Adrift

Chapter 6

November stared at the huge piles of books that lay cluttered on the dusty floor, at the far end of the library, behind the curtains, hidden in plain sight.

Mr. Owens Chantale, The Head Librarian, a grouchy old man who grew increasingly irritable towards the young and wild students, stood next to November, with his glasses hanging around his neck from where he lifted them and placed them at the tip of his nose. He reminded November of a Santa Claus that got stuck down a chimney and was never able to make his way out. November suppressed a smile at the thought.

"Ya got that girl? You have to dust all them books, assort them and place them at the appropriate sections. I've got weak knees, so you'll have to do all of it on your own. You will also be behind the counter there, whenever I am not present, but mostly you'll be dusting, arranging, rearranging, making entries and maintaining the richest place in all of this university for 35$ per week, plus an additional 10$ for every extra hour. Paycheck at the end of the week, so never forget to log-in your entry and exit times, you'll be paid accordingly.

you'll have night shifts from 6pm - 10pm, during the week days, and 8pm - 10pm during the weekends. If ya got plans, inform me beforehand, you can just fill in your hours later . This is your mandatory hours that you'll have to put in, any extra hours from your side and you'll be compensated accordingly.

3 rules: Do not talk, Do not interfere, Do not crib.

If at all there is something new or different for you to do, it will be written down for you neatly and placed at the counter before your shift starts that day. Refrain from keeping our interactions more than what is absolutely necessary, I don't got no time for empty-headed brats. Got that?"

"Yes, Mr. Chantale" November replies obediently.

She goes weary at the site of the endless pile of dusty books, but reminds herself how much she loves being around and taking care of books. It's Friday night, so there are hardly any students at the university. Anyone who's left will either be leaving shortly or has already left. Amelia begged November to come along with her for the weekend but November just couldn't. Tonight was gonna be the first shift for her at the library and she wanted to come across as disciplined and punctual. Plus, she thought that the pay was really really good. You get an in-campus job at the most luxurious most fancy university ever, you expect the pay-check to fit accordingly.

November follows Mr. Chantale outside, and takes a moment to admire this beautiful library in all its glory, with its dark mahogany floors and cathedral ceilings, wooden panels giving it a rustic dark academic look, all in all it looked remarkably prestigious. Barely a quarter of any hour here and it had already become November's most favorite thing about Southside Princeton University. She knew she was gonna love being here.

Mr. Chantale continued to drone about how youngsters these days would do anything but work so if she were looking for an extra pair of hands to help her around here she was out of luck. This huge massive beautiful library was entirely her and Mr. Chantale's responsibility and November wondered how he were able to manage it so far by himself in the first place.

November's head was angled uncomfortably high as she admired the murals painted on the cathedral ceilings of the library when she received a notification on her phone.
It was Amelia, she had sent her a selfie where she was pouting like a little child in the middle of what looked like a raging college party. November smiled at the picture before her phone dinged again.

A: wish you were here and I didn't have to face these bozos alone :((

November's smile grew. She'd finally made a friend. It didn't matter to her that their world's were so completely different and neither did it seem to matter for Amelia, and she couldn't wait to hang out more with her, the possibility alone making her giddy.

November clicked a picture of herself with all the bookshelves in the background, eyes closed and a happy smile on her face as she sent it across.

N: at the best kind of party myself, thinking of you! xxx

A: you're so pretty it hurts

November smiled super hard at that. It's been forever since anyone had given her a compliment. She didn't know how to reply to that so just sent a rolling eye emoji and a heart emoji.

Sliding her phone into the back pocket of her jeans November looked around.

Alright, she thought, lets get down to work.

***

About after an hour of working, November visited the last final corner of the library. It was the Paleontology department, and she'd just fished 6 books from the huge pile Mr. Chantale left her in charge of, that belonged there. As she carried them along with the little log book making entries of all the books that were present in a given section, she heard some muffled sounds from right around the corner.

Her heart started thumping in her chest as the noise grew and November realized she had nothing to defend herself with. She grabbed the stick used for reaching the higher shelf level that was leaning against one of the bookshelves and slowly tiptoed cautiously, soundlessly towards the source of the sounds.

As she grew closer, November's eyes grew wide upon the realization that the noises were in fact moaning and that she'd walked in on 2 people going at it. Hard.

The dude was railing the girl against the bookshelf, with his one hand holding her in place and the other hand fondling her breast. The girl moaned 'Sean' 'oh harder Sean' over and over again just as he yelled "yes oh yes you like that? you like that oh"

That was more than enough for November as she dashed out of there straight to the main entrance of the library; her primary concern at the time was to have someone come in and disinfect that entire row completely. She thought of all the poor paleontology books that had to witness the whole ordeal that she only witnessed like 10 seconds of. She wished to erase the visuals from her memory as she felt all things creepy about what she saw just a few seconds ago.

November felt disgusted all of a sudden and after a moment passed, laughter bubbled out from her mouth. She was now full blown laughing, clutching her tummy as she thought of what she had just witnessed.

"you either are a crazy woman or you're a crazy woman." a suave voice comes from behind her;

"Which one is it?"

That immediately shuts her up and as November spins around, her mouth runs dry as she comes face-to-face with the last person she'd have expected to see at the library let alone at this hour.

Hunter.