The prisoners of the tree

Wednesday was usually the busiest day of the week in the Central Library. Mike was arranging the books on the shelves like any other day. He was doing the boring work, stamped the books with the library logo, arranged the volumes on the shelves and cleaned the floor. When he started this job, he thought it would be a lot of fun, to read all day through the hidden corners of the library, to recommend books to people, and to spend all day in this place full of secrets waiting to be discovered.

Of course, after he started working here, he realized it wasn't exactly what he had hoped for. He had found no mysterious secret except for the strange stains on the returned books. He did not understand how anyone could do such a thing to a classic volume. 

His shift usually started around 15:00, after his classes ended. It was a well-paid job, and even though it didn't turn out to be as fun as he expected, it was much better than working as a waiter in a cafe or something.

Mike noticed that it started to darken outside earlier and earlier. It was only 5:00 pm and one couldn't see a thing. The silence in the library was broken by a thunder that shook the entire building. It was the end of November, so stormy days were becoming more common. Mike liked the sense of security the library offered him in the face of the storm. He felt protected between the massive walls of the building, even if he could see everything from the windows, the whole madness. It was such a strange feeling to feel so safe in the middle of a storm.

People began to leave the library, scared of the approaching tempest. All who were left were Mike, his supervisor, Mrs. Mills, a group of students too focused on what they were doing to notice what was going on outside, and a gray-haired old woman looking for something in the "police / mystery novels" section. She reminded the boy of his grandmother, though it was unlikely to see her near the shelf of police novels. Mike looked down at the stack of books in front of him and continued his work.

He did not realize what had happened until the noise had taken over the room. The old woman let out a short cry, Mrs. Mills shaking in fright. It was a power outage. All the lights in the library were now off. Mike was not scared, one of his duties being to turn off all the lights when he left. But it never actually happened before.

"Please take care of those here, make sure everything is fine and assure them that they have nothing to worry about, I'm going to try to solve the problem," said Mrs. Mills, then ran to the door.

The group of students had lit their flashlights and did not seem affected by what had happened. The boy took an electric lamp from the drawer and approached the old woman who was scared in front of the shelf.

"Can I help you with something? I assure you that the problem will be solved in a short time, until then we only have this "and he showed her the electric lamp in his hand."

"Thank you young man, the truth is that darkness and storms in general scare me to death. I don't have very pleasant experiences with them. That's why ... as soon as I saw that it was getting dark I taught about taking shelter somewhere, and libraries always made me feel safer" said the old woman without looking up from the books on the shelf .

"I understand perfectly the feeling you are talking about. I just hope this storm ends soon. "

"Yes, me too ... I think ...". But she didn't finish what she had to say because, on the window above them a shadow appeared. A striking noise, that echoed throughout the building, was heard. Mike threw himself on top of the woman to protect her. He didn't even realize how, but he woke up screaming in pain and realized that a huge tree had fallen over him and the woman. There were shards everywhere, and the boy didn't even know if he was pierced by them. He looked up and noticed that his feet were immobilized by the tree that had fallen on him, and the wet and scattered leaves on the branches were in his face. With an effort he pushed them aside and saw that next to him was the old woman, who seemed unconscious. He tried to pull himself closer to her so he could lift her up and wake her up, but he couldn't, so he touched her lightly and took her pulse. She was alive.

Relieved, the boy began to push the poor woman with his hand in the hope that she would open her eyes. Huge raindrops entered trough the broken window, watering the two prisoners of the tree. Mike didn't worry about him ... the numbness ached and now he didn't feel anything, not even his feet. He was more worried about the books getting wet, unable to do anything to save them. He noticed that, apart from the sounds he and the rain made, nothing could be heard. The students had probably left, scared of the tree falling. The boy couldn't help but wonder if anyone knew he was there. He was worried no one would notice their disappearing until the morning.The shards did not make a very comfortable bed, but, almost like a miracle, neither he nor the old woman were injured by any of them. Mike was thinking about how unlucky the woman must have been, to be afraid of storms and ... have something like this happen to you. I suppose the feeling of security they both felt wasn't enough to protect them.

Mike was surprised when the old woman woke up. She lifted her right hand to her head where she had a shallow cut from the shards. Her legs were not under the tree, but her left arm was under one of its huge branches.

"Ohh God, I'm so sorry young man, I guess it's my fault, I drew the wrath of Zeus" and, to the boy's surprise, the woman's mouth arched into a smile. "I think it's true what they say ... you can't run away from what scares you."

"I'm sorry if it's an inappropriate question ... but ... why are you so scared of storms?

The woman's face became sad and she said, "My husband died during a storm."

The boy regretted the decision he had made and immediately felt ashamed. "I'm sorry to hear that"

"It was a long time ago. Anyway, I guess after we get out of here, I can still borrow a book?

"Of course," said the boy, laughing. What book are you looking for? ”

"I'm not sure either. I almost read them all. You know..I've been retired for 2 years..but passion never dies. I was a detective for 25 years, not only did I find important evidence but I also caught countless criminals. I loved my job. But ... I don't have the same strength now, so I'm going to settle for Agatha Christie's novels. "

The boy was fascinated. Anyone who saw the woman on the street would pass by without paying too much attention to her, but she was actually a hero, a warrior. She was definitely not like his grandmother.

"It sounds incredible! I would love to be able to do this job, the only problem is that I get easily scared. I think I will limit myself to police novels. In fact ... when I was little, I first read about Sherlock Holmes. I was really enchanted, all his adventures, all the mysteries he discovered ... a genius ... ”

The old woman smiled and said: "Believe me ... if you are really passionate, fear will not stand in your way. And ... you should know that the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes were the ones that put me on this path too ... my favorite story is still The Five Orange Pips "

"As much as I liked this story, my favorite remains The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet"

"You know ... you're a very smart young man! You can't find many young people who are passionate about books, so... tell me ... how old are you? ”

"Seventeen ..."

"A wonderful age, cherish it! And ... let me give you a little advice .. ”the old woman tried to lean on her right arm..but she put her palm directly in a shard. A trickle of blood could be seen flowing from her hand..but..the boy suspected that the old woman had witnessed much more serious things so ..it did not affect her too much ”Don't let anything stop you ... if you you want to become a detective, then don't listen to what others say, or what your own demons tell you. Just do it!"

Mike smiled. "Thank you ... I think, I think I'll give it a taught, but, I am curious what was the most interesting case you had?"

"Ohh, I've seen a lot in my life, but I think the most interesting was the one where I actually met my husband. I was still at the beginning, and I had to find a series of famous paintings that had been stolen. They were worth an incredible amount of money and had to be recovered. It was the most important case they had given me until then ... I was very excited. After finding some clues and evidence, I got an idea where they could hide the paintings. I went to the place in question, a pastry, nothing suspicious. There,the cashier was a man who seemed to be one of the criminals, having no idea what he should do as an actual cashier. After we managed to find the bastards, and the sentences were given to them, we found out that the man hired as a cashier had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. He was behind bars for two weeks before we realized he was innocent. When I went to apologize for the mistake, he just smiled at me and said that I could make up for it by agreeing to go out on a date with him. "

The boy burst out laughing ... he felt his head burning and he couldn't feel his palms,hurt by the shards. "So, let's see if I understand correctly ... You married a possible criminal?"

"Exactly! .... An irony, isn't it?" the woman smiled. A tear could be seen on her cheek. Mike couldn't tell if it was because of the painful conversation or because of the arm stuck under the tree. The two were lucky that, despite the power outage, the outdoor street lamp made their surroundings visible.

30-40 minutes had passed ... and yet no one seemed to care about the two.

"I think my mother will worry about me ... when she sees that I'm missing dinner. She was going to prepare my favorite food, tacos "

"Ohh, I love tacos, but the truth is, I haven't eaten one in a long time. You can't find any good taco places in this city, and I don't know how to cook at all, "said the old woman.

"You have to taste the ones made by my mother... alas, just thinking about it makes me hungry." Mike felt embarrassed that the only thing he thought about at a time like this was food.

"Well ... we'll get away from here and you'll go back to your mother and I to Mr Finn, my cat. Unlike me, he is not afraid of storms. It helps me calm down when I'm alone during them. "

"I like cats, but my mother would never agree to keep one in the house."

"When I was a child, my parents wouldn't let me, so as soon as I got my own apartment, I adopted a cat," she said.

The storm outside was beginning to calm down. Mike began to feel his head even harder, as if he couldn't hold it up anymore and the last thing he heard was the old woman trying to wake him up. But.something inside him did not let him keep his eyes open. He let his head down on the floor and felt small shards enter the back of his neck, but, he barely noticed them. He closed his eyes completely and all his connection with reality was reduced to the sounds he could still hear vaguely and the rain that whipped his face.

He half-opened his eyes when he felt someone holding him. "It's okay, stay calm kid. You are safe. And the boy closed his eyes again.

When he woke up, he felt his head heavy. Next to him he saw his mother bent over

"Mom .... where? Where's the woman ... that old woman? I was not alone. "

In a soft voice his mother said, "Calm down, She s okay, waiting for you to wake up. Her daughter and niece came after her, now she talks to them. Apart from a few scratches, she has nothing, her hand is fine. You,need rest, you have a broken leg and a few broken glass wounds, but nothing serious. "

Mike was relieved. "She told us how you protected her when you saw the tree fall trough the window. You are a real hero!

”

"He really is!" Mike recognized the old woman's voice. He realized he didn't even know her name. The boy stood up and held out his hand, "Mike!" the woman shook his hand and said, "Camille!" I'm glad to meet you, Mike ”and the boy's smiles.

"So ... no tacos tonight?"

His mother smiled "I think we should leave it for tomorrow, you need to rest."

The boy looked at Camille and said, "Would you like to have dinner with us tomorrow?"

"I would love to!"

Next to her had come the old woman's daughter and niece. They both looked like her, but of course much younger.

 "Girls, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Mike