Childhood Crush- SDS Fanfic

C1- Newcomer

I took a deep breath as I hid underneath a small balcony, keeping the harsh rain from falling onto me. I pushed the twig that held the two pieces of glass that made up my glasses up the bridge of my nose. I sat with my small back pressed against the rugged, ice-cold stone wall of someone's house, warm colors flickering out of the window above my head as a fire crackled inside. I stared at my bruised, bleeding, and cold feet while my satchel sat next to me, my mind wandering to the building across the street.

"Maybe no one there, usually," I mumbled out loud, exhaustion and hunger nagging me, though it became inaudible from the rain pelting the dirt road. I stumbled into a hunched-over, standing position with my right hand pressed against the wall as a support. Before I made myself walk and into the rain, I went, heading toward the building. I held my bag above my head to try to shelter them to see where I was going clearly. I made it within a minute with a knock on the door to see if anyone was inside. No reply, so I gently opened the door, slipped in, and closed the door behind myself before looking inside. Rows of old wooden shelves stacked full of old, dusty books with yellowing pages and cracked covers. I wiped my soaked ombre, brown-orange hair from my eyes, careful to not touch my glasses, and lightly whipped my tail, water droplets falling onto the dusty floor. My footsteps gently echoed against the flat surfaces of the old library. Not many people come in here, well because of it being in Ravens, it wasn't safe to stay in one place for too long. I went toward a section where the books were thin and flimsy. I grabbed one and opened it, finding drawings of giant monsters with blackened eyes with penciled flames drawn coming out of its mouth burning buildings. Not piquing my interest, I set it back where I found it and roamed through the aisles of books until I made it to where all the books were thick and sturdy, neatly propped up properly with the dust settling on the tops of the books. I brushed my tiny fingers over the smooth spines of the colored books, from red to black, faded pink to dusty white. My fingers were met with a book with a dark brown spine and silver writing that glimmered in the dim light as the small amounts of sunlight spilled into the hole-filled roof. I carefully pulled out the book, needing to use both hands to prevent it from falling onto the floor. I turned the book, the title cover facing upward. In bolded letters, the text read THE LEGEND OF THE K-

Before I could finish reading the title, a large bang sounded by the front door, making me whip my head toward the sound, my ears instinctively craning toward the sound. I hugged the book toward my chest longingly before creeping toward the end of the aisle, tilting my head so that I could see what or who entered the library. A boy with pale blue, spiky hair with red, wine-colored eyes panting with rain and sweat streaming down his face. My fluffy ears perked upward in curiosity as the boy glanced around the near-empty room, his eyes landing on a plank of wood. He ran to it and grabbed it with struggle since his arms were shorter than the width of the plank. He dragged it toward the door before grunting, lifting it upward so that it was over the door handles and dropping it, making a makeshift lock. Just after he placed it, harsh, echoing banging came from the door, making the hinges of the doors creak from the stress. The sudden sound made me drop the large book, creating a booming thud in the empty building, causing the boy to shoot his head directly at me. A gasp left my throat before I used the shelf of books to my right as a blind spot from the boy.

"Hey!" he snapped as I heard one of the hinges breaking and hitting the ground. I examined my surroundings, seeing a window above the shelf from which I grabbed the book. I scrambled up the rack with ease and kneeled on the thick frame, pressing my hands against the window, pushing it open. "Wait! You're that book thief!" I whipped my head to the boy. Seeing the boy standing over the book, I dropped. A small, near-silent, sharp inhale came from him as we made eye contact, his filled with awe, mine filled with fear. A booming crash sounded as the doors were kicked down. Shouting and yelling came as at least 4 men stomped in. The boy growled and climbed up the shelf next to him and laid, stomach down, against the frame to hide. The wind blew in from the just-opened window, a shiver running down my spine, my ears twitched at the sudden change of temperature.