This Was Home [h.s.]

| 33. FIRST DAY |

Be normal.

Be normal.

Be normal.

Be–

"Miss Brinley?"

My head shot up from the ground, looking around until I found where I heard my name. I felt misplaced in time as I stood staring at the man who just recalled my name. A look of concern reflected back towards me as I gathered my thoughts.

"Yes? Sorry about that," I quietly apologized.

I was in the middle of the library Harry and I had just discovered together–where we had found the librarian and all those documents upstairs in neat and un-neat piles. The only one that mattered though was the one mentioning Alayna, although her specific whereabouts were to remain secret–for whatever reason. I supposed that also meant there was still a chance it wasn't really her, but how many 12 year old Alayna's could there possibly be here?

It had to be her.

The librarian continued to stare at me blankly, but not out of annoyance. It seemed more unsure than anything. Probably unsure about me given how weird I was probably acting. I had already forgotten his name, too, to make things worse. But did he even mention it before?

He smiled softly. "No worries. I find myself doing the same, especially in a place this quiet and particular." He chuckled to himself, moving past me to the shelf I was beside. He began putting the books away in a certain type of organization I had yet to be trained on.

To be honest, I had never felt so useless just standing there. Not only did I feel useless because I wasn't actively on the hunt for my sister, I also felt useless watching him do the majority of the work–regardless if that was my fault or not.

"We need to find your sister and go. Now." Harry's words repeated again in my head for what seemed like the hundredth time within the hour.

So why was I standing right here? Why was Harry at his job assignment? Why were we doing this? And why weren't we doing what he said we needed to do?

Harry said he didn't want to waste any more time and to just carry on as usual as he developed a plan for later. My chest tightened at the thought, not liking the idea that I was left in the dark and unaware on how I could help. I had no inkling of an idea of what he was going to come up with either. I had no idea what to do myself.

I shook my head to bring me back to the present moment, afraid I'd get caught gazing off into the distance again, further making me seem odd.

Be normal.

That was the last thing Harry had said to me before we parted ways.

"How can I help?" I asked, clearing my throat, and taking a few steps closer to look at what he was doing. "Also I seem to have forgotten your name. Could you remind me?"