Anaya stayed up all night again, finishing the two books she carried with her from Bellevue. Her pace of reading was slower than usual, she struggled to flip the pages and hold the book all with one hand.
Her left hand was beginning to hurt and her right hand was still throbbing lightly. She laid down the book resentfully. Did this have to happen to her dominant hand?
Meghan texted her earlier that night asking if she wanted to sleep over, but Anaya wanted to be alone. She wanted to finish wallowing tonight, so she could be all better tomorrow. She planned to go meet George along with Meghan and browse through all the books in the library the following evening. She recollected the huge library she saw while she was walking with Khai.
Khai. There he was, interrupting her thoughts again. His thick eyebrows, his tan skin, his soft brown eyes, he was haunting her memories no matter how much she tried to push him aside. Somewhere, she yearned to see him again.
Reluctantly, she walked to her desk and logged on to her laptop. 'I could look him up, that's normal.' She told herself. She went on type his name when it dawned on her that she didn't even know his last name.
'Khai… Khai Arcane.' She typed and nothing of relevance showed up. She tired to recollect where he was from, but she didn't ask him that either. 'So self-engrossed' she thought. He helped her out, bought her food, but she knew nothing about him except his name.
He seemed like a nice guy to Anaya. She forgave him for his mindless staring when she fell and decided she was going to make friends with him when she saw him next. She got up to lay on her bed again, tossing and turning as she tried to stop thinking about him.
'His sharp jawline, his full lips, his broad shoulders under the white t-shirt….' Anaya sat up straight, trying to cool her face as heat rose up to her eyes. She reached out and chugged a whole bottle of water.
"It must be from all the blood loss." She muttered. She shut her eyes tightly and pulled the comforter over her head. Friends, she repeated to herself.
A loud knock on the door startled her awake the next morning. She pressed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, disoriented from sitting up too quickly. The knocking persisted and Ana drudged out of bed to get the door.
Meghan stood on the other side, looking too energetic for that time of the day. Ana frowned at her and promptly went back to bed.
"It's almost noon Ana. You can't keep sleeping all day to stay up all night, classes start in 3 days."
Ana mumbled into her pillow for Meghan to go away, but her friend was stubborn. Tugging at her hand, she pushed Ana into the shower. Leaving the door slightly open in case she would need any help, she proceeded to make Ana's bed and opened up the windows. She then selected an outfit for Ana and laid it out on her desk.
Ana struggled with her shower, but got it done somehow. She wrapped a towel around herself and started vacantly at the mirror as Meghan dried her hair. Then she quickly slipped into her clothes and turned to look at her reflection.
She wore a black puff sleeved corset top and her favorite old blue jeans. After two days in her pajamas, freshly washed hair and a presentable outfit had Ana feeling better instantly.
Meghan grinned, "George is going to grab some lunch for us. Let's go to the library! We'll pick out some books and have a picnic on the lawn."
Ana hugged Meghan, overwhelmed by how much her friends cared for her. That sounded like the perfect day and she could really use some sun after being cooped up in her room for so long. The two girls walked to the library, hand in hand, excited to see what books they could find.
As she walked the familiar path to the library, Ana wondered if she would run into Khai. When they stepped into the library, Meghan and Ana went their separate ways, on a mission to find the book that would keep them occupied for the rest of the day.
George, Meghan and Ana finished reading every book back in the library at Bellevue before they turned seventeen. The librarian at Bellevue considered the kids a part of her family, going as far as making Ana and Meghan bridesmaids at her wedding. When they were done with the books at Bellevue, Mr. Willow tried to bring them a suitcase full of new books whenever he travelled. The three friends sat together and scoured the internet to make up lists for Mr. Willow before he departed.
When George got his own car for his nineteenth birthday, they drove to libraries in nearby towns, quite often, in search of new books. They had seen close to ten libraries in their life so far, but not one was as big as the one the girls stood in that day.
The library was spread across four stories and had the most expansive selection of books. Students were free to pick up most books, all they had to do was scan the book and their ID card at the kiosks by the door. Twelve kiosks stood at the entrance of the library for the students' convenience.
The tips of Ana's fingers grazed over the books on the shelf as she walked slowly, pausing and pulling out any title she found interesting. Ana loved historical romances, and she usually found a shelf dedicated to it at most libraries. This one had six shelves worth of books and Ana had to stop her hands from shaking in excitement when she realized this.
After almost an hour, Ana held four books in her hand, unable to decide which one she wanted to read. Her phone rang and she lay the books on the floor to answer Meghan's call. "Are you done?"
"I have four books, can't decide."
"Pick one for now, we can come back later this evening to get the rest of them."
"Okay, I'll see you at the Kiosks."
The girls promptly checked out three books and made their way to the lawns to meet George. Ana smiled when she saw him and picked up her footsteps to hug him.
"So glad you're okay Ana! Meghan told me what happened." George beamed as he returned Ana's hug. He proceeded to take the books for Meghan's hand and give her a small peck.
Ana's eyes moved to the food George bought for them. Three delicious rice bowls of Salmon, Chicken and Beef, two boxes of fruit containing apples and pineapples, a large bag of her favorite jalapeño chips, cutlery, napkins and water bottles were neatly laid out on a blanket. Ana's appetite turned ravenous when she saw the spread.
She wolfed down her rice bowl in no time, leaving George and Meghan chuckling to themselves.
"Slow down you little glutton!" George said to Ana and she scraped the last of her Salmon rice bowl.
"You know me, I love fish! It's why I have fish memory." Ana giggled. Her friends burst into laughter with her and a warm fuzzy feeling spread through Ana's heart. She silently prayed for the rest of the year to be this good.
After finishing the food, they all snacked on the fruit as they discussed class schedules. Anaya and Meghan had most classes together, but Ana was taking a few extra spirit and mind classes as she wanted to focus on healing post-traumatic stress for Wahrens. Meghan on the other hand chose separate classes to study advanced herbs and medicine to heal complex wounds. George's classes were mostly training, but all Wahren's needed to take some basic healing classes. Healers were also required to take self defense classes, so they all had a few classes together in the first six months.
They spent the afternoon, chatting and reading books until the sun started to set. When it was time to leave, Meghan offered to pack up the picnic while George and Anaya decided to head back to the library to select some more books to take back to their rooms.
As Ana and George entered the library, a dark ominous feeling hit her out of nowhere. Looking around as she stepped in, she saw no more than three students, a man and two women busy reading books at different desks. She walked with George and watched him pick out a few books for Meghan and himself. As they walked to the kiosks, Ana realized that she had some books from earlier that morning that she wanted to take back with her.
"Give me a moment, I need to grab a few books. I'll meet you here in a bit!" she left George at a kiosk and ran to grab her books.
When she reached the shelves, she quickly scanned for the books and found two of them. She spotted the last one on the top shelf and stretched her good hand to reach for it when she felt someone press her into the shelf from behind, with hands on both sides to lock her where she stood.
Ana gasped in shock, feeling trapped by the sudden ambush.
"Hiding from me?" A terrifyingly familiar voice came from behind her, that instantly made her skin crawl.