Little Dawn

Chapter 2

    As hard as she tried to forget about the nightmare and try to convince herself that it was just a simple bad dream, she couldn't feel peaceful. She grabbed her green coat and walked towards the door.

"Casey, where are you going?" her mother was standing near the kitchen sink. She had a frown on her face.

"Oh, I'll go to the library. I'll check out a book," She answered back to her mother, giving her a comforting smile.

"Is everything okay?" Lara asked getting closer to her daughter "It's 6 p.m. Are you sure you want to go by your own?"

"Mom, I promise I'll be careful. Everything's fine" she turned around and got out the house. The library wasn't that far away; it was a ten-minute walk. 

       Before she started working in the plantations she spent her whole days reading the old books the library offered. That was one of the few buildings that wasn't destroyed in the Great War. The second one was at the other side of the city, were thieves and wanderers lived and slept, and the third one was were every child learned to read and write. That was the only type of education they ever receive, but they are lucky enough to have it.

       After a few minutes of walking she could see the little gray building. The lights were on, meaning that it was still open. She got inside and saw everything was the same as a few years ago. She stood still in front of the counter. The door behind it was slightly opened and she could hear someone behind it.

"Hello?" she said in a low voice, when nothing happened she cleared her throat and spoke louder. This time the person behind the door, a man she has never seen before, appeared. His brown hair was messy and he was wearing big glasses, behind them were blue piercing eyes. He was cleaning his hands with a white piece of cloth.

"How can I help you?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Nightmares. A book about nightmares," she wasn't sure about what she was searching, but she certainly did want to know more about bad dreams. Being extremely astonished and somehow afraid, made her want to know more about them. The man told her about several books that were at the end of the hall, he indicated the shelf and then went back inside.

       The place was dirty and the books had dust over them. She wondered where Mr. Colin, the old man that took care of the library, was. She remembered him as a really kind man. Years ago, he had told her the great story about the library and its protectors. He told that the protectors were great warriors from the past that had the honor to take care of the library, because a really long time ago, before the Great War or her birth, the library was a valuable treasure for people.

       She sat on the little wooden table and started reading, loosing track of time. She learned everything about nightmares: most children have them, they are experienced as feelings, not dreams, and if someone has gone through traumatic events it's likely that they will have them. When she was returning the books she had taken out, she saw a big one with HISTORY as its title. After a few minutes of checking it out she decided she will take it.

"Where's Mr. Colin?" Casey asked while the unknown man registered the book. He stopped writing and glanced at her. "He's gone missing," he stared blankly at her. She was really surprised; nobody has ever spoken about that. "When?" she asked as calmly as she could manage. "About nine months ago," he responded and then continued writing.

"What's your name?" the man asked.

"Casey. Casey Langton. What's yours?" she asked curiously.

"Gavin"

       She walked fast, afraid that her mother will get crazy, waiting for her. She had no idea what time it was. The night was cold and dark; she couldn't see the moon upon her, which made it more difficult for her to see the way. When she got to town there was not a single soul. She started walking faster towards home worried about how late it was.