Amber

The library, just a few blocks away from her small apartment, was the most beautiful place her eyes had ever witnessed. After the old lady had retired from working at the library, it was clear that she would get the job, yet her eyes still filled with tears and excitement when Ms.Talin, the head of the library, offered her the job. It was beautiful, especially after 8 pm, her work time, when the sidelights were the only source of light, and the low hum of the AC mingled with the silence. She would finish cleaning up quickly, not that she didn't like it. She did; Holding a book, some stiff-hard while some bendable, the smell, the feel of turning the pages, the desire to know what the next page possesses. It was beautiful. It was all Just so she would have more time reading at the quiet, lonely, yet, magical place. 

It wasn't any different from her teenage self. She despised loud places; School, parties, even her own home. On her 8th birthday, Collin, her older brother, the only person she loved, bought her the best present to now, Noise-canceling headphones. It was tolerable living after that. The sound of her parents screaming was just like the background sound, while the book she read screamed louder. Girls in her school called her a freak, while the boys ignored her, occasionally making fun of her reading obsession. She never understood why they called her a 'freak' when all she did was read and mind her own business. She never stopped reading though, the world could be ending, but she would still be procrastinating for just one more chapter.

In the quiet stillness of the library, she walked from aisle to aisle, feeling a touch of every book, uncertain what could be inside of some, while others brought her back to old memories and waves of nostalgia from reading. She reached the aisle where she would most often go, just for one book. The name of the book, 'Amber' The only thing she was grateful for her parents for, naming her the same. She took it out from its closeness to the other books and felt it all over. It looked beautiful on the outside, with the stiffness of the cover and the style. And on the inside, with the most beautiful story, she read. It was about a 15-year-old, named Amber of course, whose only home was the library. She lived with books as her closest family and died, being murdered by the most wanted serial killer in the library. She never comprehended why this was her most favorite book in the world. Maybe because the book's name was her name, or the girl's home was her home too. She tried reading the author's other books, but all of them were either not her type or just boring at some sort. She looked at it once more, flipped over a few pages until, as if it knew, came to the page she always opened, just to read a single line. "Amber was never pessimistic in not having a family to love, beloved, as books embraced it all."

She closed the book and gazed at it a bit more as if trying to induce in more than she already did. She liked to imagine that the book was about her life. She was born, and then she died, but she lived. Books took her to worlds unknown, and so she traveled than most people. She smiled and put the book back to its rightful place, More momentous books next to it, but the smallest, the most important of all.

As she walked away from the aisle, thinking about going home, the lights started flickering. It was scary first, a few days ago, when she almost ran away, leaving the library unlocked. She had told Ms. Talin the next day, and she had replied, disinterestedly, that she would get someone to fix it. It was clear that she hadn't, but after that, she didn't bother to tell her and accepted the fact that she would have to get used to it. She packed up her things, double-checked all the doors again, and started walking down the stairs. The lights made a loud hum and, suddenly, everything was dark.

As darkness surrounded her, She shoved her hand into the back pocket of her jeans to take out her phone. She realized it before she reached the deep end that it was not there. She sighed. She had probably had kept it on one of the tables on the top while cleaning. She groaned as she started walking back to the top to find her phone. She tripped once, twice, till she dropped to the ground on the top step. She tried to stand up while the pain started increasing in her ankle. "Great," she thought. "Swollen ankle to match with all the other miserable things that are happening." Limping, she walked to where she believed where the tables were. Her head hitting the wooden aisles perpetually, She continued walking, now with her eyes closed, cause it was darkness either way. 

She walked, with the support of the aisles and the books, till she felt it. She gripped the book tighter and took it from the shelf. Amber. She felt weirdly comforted with the book in her hand and walked faster, ignoring the ever more increasing pain, till she hit it. The only statue in the entire library, a woman, with a book with really pointed ends in her hands. She liked that statue. It was always there when she sat down next to Amber, the broken bit of a nose by some accident she never bothered to discern. The blood started dripping down her face, and it started getting blurry. She moved her hands, searching desperately for something to hold on to, finding none. She fell back, hitting the cold floor with her head, the pain growing every second. She closed her eyes, a small smile forming, realizing what was going to become of her. With the book held tighter around her hands, she believed more than ever the book was hers. The smile disappeared, and the book fell from her delicate hands as she took her final breath.