Bookkeeping [INVITE]

The small girl sat behind the tree, shivering as she pressed herself back as hard as she could against the tree, hoping nobody could see her. An odd girl had walked onto the school grounds, one she was sure she had never seen before. She wasn’t wearing the school uniform, so… could she have been from the outside? Why would she be here? In a crimson coat and jeans, the girl had walked in, almost immediately noticed her, and looked at her. Why would she look at her? And what was that smile about? It reminded her of a movie she’d watched with mother once, she was pretty sure. Hadn’t a smile like that preceded someone being kidnapped? Was this girl there to kidnap her?

She shook her head. No, probably not. This newcomer probably didn’t even know who she was. Not that that was any particular comfort, people being unpredictable at all, but seeing as her primary reason for being here probably didn’t involve her, the chances of them crossing paths again was pretty low, right? She looked around. Nobody else had passed through the courtyard since the mysterious girl had come, and suddenly Fumie became all too aware of the long rows of windows hanging over her, giving a clear view of her hiding spot. Without a second thought she was off, near-sprinting into the school. The mysterious girl was nowhere to be seen just inside.

Nervously, she wandered through the halls, paying close attention to the signs that gave directions. Once, she ducked into a luckily unlocked classroom as two other students passed through an intersection in front of her. Eventually, she made it to the library, and slowly opened the door, peeking in to make sure nobody else was there other than the librarian. It seemed clear, so she walked in, and up to the front desk. The librarian looked at her with a disinterested look, which immediately sent Fumie’s mind into a frenzy. She shivered slightly, stuttering a little bit, and she could feel the sweat dripping down her face as her nerves got the better of her.

She slowly took out a piece of paper from a pocket in her uniform, slightly moist now from sweat, and placed it on the desk. “I-I need these b-books please…” She averted her eyes, fearing that any further eye contact would invite punishment.

The librarian was a greasy old hag of a woman, wrinkled and sweaty with wiry hair white as paper drawn up into a messy bun. Fumie averted her eyes and face the instant the frail woman sneered and snatched up the paper from her fingers. She shivered in place, waiting for some kind of confirmation, but she received none. The old woman stood and moved from the desk, she could only assume and hope to go find the books. She glanced up, and saw that the old woman was hunched over and moving quite slowly. She had asked for several books, none of them particularly similar. It might be some time, and she had no way of knowing whether someone else might come in. The old woman reminded her of old witches in her mother’s stories, and she wondered if any of the other students or teachers were her cohorts. She imagined herself cooking in a stew by the end of the night, and gulped down her fear, but it still clouded her mind.

Suddenly, she turned her head and realized that the old hag and her weren’t the only two in the library. Seated at the far end, the strange girl she’d seen entering the school grounds sat, staring intently into a curiously small book. The girl had a strange aura about her, as if she truly didn’t belong here. Maybe she was one of the hag’s cohorts; maybe she really was a witch! No, that was unlikely. There were many horrible things in this world, but mother had assured her that witches and magic were only fairy tales, nothing more. It shouldn’t bother her this much. But this girl was strange nonetheless. Fumie found herself inching across the library. Why was she moving towards this strange person? A few inches closer, she made out the title of the book.

A children’s encyclopedia, Fumie noted silently. The girl was staring in intense wonder at the book. Was she taking it seriously?

“U-uhm,” Fumie’s voice pierced the silence, little more than a nervous whisper, but with nobody else talking plenty loud enough, “t-that’s a children’s encyclopedia. I-it’s not very accurate, you know.” And suddenly it felt like there was a ball in her throat, and she couldn’t speak, could barely breath. Why had she spoken? Surely this girl would be furious that Fumie had questioned her choice of reading. She shut her eyes fast, clutching her hands close to her chest, ready to prepare the ultimate defense her mother had taught her.

Fumie, trembling in her small frame made only smaller as she shrank back, said nothing as the girl with the childrens’ encyclopedia looked up at her. All people were evil, her mother had told her, all people were evil but the two of them. No matter how nice they seemed, they would all want to hurt or use you, she’d said. Her mother wouldn’t lie to her. Behind that smile was certainly a demon waiting to devour her one way or another. This girl was beyond scary; she was absolutely terrifying, as was anyone else. When the girl stood, Fumie shrank more. She was tall. Very tall. All the more scary. But yet she spoke sweetly, and didn’t move to directly harm her… not yet, anyway.

Tenshi, the girl said her name was. Fumie had barely heard it over the rushing thoughts in her head; she had to escape. She had to run away. She had to get help… no, nobody would help, she simply had to escape. It didn’t occur to her until just after the silence had reached an awkward length that she should introduce herself in turn. Best play along, otherwise she might invite more harm to herself.

“I-I’m Fumie… Fumie Ichihara…” She said shyly, her voice still low and trembling. When the girl mentioned the librarian, she glanced back at the desk. The old lady had gone into the depths of the shelves to retrieve the books Fumie had asked for, leaving the two of them alone in the open. Fumie didn’t very much like the idea of going into the cover of the shelves of the library, but it couldn’t be helped. Going against this girl now was probably more dangerous than doing as she wished, so Fumie slowly turned back and nodded. “T-they should be over here…” She slowly moved to the right section and went among the shelves, looking left and right. The encyclopedias should be… yes, right there, near the end, where it opens up to the outer aisle along the shelves. She reached the end and turned, looking up to where the encyclopedias would be. She stood on the tips of her toes, reaching up and starting to slip a large book out of its spot, one of the proper encyclopedias…

…when a long, thing, ghastly-looking hand reached out to her right, gnarled and wrinkled like nothing Fumie had seen in a long time. Her eyes shriveled up in an instant, her chest seizing up, her breathing quickening for only a moment before the noise left her mouth. What felt like a scream sounded more like the coarse shrieking of an animal dying in extreme pain, as she stumbled backwards against the opposite shelf. Her own noise drowned out the returned scream of the old librarian, who also fell back against the outer shelves. Fumie squeezed her eyes shut, holding her hands over her head, drawing her legs in, hoping nothing would harm her. A few seconds later, she opened them and looked over.

“Why… you little…” The old lady was sitting, leaning against the outer shelves, breathing extremely heavily and clutching her chest. Only moments all motion seemed to stop and she slumped, falling to the side. It was like Fumie’s heart stopped. Despite everything she knew about people, she felt the need to check on her. If there was one thing she knew, it was how to care for people; she’d cared for her mother for the better part of the last four years of her life. She crawled over to the old librarian and felt her wrist. No pulse. She knew what death felt like.

After all, she’d cared for her mother for the better part of the last four years of her life.

Fear took over as she pushed herself back against the shelves again, her breathing picking up. She felt light-headed as she curled up into herself again; the world around her was nothing but an empty, black waste; this was her fate. If nothing she had done up until now had earned her the scorn and hatred of those around her, had marked her for death already, then this certainly did. This was how it would all end. There was nothing but her and the dying old woman in front of her. The rest of the world would have no effect on her beyond what was already slated to happen. This had to be the end…

Everything was moving so fast around her, so fast, so fast, or maybe it wasn’t moving at all. She wasn’t sure. The librarian was moved, but she couldn’t tell if it was the other girl’s doing or if she’d just fallen further. What point was there in distinguishing it? The old hag would die, and perhaps it would be better that way, but this was the real world, and even if she was a witch, nobody else would know that, and they would blame her. They would call her a murderer. They would punish her, and that would be her end. There was no getting out of this. She heard what seemed to be a booming noise to her left, and it echoed as the distant semblances of words danced around her head like shadows, shrinking and growing in gnarled forms threatening to swallow her whole.

She drew further into herself, refusing to hear any of it. No. If she was going to be punished, if she was going to die, she would have this last moment of solace.

Now she definitively saw the girl over the old hag, performing some kind of procedure she’d seen in a book one time. Or maybe it had been a movie, but that didn’t matter. The scene looked gargantuan in front of her, a giant trying to revive another giant, either of which would see more harm for her than good. She closed her eyes, tight, her arms clenched tightly around her legs. She just wanted to go away, to leave, but surely she wouldn’t get very far. She knew what she was. She was short, and thus slower than this taller girl to be sure, and she was weak, barring her ultimate defense. She was done. She was very, very done.

And then, the voice rang again, vaguely at first, then a little clearer, and then suddenly perfectly clearly. She found her heart beating closer to a normal rate again, whereas a moment ago it had been racing like she’d never felt it race before. She opened her eyes suddenly, shocked, and looked at the girl performing CPR on the librarian, confused.

“R-right,” she said, quickly looking to her left and picking up the phone. Had this been that booming noise? How far gone had she been. She moved forward, warily but smoothly, and put the phone to her ear, shaking slightly; she was afraid, of the girl, of the librarian, but she didn’t know for certain that the hag was a witch, and there might still be hope for her if this worked. It was for herself, not for the old hag. She had to look out for herself before anyone else; that was the way of the world. Once she seemed to be done on the phone, Fumie drew back again, hanging up and dropping the phone. There was nothing she could do, not for this woman. The most she could do was breathe deeply, keeping herself from getting lost in her fears again, watching the scene unfold before her. The other girl’s words had barely reached her.