The Girl That Gets Trapped In Books

Kale stepped off the train pulling one suitcase behind him and carrying a brown leather pack on his shoulder. It was later than he planned because he had missed the train he was supposed to take earlier. Not many people got off on this stop so he didn’t have anyone to ask for directions. He walked through the echoing station and up the staircase next to graffiti decorated walls into the downtown streets of Shadeville.
Kale had never been to Shadeville before, but his mother’s best friend from her younger years owned a dorm apartment complex and they made arrangements for him to stay there. He was seventeen years old with striking red hair and piercing green eyes. He had always been the athletic type, going on adventures with his father through the wilderness. His father was a famous scientist who got down and dirty with his work. Ever since Kale was a little boy he had been like a shadow to his father, climbing walls, digging for chemicals, treating wounds. His mother was once a beautiful model but her lifelong dream was to be a writer. At first she wrote about her days as one of the most sought after models in the world, but then when she had him the memoirs turned into children’s stories and then romance novels for adults and teen books. Whatever she wrote about seemed to follow Kale through his different stages of life.
He would go to many of her book signings with his mother whenever his father was away. Everyone said he got his looks from his mother and they always pinched his cheeks. His mom loved to bring him along because she loved to show him off as well as draw in customers to buy her book. Kale smiled remembering the memories.
He adjusted his pack over his shoulder and continued to walk the darkening streets. The sky was just bright enough for the streetlights to stay dark. Despite the misleading look of the train station, the area looked quite calm and peaceful. The grass glowed brilliantly green in the twilight and the buildings turned from warehouses to quaint little homes. There were many trees around giving off the appearance of low hanging umbrellas. The area seemed deserted except for a couple way off in the distance near a park sitting on a bench under one of the large trees.
He glanced down at his map and saw that an arrow pointed for him to go through the trees and past the park. He stepped off the curb when a strange person with bright blond hair walked in front of him. She was dressed quite odd and had a sort of trance like look in her eyes. She wore a long black dress that had many black lacey ruffles. She had long black gloves all the way up her arms to match. She wore a black hat complete with fishnet veil covering her face. Kale wondered if she was heading to a funeral. She was dropping red rose petals as she slowly walked. She looked as though she was crying.
“Excuse me,” Kale said, and reached out for her, “are you all right?”
She didn’t answer but continued to walk slowly towards her destination. He took a step towards her and in a low solemn voice she began to speak, “and no one could understand her pain. Her love- the great duke had chosen a princess over her. She couldn’t bare to see the joyous faces of the people around her, so she crept like a shadow past them.”
Kale wondered if she was reading a book. He walked next to her and saw her staring straight ahead, slowly whispering the words out loud. She continued, “She left red rose petals on her dark path in hopes that her duke would come to her once more- but if he did not arrive it would be too late. She had no place in a world without him.”
“Are you ok? Are you sure you don’t need some help?” Kyae asked. He touched her shoulder but she didn’t react. He was interested in her and also a little worried about her. Why was she acting so strange? Eventually she was down to her last rose petal. She pressed it to her heart.
“Oh rose petal, you are but my last hope. I pray that you may guide my love to me, if you are so willing.” She then released it into the breeze. She turned back to her path and continued to walk. He followed her until the street lights came on. He could hear the crashing of waves in the distance. He looked back at his map. The ocean was so far that it wasn’t even drawn on the map. The only reason he knew it was there was because there was a note on the back of the map his other had drawn about the ocean where he could meet lots of cute girls.
Sure enough they came to a bit of land and he could smell the salty air rising. The girl continued to head towards the sound of the ocean. Kale spotted a payphone just under a streetlight. Maybe he could call the police someone to help her out? She seemed as though she was in a different reality. He walked over to the phone and picked it up. He reached in his pocket for some coins and deposited them. Just after dialing 911 he looked over his shoulder to check on her. But he couldn’t see her. She had disappeared.
He searched the area and then saw her running up the hill towards the cliff. Immediately he hung up the phone and made a mad dash after her, dropping his bag and suitcase there. She was fast even though she was in that dress. She made it to the top.
“Oh Duke!” She sobbed, “I will no longer torment you as I have so obviously done- may the waves of fate take me and wash your memory of me.” She held her arms out wide to the wind. Kale noticed how far down the ocean was. They were a good ways up. Was she planning on killing herself? He dug his toes into the hill and launched himself forward. She took a step closer to the edge.
“No!” he yelled and grabbed her around the waist just as she tried to take the final step over. He dragged her a couple steps backwards, uneasy by such a tall cliff. She sobbed in his grasp and turned to face him. Suddenly after she looked at him she sobbed harder. She brought a gloved hand up and gently touched his cheek.
“Oh, Duke! My beautiful and handsome duke! I knew you’d come!” The girl whispered and fainted in his arms.
Kyle held her, awkwardly. What was he supposed to do now? Just then, as if on cue, a group of four people came running up the hill. One boy seemed to be dressed just as strangely as the girl.
“Look! There she is!” one of the girls yelled. They ran faster, the boy dressed strangely held on to his top hat as he ran to keep it from flying off. They soon made it to where Kale was.
“Oh thank heavens! I thought we might be too late.” One of the shorter girls said. She had been the quickest. They were all out of breath. They took a moment to breathe normally again before speaking. There were three girls and the one boy. They looked normal enough, but were they outing on a show.
“Thank you for saving our friend.” The boy in the top hat said and extended his hand, “I am Duke, er- I mean I am Ruben.”
Kale warily shook his hand as the girls carefully dragged the black robbed girl from his grasp.
“Sorry if she caused you any trouble.” The shortest girl said.
“We need to get her home!” The tallest girl answered, placing her hand on the fallen girl’s forehead.
“My house is closest, we’ll take her there. She can spend the night too.” The middle girl said. The boy picked her up and they all followed him down the hill, jabbering about almost being too late, or saying, “I thought we had taken them all already?”
Kale scratched his head in confusion. They had left as quickly as they had come. After he had a moment to collect himself he walked back down the hill and collected his things. He made the long trek back to the park area, constantly wondering about the girl and the strange people that came to get her. Who were they? Should he have let them take her? He saw them far in the distance but they turned down a side road and were gone.
By the time Kale made it to the park again it was quite dark outside and the people that were under the trees had already moved on. The trees left speckled moonlight patches along the ground as he walked. He glanced back at his map. After the park his next landmark would be a large school and then houses beyond. After a few houses the dorm wasn’t too far.
He turned his thoughts from the strange girl to finding the apartments. The park was huge and littered with trees and nicely shaved grass. It seemed very peaceful here. He heard wind chimes in the distance and realized someone had put them in one of the trees. It ding’d a gentle melody as he passed. Finally, the woodsy park was behind him and he began looking for the school. There was a star by it on the map, indicating that it would be where he was going to go. He passed a long whitewashed wall and then came up to a metal locked gate. Beyond the gate was a large three story building complete with a huge court yard and fountain. Beyond the gate was a plack on the wall reading: Shadowville High School. This magnificent structure was the school. It looked very well kept and surrounded by walls. He looked through the gate as he passed to see long fields beyond where outdoor activities seemed to take place. The landscaping alone looked quite high ended and pricey.
He would have stared longer to take in it’s largeness, but his tired body made him continue forward. He passed small houses with small yards. Some were fenced in with quaint little white picket fences. He looked above them and saw what he figured was the apartment complex. It was about five stories up and towered over the neighborhood. He quickened his pace, knowing he was finally there. He knew it was late and he didn’t want to keep the house keeper up any longer. He made it to the place marked on his map. The building was well kept and tidy. There was a trash dumpster area but it was closed behind some white painted doors. There was a note on it that read: “Trash day has changed to Wednesday and Friday. Also, recycling day is Thursday.”
Kylie continued on past the outside area and up to the front door. He walked in to what seemed to be a small lobby. There was a woman sitting at the desk off to the left. She had short brown hair that was French braided down to her shoulders. She looked up as Kale walked in. Her face broke into a smile as she rounded the desk.
“Why, you must be Kale. You’re just the spitting image of your mother- that beautiful red hair- and those eyes- why I see your mother in you. Please come in, come in.” She was quite friendly and cheery looking. She had on a simple pink shirt and blue skirt with an apron over it. “My name is Betty, but please feel free to call me Mrs. Landon.” She came over and patted him on the back, drawing him in.
“I would introduce you to my daughter, but she went out a few hours ago. She was going to meet you at the train station but after your train came in and you weren’t on it she came home in a hurry and just left. Anyway, I will show you to your-“
Just then the door burst open and a girl with bouncing blond and blue hair rushed in. She walked up to Mrs. Landon and held up what looked to be a book. She threw it on the ground and stepped on it.
“They gave her this!” She growled in anger, stomping on the book, “I know they did. How dare they, mom? This isn’t a joke!” She picked the book up and began ripping pages out of it and throwing them to the floor.
“Lette, dear-“ Mrs. Landon said, “Our guest has arrived.”
Suddenly the girl stopped her angry outburst and turned to Kyle. She looked him up and down and placed the book over on the desk. She sighed and closed her eyes as she walked back over to him, counting backwards from ten.
“Hello, Kale.” She said, her anger nearly gone. She held her hand out and he shook it. “I’m Lette-“ She paused looking solemn, “I’m sorry I didn’t meet you at the train station. My friend- she was in trouble, and after you didn’t arrive I couldn’t wait anymore. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine- I found the place all right.” Kylie assured her.
“I can see.” She smiled.
“Lette, I was about to show Kale to his room, would you rather do that?”
“Sure. C’mon I’ll help you with your bags.” She motioned for him to follow her towards an elevator concealed by part of the wall. Just before she left she went over and took the book back from the desk and stuffed it under her arm. She slung Kale’s leather bag over her shoulder. She led him to a shiny elevator and pressed the up button.
“You’re going to be on the top floor.” She announced. “This is supposed to be an all girl dorm, so mom has you all the way up there. You’ll get a nice view of the school, though. It’s so high up if you ever wanted to watch the games you could just sit on the balcony.”
The elevator made a dinging noise and the doors opened. She led him to the left and down to the end of the hallway.
“Room 512 is just for you.” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a key with a red ribbon tied around it. She placed it in the lock and opened the door. She walked in and turned the lights on, setting his bag down on his bed.
The room wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small. It was moderate in size complete with a bed and bathroom.
“You’ve got a microwave up here in this cabinet, and a mini refrigerator down here,” She said opening two cabinet doors. “you’ve also got a stove over there next to the faucet.” She walked over to show them both off. “If you need to do laundry we have a washer and dryer in the basement. If I were you I’d do it at night. The girls usually do it In the day and get pretty vicious if their clothes go missing.” She giggled indicating that was a joke but Kale made a mental note in his head to steer clear.
“If you need any more toiletries you can get them down at the front desk. We also keep other random things there like sewing kits and toothbrushes. It’s like we are a hotel! Ha!” She continued walking around the room. She looked over at his bed. There was a pile of sheets and blankets folded neatly at the end.
“I’ll help you make your bed if you’d like.” She offered, “I have to do it all the time anyway, those lazy girls just don’t like work. I think that just about covers it.”
“I thnk I can manage, thanks.” Kale said.
“Alright then.” She turned to walk out the door when there was a scratching noise and a voice came from the direction of the door, “Lette, would you mind telling Kale he is welcome to come have dinner with us?”
The voice ended. “I almost forgot, that’s the intercom over there by the door. You can call any room you want to from it, as long as you have the code to the room you want to call. Mom usually uses it to make announcements. That’s about all we use it for.”
Lette handed the key over to Kale, “When you’re ready please come down and have some dinner. Just come to the back room behind the desk.” She went to walk out but then stopped and turned around.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” She slapped her head, “You don’t have a shower in your room. None of the dorms have one. We all use the large washroom located behind the building. Mom put a notice up about a week ago telling everyone they had to be finished with the baths by 8:00 in the evening. So you can have it after then. Also if it is empty you are free to use it before hand. I usually go around 2 right after school. That’s when it is empty- so. Yeah. I’ll see you at dinner.” She walked out of his room and shut the door behind her.
Kale turned and examined his room. It was very nice and quite cozy. He was exhausted so he quickly unpacked his clothes into his closet and spread his sheets over his bed. When he was finished and went down to dinner.
*^*^*^*^
After meeting with them a bit more he was able to go back to his room and try to fall his sleep. Just before he did he heard Lette talking to her mother next door.
“It’s not fair, mom. They gave this to her! They had me waiting at Piper’s house for them to get back in case she showed up. They came in with her, mom! She had fainted. They found her near the cliff, the ocean cliff! Dressed in black. Do you know how this book ends?”
Kale heard more ripping and assumed she was tearing up the book from earlier.
“If that strange person wasn’t there that they said was there can you even imagine what would have happened?” She groaned loudly.
“Now, now, Lette. She’s alright now. Lets just be thankful that she wasn’t hurt. She’s staying at Piper’s house tonight, right? Well then we can be sure she’s safe tonight.”
“I know who gave it to her! You’ve got to kick her out of the dorms! It isn’t fair!”
“Lette, you know very well I can’t do that. You don’t have any proof. But don’t worry, dear, I want to keep Riley safe just like you.”
“Well I am going to get to the bottom of this. If I can prove that it was her I will kick her out myself.”
“Oh, Lette,” Mrs. Landon said sounding exasperated, “Lets just get some sleep.”
“Fine.”
After that the room went silent. Kyle was reminded of the strange girl. What did she have to do with the book? Kale wondered about her but figured she was safe now. He would have a big day tomorrow at school.