Adopted by Pentatonix

Seven-Library

Ana

I follow her to the room next to this one. She hesitates before opening the door. She covers my eyes with her hands and leads me into the room.

"Are you ready?"
"Yes,"

She uncovers my eyes and astonishment takes over me. It's a giant library in her house. There are books lining the walls from the floor to the ceiling. My hands fly to my mouth in shock.

"Kirstie, this is... breath taking." I say and spin around, taking in all the books. I lay my hand over my stomach when pain comes through it because I moved to fast and grimace a bit, but ignore it and go back to the books. She looks at me with concern, but must think I'm alright because she doesn't say anything.

"They are amazing!" I say and run my hand over the spines of the books on one of the shelf racks. "Have you read them all?"
"Yup, I like to read too." She says, she stands in the doorway watching me. "Would you like to read one?"
My breath catches in my throat "Can I, please?" I ask desperately.
Her smile widens at my excitement "What do you like to read?"
"Anything, I really like love stories the most though."
She walks to one of the shelves and after searching through the massive shelf, pulls out a book. It's yellow with a pretty lady in a red dress sitting on a man who appears to be in a wheelchair. The title is 'Me Before You'

"I think you'll like this one. It's my favorite." She says and hands the book over to me.

I take in the features of the book and smile. I love the way the pages feel between my fingers and the smoothness of the cover. I read the description and my longing to read the book increases by two hundred percent. It's been a long time since I've read a new book. I only own two and I've read them hundreds of times.

"I promise I'll take good care of it, and if anything happens to it, I'll buy you a new one." I say frantically and clutch the book to my chest.
"Calm down, I trust you." She says jokingly "Do you have any books?"
"Two, they're in my bag. They're my most prized possessions, I've read them countless of times."
"Would you mind if I read one? It's been a while since I read a new book."
"Sure," I say happily and drag her to the room my bag is in. I pull out my books and hand them to her. One is called 'Silently Falling' and the other is 'The Bad Boys Mission.'

(These are actual books on Wattpad and are freaking amazing. Please go check them out, you won't regret it! They are some of my favorites! Also 'The Bad Boy's Mission' has a second book called 'The Bad Boys Baby' I love these books so much that I nominated 'The Bad Boys Baby' for the TeenFiction Award.)

"They're love stories, I hope you don't mind."
"That's fine, I really like love stories too. We seem to have a lot in common."
"Yeah, we do."

I set the book she gave me on the counter and grab my brush since my hair is now dry. I sit on the bed and start to brush out the knots. I struggle to get some of the knots out at the end and she notices.
She sits on the edge of the bed, beside me and takes the brush from me. She pulls my hair to my back from around my shoulder and brushes my hair for me. She gently brushes through my now detangled hair and the feeling is soothing to me.

"You have very pretty hair."
"Thank you, I get it from my mother."
"I'm sure she was a very pretty lady if she looked like you."
"Thank you, but I wish I looked like you. You're beautiful."
"Thank you, sweetie. Do you want me to braid it so it doesn't get tangles in it?"
"Yes, please."

She braids my hair in a French braid for me. It feels different to have my hair not in my face, but I like it. It feels lighter even though it's the same amount of hair, just styled differently. She stands me up in front of the mirror and I smile at the new look.
"It's cute, thanks."
"No problem, I like having another girl around. I can't do everything with the boys. Sometimes you just need a girl to do stuff with." She says, looking over my shoulder at me.
"Lets go back to the couch and start reading. I think I want to read Silently Falling, first." She says and hands my other book back to me.

I lay it on the bed and start to go back downstairs. As we make our way down the stairs I move wrong and pain shoots through my lower abdomen. I stop immediately and double over myself, hanging onto the banister. A cry escapes my lips and she stops behind me. She wraps her arm around my waist to support me so I don't fall.

"Ana, what's wrong?"
I take a deep breath and stand back up slowly. "I-I'm fine, just sore. I guess I moved wrong." I say exasperated

"Are you sure, baby? You look really hurt." She says anxiously, "Sweetie, if you are hurting really badly then I need to take another look at you to make sure I didn't miss anything."
"N-No, I'm fine. I just need to lay down."
"Okay,"

She helps me over to the couch where I lay down with my book. I lay one way and she lays the opposite way of me. I scoot down so she can sit against the back pillows of the couch and my head is laying in the crook of her waist. She hands me a blanket which I drape over my body. She does the same with another blanket.

We read our books and I soon start to feel sleepy after about an hour. She strokes my hair with her thumb which eventually lulls me to an extremely sleepy state. I fight to keep my eyes open so I can keep reading, I feel her take the book from me which makes me slightly upset.

"Let's get you to bed," She says
"No, I wanna keep reading." I mumble sleepily
She giggles at me and scoops me into her arms.
"We can read tomorrow,"
"Okay,"I mutter
I nuzzle into her chest as she carries me upstairs and to my room. She tucks me into the soft bed and brings the covers up to my shoulders to keep me warm.

"Good night, sweetie."
"Nighty night," I murmur
"I love you, Ana." She whispers
"I love you too mommy." I say without thinking

She kisses my head and turns out the bedside light. I fall into a deep sleep in no time because of the comfortableness of the bed. It feels so much better than the concrete bridges that I usually sleep under when it rains.
********

I'm awoken by Kirstie shaking me. My heart is racing and I don't know why.

"Ana, wake up."
"K-Kirstie?"
"Yes baby, it's me." She said and released a breath of relief. She sits me up and pulls me into a hug
"What's going on?" I ask when we speedster
"You were screaming and I thought you were hurt."

Suddenly my dream comes back to me. The man was on top of me and I was screaming, trying to fight him off.

"H-He was on top of me. I tried to get him to stop, but he was to strong. I-It hurt so much. I wasn't ready." I cry into her chest.
"I know, sweetie, I know."
"I-I can feel him all over me. It still hurts." I whimper
"Shhh, he isn't here. It's going to be alright." She comforts

I big clap of thunder sounds and I jump in her arms. I tighten my grip on her and she pulls me closer. She rocks me in her arms until I stop crying.

"When I was little, my mother would let me sleep with her when I was scared. Do you want to come lay down with me?"
I nod
She picks me up, carries me across the hall to her room, and lays me on the bed. She climbs in next to me, and pulls me close. I let myself be engulfed by her warmth and comfort. It's in that moment when I feel something that I haven't felt in a long time. Safe.