Between The Lines by Sam0001 (best authors to read txt) 📕

A library, how perfect.

Her parents would never look for her here, if they even realized she was gone.

So maybe running away was a little dramatic and cliché for a sixteen year old but at least she didn’t have to sit at home and wonder if her parents would
remember to feed her that night.

Some would argue that being the daughter of two famous writers was awesome. You got to go to book signings, meet other famous people, live a rich and leisurely lifestyle…yeah right.

As far as Juliet was concerned, the New York Reviewer of Books could keep her parents and she would be just fine on her own. All she had to do was settle in a place her parents would never find her and live an inconspicuous life.

It’s not like she believed they would even look. Oh no, they were far too busy writing to ever spare her a second glance, and whenever they did acknowledge her it was always to ask what she had been reading lately, if she had read this and that, if she would read their drafts. Her answer was always no. She had decided when she was a young girl that she would never become like her parents and that meant not having the same love of the written word they did. All books ever did for her was take her parents farther and farther away from her.

No she didn’t expect them to come looking but the media, now they were a different story. Ever since she was young the media watched her. She obviously had to be a writing prodigy, having two famous writers as parents and all. They stopped watching as closely when they learned she didn’t like to read or write but they never left her completely alone. They laid in wait hoping that someday she would write the next greatest piece of literature.

They were going to be waiting a long time. Juliet smiled as she thought about it. Her imaginings were cut short when a cold blast of wind hit her bare legs.

Several things went through her head at once.

I should have changed out of my shorts before I left. Maybe autumn wasn't the best time to runaway? I wonder if there are any blankets here? What is cutting into my back?

Juliet stood up hurriedly from her curled sitting position and turned around. The sun was setting outside but there was still enough light inside the building for her to see. A book had been poking her.

Figures

She picked up the book and read the title. Ten Ways to Get What You Want NOW!

Juliet laughed and threw the book into a nearby pile. She was caught off guard when her laugh echoed down the room. Juliet looked around, something she hadn't done yet. Immediately a creepiness set about her.

Who would leave this place like this?

She was no expert but she was pretty sure people didn't just leave buildings and books to waste. There were rows of old bookshelves; some were obviously rotting and others were falling apart from neglect and weight strain. Some were overfilled with old dusty books, some were mere piles of wood, having collapsed long ago and casting their books into a papery mess on the floor.

The books themselves were in even worse shape.

Scattered about the room were piles of paper, as if the books had been here so long that the bindings had started to disintegrate. Juliet picked up the closest book and opened it. Immediately she was assailed with dust trying to invade her nose. She held the book away from her and flipped through the yellowed pages. She wasn’t surprised when whole sections of book began to fall out and onto the ground adding to the mess of other papers and books.
She dropped the book and began to look around, trying to decide if it was more reasonable to stay here or look for an exit.

The room she was in, which she guessed to be the reading room, appeared to be the main room of the library. It was shaped like a long rectangle with boarded up windows on each of the longer sides which caught slivers of sunlight throughout the day. There were moldings and cameos that lined the walls. The ceiling was painted with different ornate pictures of popular literature that melded into each other. It was easy to see how this place could have been amazing when it was in use. But now, the lazily boarded up windows, the cracks and holes in the walls from animals and wear, the shadows that grew as the sun went down, all these things just made Juliet’s skin crawl.

Then she noticed was the cobwebs. They were everywhere; along the ceiling, covering the walls, throughout the bookshelves, in the books. Juliet shuddered harshly. If there was anything she hated more than books, it was spiders.

“Well this place is just perfect,” she said aloud, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

She rummaged through her pack for her flashlight. There was still some light outside, but the boarded windows did a good job of blocking it out. She clicked it on and began to carefully walk to the end of the room. She slipped on an old book binding, causing a loud thump to reverberate through the reading room. As the echo of her fall began to die down she lifted herself to a sitting position.

“UGHHHHHH,” she groaned loudly, rubbing her hip and cursing her clumsiness, “I hate this place!”

She stood up and tried her best to brush of the dirt and grime from the floor. She picked up her flashlight, which she dropped during her fall, and walked toward the back of the reading room.
The back reading room had two open archways that opened into a split hallway. She walked through one of the archways and looked to her left, then her right. She had a choice. She could explore the left hallway or the right hallway. Juliet didn’t want to rely on her flashlight too much. She hadn’t packed that many backup batteries and didn’t know when she would be able to buy anymore.

She decided on the right. With her flashlight pointed ahead she walked down the right hallway. The hallway was decorated the same as the reading room. Her flashlight scanned up the walls to see crown molding, painted filigree designs, and cameos along the walls. The only thing different was the ceiling which was plain. Of course, it was also covered with dust and cobwebs. Juliet held back a sneeze by pinching her nose.

She pointed her flashlight straight and found herself at a door. She began to feel uneasy. Her heart rate jumped and her body started shaking. “This is ridiculous, it’s just a door,” she whispered to herself. But her mind would not be calmed. The idea that someone or something else could be in the same building overrode her courage. She turned back with the promise to open the door tomorrow when there was enough light to see clearly. She tried to walk leisurely back to the reading room, but upon hearing a hoard of bats leaving the library to hunt, quickened her pace to a jog until she was back in the main room. She sat down next to her things, took out two blankets, one for a pillow and the other to cover herself, and squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to go to sleep.

Text: Between the Lines was my idea.The Pagemaster served only as inspiration for this story. The cover art was taken from Google, I do not own it and credit goes only to the owner.
Publication Date: 07-10-2011

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