Stand by You

IX

According to the note Dr. Marcoh gave them, all his information was located at the First Branch library. I remembered I had an acquaintance there by the name of Miss Sheska, who loves to read, so I decided to stop by her house to see if I had any luck there. I'm hoping that she ran into some of Marcoh's notes. I knocked at her apartment door. "Miss Sheska?" I called. "Are you home?"

I opened a door, surprised that it wasn't locked, to see a mountain of books greeting me There were towers upon towers of books stacked so high, that even if a feather grazed it the whole thing would tip over. "What the...?" I sputtered, sucking in my breath so I could be as thin as possible as I navigated through the labyrinth. "Miss Sheska? Are you here?"

"Oh!" A voice called, finally hearing me. "In here!"

I saw some scrawny arms waving in the room, gesturing that she was here. Careful not to bump into any of the towers, I slid my way around the small path between the books. "Miss Sheska!" I yelled. "Miss Sheska! Where are you?"

I turned around and was face-to-face with a brown-haired girl with glasses. I screamed out of fright. She screamed and fell backwards, bumping into one of the book towers and clumsily knocking off her glasses. "I'm so sorry!" I cried, helping her up. "Are you okay, Miss Sheska?"

"Yes, I am," She was squatting, feeling the ground with her hands. "Can you help me find my glasses? I'm blind without them."

I saw a pair of thin glasses on the ground and picked them up. "Are these yours?" I asked as I handed them to her.

She put them on and smiled, "Yes, they are! Thank you! What do you need--"

"Uh, Miss Sheska?"

"Yes?"

"Is that tower of books meant to be swaying?"

"Huh?"

She turned around and the mountain of books fell on top of us. "AH!!!" We screamed.

"Help!" Miss Sheska yelled. "I can't find my glasses or my hand!"

"Our hands are stuck above the pile of books!" I replied.

"HELP!!! SOMEBODY!!! SAVE US!!! I CAN'T SEE!!! THERE'S BARELY ANY AIR DOWN HERE!!! WE'RE GOING TO SUFFOCATE!!! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!!!"

"Stop screaming and thrashing around! You're going to use up more oxygen!"

"Okay...so what do we do now?"

"Uh...wait for help?"

*~*~*~*~*~

We sat patiently inside the pile of books, waiting for help. I waved my hand that was stuck outside the book pile like some surrender flag, which it technically was since I wore white gloves, hoping we draw the attention of anybody. But, I knew it was hopeless. All the neighbors were at work so no one would hear our hollers. I just hope Edward and Alphonse would come here once they've visited First Branch to see Miss Sheska, since she is infamous down there...

I heard the door to the room open. I nudged Miss Sheska. "Look, someone's here!" I whispered.

She smiled with relief and we listened some more to see who it was. "What is with this mountain of books?" Someone gasped. It was Edward. "Evie? Are you here? Where are you?"

"It there really someone living here?" Grunted another voice, as if they were also making their way between the books. It sounded like...Sergeant Brosh?

"Miss Sheska?" Called another voice, which sounded like it belonged to Second Lieutenant Maria Ross. "Are you here? Miss Sheska? Is Evelyn with you?"