Stormed In

“What the…? Ugh, where are they?!”

The young woman pulled out the heavy drawer and set it on the desk. The flashlight on her phone cast stark shadows upon its contents. After rummaging around some more, she let out another groan and dumped the drawer out onto the desktop.

“Any luck?”

Another young woman around the same age walked up behind her, peering over her shoulder. She had a heavy wool blanket wrapped around her and she began wrapping a second blanket around the first woman. The second blanket smelled old and dusty: a quilt left over by the first librarian before they left. 

The first woman stopped rummaging for a moment to throw a look back at the other.

“Oh, don’t give me that look, Cas. These were the only blankets I could find! We’re lucky there was even this much.”

Cas sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “I can’t find it, Viri. I don’t know what Josh did with all the lighters, but we officially have none.”

“Let me see.” Viri gently nudged Cas aside and held out her hand for the phone.

“You really have to learn to charge your phone more often.”

Phone light in-hand, Viri began to meticulously pick through the mound of junk. She pulled out a small square book of cardboard. “Ah ha!”

Cas, who had turned her back so she could lean on the desk, whipped around and eyed the little box. “Matches? They have to be at least a decade old. Will they even work?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Viri walked the matches out of the back room and to the checkout counter where an assortment of candles had been laid. She ripped one of the matches out of the book and struck it along the phosphorus strip. It sparked, but nothing more. She tried again with the same result.

“Here, let me try.” Viri handed the matchbook and the slightly bent match over to Cas. Cas pinched her fingers right below the green head and moved to strike it.

“What are you doing? You’re going to burn your fingers!”

Before Viri could stop her, Cas struck the match and it flared to life. She formed a cup around the flame to protect it from the drafts that randomly blew through the library. Cas urgently motioned to the candles and Viri moved to grab one. After the first one was lit, the rest of the work was easy. 

After a few short minutes, the women were surrounded by 14 glowing candles, all different shapes and sizes.

“We should spread them out around the library. That way we can at least get in a few more hours of work before going home. It won’t be safe to drive anytime soon, anyways.” Cas had one hand on her hip and the other resting on her bottom lip. She scanned along the books stacked in several piles on and around the counter. “We need a map.”

Viri let out a short burst of laughter. “A map? What do we need a map for?”

“So we can determine the optimal placement for the candles. That way we can easily shelve the newly cataloged books — clearly we won’t be able to finish cataloging the others while the computers are down.” Cas’s tone and demeanor gave the impression she felt that all of this was obvious. 

Viri stared at Cas, dumbstruck. “You know, you-you really are…,” Viri stuttered. She sighed and gave a small smile. “You’re amazing. You know that?” 

“I may have been told this once or twice,” Cas drawled, though she was visibly blushing.

Viri picked up two candles: one was large and fat with three wicks and the other was long and slender, stuck into a cheap imitation gothic candlestick. She had found that one in a box of last year’s Halloween decorations, before her phone died and she had been thrown into darkness. Viri moved towards the shelves at the back.

Cas’s head whipped up. “Wait, where are you going?” 

Viri turned just enough to reply in a sly voice, “to find a book,” before continuing towards the darkness. 

“What? But we need to… oh whatever,” Cas sighed, remembering that trying to understand or reason with Viri only ever led to more headaches. She continued rifling through the drawers until she pulled out a large sheet of paper that had been laminated and drawn on with erasable marker. When Cas had first started working under Mx. Emerson Reed before they retired and passed down the library, there had been no rhyme or reason to anything in the place. There had been no legitimate cataloging system (Emerson had the back room filled with mid twentieth century filing cabinets that made sense to them, and them only), there had been no blueprints or maps of the building’s layout more recent than 1978, and you would find random books in every nook and cranny of the library. She was still finding books every now and again in little spaces she hadn’t discovered yet. Viri had helped Cas draw a crude blueprint of the building's layout and Cas had had it laminated. 

As Cas stood there looking at her ‘map,’ a low rumble bellowed through the building. It was odd. She hadn’t noticed any lightning. Grabbing a small glass candle, Cas zig-zagged through the bookshelves towards the front door. Though it was late afternoon, it looked dark outside. Heavy rain pelted the windows, sounding like pebbles thrown at a tin roof. 

Suddenly, everything went bright. Though it lasted only a fraction of a second, Cas caught a good glace at the carnage the storm had caused outside. A couple of small felled trees, debris strewn about the road, even the nearest traffic light appeared dark. Cas shivered. 

Another bright flash lit up the street followed immediately by a loud crack. Cas felt something grab her shoulders and she let out a scream.

“Geez, Cas,” Viri exclaimed. “You okay? I didn’t realize storms got to you this badly.”

Cas took a moment to catch her breath. Her heart beat erratically in her chest. “Yeah, sorry.” Cas let out a long, shaky breath and looked up at Viri. “I’m fine, really.”

Viri raised an eyebrow. “If you say so…” She paused a moment before the uncertainty on her face was quickly replaced by an excited smile. “Come with me.”

Viri grabbed Cas’s wrist and began dragging her through the shelves towards the back of the library.

“What is it? What do you want to show me?”

Viri remained silent and smiling as she continued to drag Cas through what seemed like a maze in the darkness. Their candles flickered wildly, almost extinguishing. 

Ahead, bright candlelight began to glow through the shelves. They rounded the corner and arrived. Several stools had been pulled over and books stacked to various lengths piled atop them. On each of these stacks were the candles. On the ground at the center were several couch cushions and blankets. Several books lay in front of them, a couple that Cas recognized as her favorites.

“I thought you said these were the only blankets you could find,” Cas smirked, gesturing to their makeshift shawls. 

“Yeah, well… I might’ve fibbed a bit.” Viri plopped down onto one of the cushions and patted the one next to her. Cas looked down, raising her eyebrows. “Oh come on, just one day won’t hurt.”

Cas sighed and followed Viri to the floor. She couldn’t hide the smile on her face so she didn’t try to. “Okay, what now?”

Viri looked up through heavy lashes, one brow raised. “Now? Now we read.”