Alienated

SIX

After waking up from my morning nap, nothing happened for the rest of the day. Hero didn't come out of his room and LaToia was downstairs all day taking down New Years decoration with Julie and Joshua. Valentines Day decorations are already up and it makes me want to gag.

It's the worst holiday of them all, especially for those like me who see no point in a love life. Yeah sure I've had my fair share of flings and dates, but none of them have lasted. The longest "relationship" I've been in lasted six months. I ended it because it was all for sex anyways. We didn't love each other, we just loved the sex.

Now that I'm locked in here, Valentines Day has an even smaller meaning to me.

There's never anything to do in here. I mean that's the point, isolation and time to reflect. Some of us won't ever get out. Some are here until something happens of them. Mrs. Burns says some get taken to other Institutions, and some die here. Clarice unfortunately is a permanent resident.

Our library is my favorite place to be. It's a large rectangular room with books on each four walls. Two long tables and sets of chairs sit directly in the middle of the room. In each corner sits a loveseat and a desk surrounded by a tall shelf of books for a small amount of privacy. About eighty percent of the room contains shelves of books, new and old. Mrs. Burns likes to have a variety, something for everyone.

This library is one of the only original rooms left in the house. Since they first built this, they've added on and renovated, but the library was ordered to stay exactly the same. With the exception of a few posters that have baby kittens sitting on top of books. Apparently the paintings behind them are gory and not suitable for our lunatic eyes. They might set one of us off says Mrs. Burns.

I place my books in the return tub and start looking through the sections. I've read quite a few books since I've been here. Always being a book nerd has helped with my endless boredom. I'm scanning the nonfiction section when an idea pops into my mind. My pointer finger travels to the A's, my eyes already scanning the titles.

My whole body freezes suddenly, my muscles are tense and the hair on the back of my neck stands. The temperature seems to have dropped tremendously as well, chills continue to go up my spine. I eye the library, the atmosphere seeming too still and quiet.

I turn back around, hugging my body while trying to concentrate on finding what I'm looking for. I can't shake the feeling of being watched before something on the other side of the library makes a loud thump. A tiny screech escapes my lips and I hurry to clamp my hand over them.

Do I run the hell away like a smart person or do I stay and investigate? The hairs on my neck tell me to run but I take the ladder. I creep slowly towards the sound in the far left corner of the room. Above the shelves is a poster of a naked baby with round, thin framed glasses holding a book. The frame looks too old for the poster that it holds, it's gold rusted and sheeted in dust.

I walk past a dusty shelf with encyclopedias, trailing my fingertip over the red wood. I look at it and blow the dirt off.

"More proof our maid is terrible at her job." I whisper to myself. She hasn't been here in two and a half weeks. Sick with the flu Mrs. Burns says.

The temperature drops several degrees the closer I get to the corner where the noise was made. I pull the sleeves of my jacket over my hands and wrap my arms around me tightly. The heat in this place seems to never be on even though it's below freezing outside.