Hidden lives

   "Ooh this looks interesting." I said and picked a book off the shelf, or well tried to, but it refused to move. "Huh?" 

   I pulled with all my might, but nothing happened. 

   "Um…is there something wrong with you?" My best friend Max asked. 

   "This book is broken." I told her. 

   She raised an eyebrow and tried to get it off the shelf but it wouldn't move. 

   "Told you." I said. 

   She tapped her chin thoughtfully and tried pushing it sideways, same result. 

   "Ms. Calloway?" She said to the librarian. 

   "Yes?" Ms. Calloway asked and ran over. 

   "There's a broken book." Max said and pointed at the book, which made the librarian kinda lose it. "No! Don't touch that! I mean yes, it's superglued in. Hehe. Now you girls run along. Why don't you try this?" Then she shoved a book into my hands and shoved us away. 

   "Well that was weird." Max said. 

    I nodded. We didn't have much time to think about that, due to us having to get to class. 

   The weird stuck book was the only thing I could focus on. During my free period I grabbed one of my roommates, Paisley, and dragged her to the university's library. I showed her the stuck book and told her how strange the librarian had acted. Paisley loved all things mystery. 

   "This must be solved!" She said and punched the air. 

   That night I couldn't sleep and not just because of Max's snores (she sounded like a pig man). 

   Paisley was wide awake, hiding under her covers with a notebook and a flashlight. I got up and pulled the covers off of her. 

    "What are you doing?" I asked her. 

   "Examining the clues." She said. 

    I sat beside her and looked at the notebook. 

    "1, weird book that won't move. 2, weird librarian. Seriously?" I read. 

   "I never said it was a lot." Paisley retorted. 

   "Wanna go look for clues?" I nodded and we snuck down to the library. 

   This was kinda funny. Here we were, freshman in college and instead of pulling an all nighter to study we were investigating a stuck book like it was a crime scene or unlocked the cookie jar. 

   "Shh. Shh." I whispered and put a finger to my lips. 

   Paisley rolled her eyes. I peered around the corner and then quickly hid. 

   "It's Ms. Calloway." I mouthed. 

   Paisley peered around the corner and I did too. Ms. Calloway pressed down on the book and then tapped it a few times, causing the whole bookshelf to open like a door. She went in and then shut it behind herself. 

   "Did you see that?" I whispered. 

   Paisley nodded and we tiptoed over to it. She did the same thing that the librarian did and the door opened. We went in and it closed. 

   "Eek." I whispered. 

   "No turning back now." Paisley whispered and grabbed my arm. 

   There was a hallway and a door right in front of us, but a wide open area to the left. I pointed it out to Paisley and we tiptoed to it. Books lined the black shelves. There were 3. I picked one off the shelf and leafed through it. 

   "The adventures of Jonah Jones." I read the title. 

   They actually didn't look like complete books, the front and back covers were cardboard. 

   "What is this place?" Paisley muttered. 

   Just then I heard Ms. Calloway's voice. 

   "Hide." I told Paisley. 

   There wasn't really anywhere to hide. Paisley grabbed my wrist and we ran out of the secret room. She shoved on the door and it opened and then we hid. 

   Unfortunately someone had found us. A small boy. He had curly dark hair and big brown eyes. 

   "Hi!" He said and waved. 

   "What?! Who is…? Where did…?" I whispered. 

   "No time." Paisley said and grabbed the child and covered his mouth with one hand and mine with the other. I wanted to tell her that I wasn't a child, but I didn't. 

   A minute later Ms. Calloway came out of the secret room and started calling for someone named Jonah in a sing-song voice. The little boy started to squirm. I helped Paisley hold him, feeling like I was committing a crime. After Ms. Calloway ran out of the library still looking for someone named Jonah, who I was starting to think might be the child, I told my roommate, 

    "I think I know who Jonah is." 

   I pointed at the child and asked her what we should do with him. 

   "Take him back to our room. Find out what the librarian is hiding." Paisley said and I gaped at her. 

   "Uh…I'm pretty sure that's kidnapping." She shook her head. 

   "We don't know if she kidnapped him first. We might be saving him." 

   I highly doubted that, but I found myself with a little kid in my dorm room. He didn't seem to mind it. He was playing with a pair of dirty socks. 

    I woke up Max and told her what happened. 

    "You stole a kid?!" She yelled and we both shushed her. "You stole a kid." 

   "No. We saved him from someone who kept him in a secret room in a library. That can't be normal." Paisley told her. 

   "How old are you, kid?" I asked the small child. 

   He held up 3 fingers. 

   "What's your name?" 

    "Jo-nah." 

    "You stole a kid." Max chimed in. 

   "We'll give him back, after Mrs. Calloway tells us what that room is." Paisley said. "

    There's a word for this, and that word is kidnapping." Max hissed. 

   "I need answers." Paisley said, matter of factly. 

   "So you stole a kid." 

   Paisley just shrugged. 

   I sat on the floor and played patty cake with the kid we stole. Ok, this was not how I pictured my night going. 

   Before class we arranged our schedules so someone would always be with the kid. 

   I went to the library to find Ms. Calloway looking quite frazzled and worried. 

   That night Paisley slipped a letter by the broken book. It read, 

   A hidden child and a hidden room. Secrets found out. A need for answers. Tell all or else unanswered questions could lead to worse. Send an email to Catlover345@gmail.com if you are in. 

   We had set up an email especially for this. I was starting to feel like I was a professional kidnapper or something. 

   A few hours later we received an email. 

   I'll tell just don't hurt my son. 

  "Well that answers one question." Paisley said and pointed at the fast asleep little boy. 

   I had asked her what the worst thing that could happen was, like what we were gonna do with the boy if she said no and she had just shrugged. 

   I'm pretty sure all of my roommates had fallen in love with the sweet little boy. I know I had. 

   He loved to cuddle and play patty cake, but his favorite thing was having someone read to him. He had the cutest words for things. Uppy and ook ease, were his favorites. His face was littered with freckles like chocolate chips. We had each gone to the store and bought him some clothes and books. Now he had an entire drawer in our dresser. 

   Max had said, "Man, if we don't end up in jail or his mom bans us from seeing him ever again, I kinda wanna keep him." 

   We had him for a few weeks and would send his mom constant updates and pictures. She seemed to have realized that we weren't going to hurt him, probably because the only pictures we sent of him looking unhappy we always said why, like dropping his ice cream. 

   "I think we might have him forever." I told my friends after a few weeks went by. 

   Finally we got an email that said, 

   This has been a fun little game, but seriously I want my son back. 

   We told her where she could find him and a few minutes later there was a knock on our dorm room. 

   "Hello girls." She said and shut the door behind her. 

   "Mommy!" Jonah exclaimed and ran to her. 

   She picked him up and hugged him. 

   "Now, can we please have answers. This is driving me crazy." Paisley groaned. 

   The librarian nodded and led us to the secret room. She opened the door that was right in front of the secret entrance, to reveal a small apartment. She put Jonah in the crib and he fell asleep. 

   "I live here." She said, "Those books that you found in the secret room, I wrote them. Mostly for or about my son, Jonah Jones. The headmaster is his half brother. He arranged for us to live here after his father died. Jonah is a 14th generation librarian. The sole heir to the library." 

   Ok, now I was confused. 

   "What?" Me and my roommates asked at the same time. 

   She continued talking like she hadn't heard us. 

   "That being the case, you're probably wondering why I wasn't in such a rush to get him back. That's because he is also eligible for the ranks of Headmaster and his half brother does not like that. I figured that since Tommy's annual inspection of the library was coming up, he'd be safer with you." At our confused faces she said, "Think of the college as a kingdom. It's not an exact comparison, but close enough. Every spot in the college is filled by birth right. Jonah will become the librarian when he grows up. Most faculty members have hidden apartments like mine, where they keep things according to their job and any little children they might have." 

   I could not tell you how confused I was right now. 

   "Does this answer all your questions?" She asked. 

   "Yes. Surprisingly, yes." Paisley said. 

   I blinked. 

   "Anyway, thanks for the game girls. May we play again next year?"