Lost and Found

Chapter 1

They approached the edge of the pond and began to feed the swans breadcrumbs

The farmer looked at the once ugly 'duckling' and said, "It looks like you found yourself a niche. You are the most beautiful swan I have ever seen."

For the rest of his days, the swan lived happily with his new swan family and was greeted often by the farmer and his family.

      "The end" She said as the children began to clap. She lifted her head from the book and smiled at the happy faces that were in front of her.

       "Now" she said as she closed the book. "Run along, then, storytime is over for today" she said and got up from her comfy seat as everyone started to do the same and left. She picked up the book and started to walk away when there was a tug at her skirt,

       "Yes?" she asked as she crouched down to meet a smiling girl.

        "Your voice is really pretty" she said blushing and Kiera smiled and tucked a hair behind her ears.

         "You're really pretty," she whispered and the girl giggled and ran away. Kiera smiled and walked to the children's section to put the book back. She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. She saw the children leaving as the parent sent small smiles towards her direction and she returned the action.

*Play song*

She picked up a book that she was reading earlier and went towards her desk. She pulled the chair and sat down to get lost in the world of her book for a while.As she sat down, she heard the door open and someone come in. The sound of the clinking boots made her curious as to who wore boots during summer and that too in this small town where the folk wore nothing but raggy flip flops that Marck's sold. She saw a tall figure come into her view. Although she couldn't see the face of the man, his back was to her. He took slow steps and observed all the different sections by stopping in front of the signs until he approached the romance section. Kiera observed the tall handsome man make his way into the section and squinted. She knew that this man was new to the town, if his attire and the way he dressed didn't give it away his looks certainly did. In the short time that she lived here, a lot of people came and went from this small town but they were usually old couples coming for their anniversaries or newlyweds for their honeymoon. Never once has she seen someone like him here. To sum it up, this town was a planet of old and unattractive people, and this man strided in like an alien here. Her thoughts were interrupted when she snapped back and she began to read her book.

The clock chimed as Kiera was finishing up her story. She flinched from her seat and looked above to see that it was 6pm already and it was closing time for the library. She got up and went to check all the sections before she closed up and went home. She ventured from aisle to aisle skimming through the racks until she tripped over something. She huffed and saw that it was a book. She picked it up to put it away, but a tiny paper fell out of it.

             "Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn't sound very exciting, does it?" the note read and she flipped through the book to find many inserted into it. Surely, she knew that no one would leave any notes on a book in the public library, so she assumed that someone left it by accident.

 Kiera knew that it was wrong to read through someone's personal annotations, but her curiosity took the best of her. She found many quotes and scribbles all throughout the book and, saying she was intrigued was an understatement. She sat, leaning against the lower rack and began to read the book. She lost track of time,as she slowly read page by page keenly observing the messages that this person has left inside the book. But she stopped when she saw one message that caught her eye.

            "Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree not two"

             But when that tree has grown old, the seeds fall again, and the tree blossoms again. This one tree becomes two, one is alive and one is dead.

She placed the book on the floor and rushed to her desk to grab a pen. She sat back down in her spot and began writing a note

           Sometimes, in order for one tree to survive, the other has to sacrifice itself. To see the other tree blossom and grow with other seeds. The beautiful sight that is continued to be cycled makes the sacrifice worth it.

Kiera smiled and placed the book on a magazine table, hoping that the owner would find it the next day. She locked the front door and made her way downstairs to her home. Kiera's home was the library, in other words, the library was upstairs and her place where she lived was downstairs. She loved and appreciated her living more than anything. She always felt thankful and  towards how fortunate she was to be able to live and work in the same place.

She grabbed a lantern from the shelf and placed it on the kitchen counter. She began to look for something to eat, and her eyes landed on a packet of almonds. She grabbed them and sat at a chair near the counter. The room was filled with darkness except for the blue illumination that was coming from the open windows and her lantern, She finished eating her snack and made her way to the balcony. Kiera never slept inside her house. As weird as that might seem, she seemed to have her own valid reasons. She wanted to appreciate what life gave us, the nature, the beauty of the nightly sky. The stars that shined with the moon. She wanted to fall asleep looking at them and talking to them. Crazy, you might think. But that is not all