The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter Twenty-Two

It had been such a late night, Binny overslept. She had checked in with Katniss after her conversation with her author as promised. Wow! Her author had found a way into the Stacks. As far as she knew, it had never been done before. That was something to be proud of, no? Not that she could tell anyone of course. Could she? She didn’t know what she should do. She needed advice, but that would have to wait.

Binny rushed to get dressed, zipped downstairs only to find that nobody else was awake. Binny rapped on Hermione’s door gently. It was very unlike her not to be on time.

“What? Is everything alright?” Hermione asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“We’re late.”

Hermione sighed. “We have a day off today.”

“We get days off?” Binny was genuinely surprised.

“It’s not predictable. When we’ve built up enough of a backlog in our books, we get some downtime. Today we’re off. They announced it after dessert last night.”

“Oh.” Binny felt embarrassed at Hermione’s mention of the previous night.

Binny closed the door gently and retreated to the kitchen. She wasn’t alone for long. Katniss, still wearing her nightclothes, dragged herself into the kitchen.

“You didn’t realize we had today off.” Katniss said.

Binny nodded.

“And I forgot to tell you.” Katniss admitted.

“You were super tired. It’s okay.” Binny smiled forgiveness.

“You’re probably pretty tired yourself after last night.” Katniss had a sympathetic look on her face.

“Listen, I wanted to thank you for being there for me last night.” Binny looked Katniss in the eye. “I was feeling very low.”

“It’s okay. Really. I understand.”

“You do understand. I mean, you truly understand.” Binny said. “You spent three books fighting for your freedom only to find yourself locked up here with no hope of ever getting out.”

Katniss was surprised at just how well Binny understood her feelings. Tears were starting to well up in the corners of her eyes.

Binny continued, “You’re a fighter. But here there’s not even anything to fight. This is why you’ve been acting so strange. So… ‘out-of-character’.”

Katniss looked away trying to hide her emotions from Binny.

“I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry it took me so long to understand how you were feeling. Sorry it took me so long to understand what this place really is.” Binny said.

Katniss stopped trying to hold back her tears. “Binny Jordan. You have nothing to apologize for. You figured it out faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. And everyone reacts differently. You in a more dramatic fashion than most.” Katniss giggled as she wiped her cheeks. “I’ve never seen so much food flying through the air.”

Even Binny had to laugh.

The respite was brief though. After the laughing subsided, Binny and Katniss looked at each other, the weight of their knowledge sitting heavy on their shoulders.

“I’m sorry.” Was all Katniss could think to say.

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t bring me here.” Binny said.

“I know. But still.” Katniss thought for a moment. “Now that you understand what this place really is you could turn all crabby and sarcastic like me. That seems to be my strategy for coping.”