The Shadow Nether

A Twist

Saturday had finally arrived and Dani had been working her part-time job at the library. Her mother had finally decided that they would finish the kitchen that day and the girl was beyond grateful that she had to work. Anything to avoid being home and drug into the tedious painting and cut-ins that she would have most definitely been stuck with. It had been a long day at her job but she was sure being home would have been a much longer day. At least while she was working she was able to look at and get ideas for all sorts of new books to read.

It was in fact on that day that she had found a new series to read as a substitute to the horribly ending Airinor series. She had stayed late after work just to get a taste of the first book and ended up reading nearly ten chapters into it. Glancing at her phone to check the time, she realized in her late stay that it had died. Danielle approached the librarians desk with a sheepish smile. "Can I check this out and borrow the phone?" she asked politely.

The librarian smiled and nodded, "Need to tell your mom you accidentally stayed stuck in a book just a little too late?"

"I don't want them to worry about me while I walk home," she said, handing over the book.

The librarian scanned it out of the system and handed it back with an old wireless phone. Dani dialed the only number besides her own that she had memorized, the house phone. It rang for a moment before being answered by her father, "Hello?"

"Hey it's me, Dani, I'm leaving work now. I stayed a little bit over, sorry," she said, turning away from the front desk to stare out at the many shelves.

"Do you want me to come pick you up?" he asked calmly, completely unbothered by the fact his daughter was once again late coming home from the library.

"No I'm alright, I enjoy the walk."

He chuckled loudly over the phone, "Just don't read while you're walking home."

"I won't." She hung up and handed the phone back. "Thank you," she said as she turned away.

"Don't read while you're walking home!" the librarian called after her.

Danielle gave a loud laugh, "That's exactly what my father said. I won't. I'll see you on Monday." She gave a wave and walked outside of the library, hugging her new book tightly.

Once outside the chilly spring air sent goosebumps up her arms. She grabbed the edges of her hoodie sleeves and tugged them as far down as they would go. The sun was beginning to set, the air would only become colder as she walked home. It wasn't a very far walk, just about ten blocks with only one turn, which was into her neighborhood. Most of the time it took no more than twenty minutes unless she was really trying to drag out the walk. Once she managed to jog it in just around ten minutes. Today though, even with the threat of the colder temperatures, she was in no rush to get home and planned on taking her time. She always complained about the bugs, the temperature, and everything else associated with outside but deep down, the girl loved to be outside. There was something about the way the air felt that was just calming to the soul.

Dani passed the first block on her walk, crossing over the crosswalk and continuing through the city. For the most part, her walk took her past several local places to eat and shop and then when she would turn the scenery would completely be housing. She enjoyed the walk down the main strip the most, peeking into the windows of each building, seeing who was shopping and who was eating. On occasion she would see something that caught her eye in the shop windows but she never went in and purchased anything. It wasn't about the fear of not getting home quick enough, no, the teenager was just very tight with her money. She worked hard and barely made anything considering she only worked four days a week, three of those being just two or three hour shifts. She had been saving ever since she was little with the intention of moving out on her own as soon as she graduated high school. It had always been her plan to live deep downtown in the city in her own studio apartment that she could decorate anyway she pleased. She also wouldn't have to bother cleaning up anyone else's mess since she would be alone. She was always annoyed by cleaning up after her brothers and mother and the thought of not having to do that any longer, well, that was her dream.