It sounded silly, but I was singing, 'beautiful day, beautiful people' in my head, like a mantra. I wasn't sickly happy or optimistic all the time, but something about the library was so... I was in awe. 

As I dropped off the books, my eyes fell to the stairs which led to the literature section... I shouldn't....

The old lady chuckled, as if she knew exactly what I was debating.

I looked at my watch. It was only 12. Reece had another hour.

So I found myself walking towards the steps, and then climbing all the way to the second floor. It was usually quiet, and where only a few people came to study.

I went directly to where the classics were. Dickens. Twain. Hemingway.

This part of the library was kind of in the corner, with a single table next to some archives. My eye fell towards the table, and my eyebrows drew together.