HAUNTED

KINSHIP

Nora wandered to the library. She was researching hauntings in the States. Mostly in New York, since that was where they were going to school. This was a busy place and also very easy to hide.

Nora loved that she could go unnoticed here. Things were tough in her small town. Everyone knew everything or they thought that did. They didn't know jack shit. Not really.

Nora started in the usually section. History. She loved history but there wasn't a real job with a history degree. History teacher. She wasn't sure if that's what she wanted. She was still trying to decide.

She found some books, she needed and found a table. She settle in for a few hours of reading and taking notes. She was searching for something specific. She was a couple of hours in when someone sat across from her.

"That is a lot of history!" He pointed at her pile of history books.

Nora looked up from her list. "Sure."

"Hi. I'm Hyde Higgins." He smiled. She was cute.

He wondered what she was doing in a library on a Friday night and why she wasn't at that party with a couple of guys hanging off of her.

She had pretty blue-green eyes and a nice smiled. He had seen her around and they had at least one class together. She never looked at anyone and kept her head down. She never flirted with him so they never met.

Hyde didn't know her name. He was popular and all of the girls flirted with him and knew who he was. He liked that. He loved the attention and he wasn't shy about it.

Nora smiled. "Hi. Hyde. I'm Nora Calvaruso." She didn't want his attention in any way but he also seemed nice and she couldn't be rude.

She was turning a page in a book and clearly didn't want to talk but Hyde was curious about her. "Nora Cal-var-uso. Nice name." Hyde flinched because he just sounds sarcastic and he said her name in it's syllables. He was an idiot. "Sorry. I'll go over there." He pointed at another table.

Nora looked up again. "Why, Hyde Higgins?" She smiled. She thought it was funny that they were using first and last names.

She looked at him. He was cute. She had seen him in class. He had blond hair and dark eyes and a fantastic smile. She could tell they were a little sad. She could tell he didn't sleep much and she wondered why.

"You're just fine. What are you reading?" She knew he looked familiar. They had a class together but she wasn't sure which one. He was new. Freshman maybe.

"Oh, history. Hauntings...I'm looking for something." Hyde looked at his book. He was still searching for his brother without any luck. He spent all of his free time looking. Searching.

NYU was close to home, well, about six hours from home. He was hoping to get some better information at this library or the city library. His small town, crappy library had almost nothing.

"Oh, ghosts?" Nora smiled.

"Right. I'm looking for ghosts." Hyde tried to tease but he didn't want to think that maybe Willem was dead and he was looking for a ghost of his brother. He couldn't think that. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad."

"No, it's fine. So, do you come here a lot?" Hyde almost laughed at the weak pickup line.

Nora laughed. "That was terrible but yes, I do. I love the library and I'm here almost every night for a little while."

Hyde notice a little sadness in her voice. He wondered what her story was. Maybe she was just a lonely nerd like him. He wasn't really a nerd though. He was a football player.

The quarterback on his high school team and he was playing for NYU also. He was hoping to start, hopefully next season but he was at the library a lot.

"My roommate likes to party so I hide here!" Nora explained.

"Oh, yes. I have a friend like that. Well, I have teammates like that too. They all went to some first of the year party." Hyde smiled.

"Yes, Poppy went there as well." Nora looked down at the table, at her books.

"Poppy?" Hyde thought that was an odd name.

"Hyde?"

"Right. Sorry to judge. I guess I have no room to talk, huh!" Hyde smiled.

"I didn't name her Poppy. She is a product of seventies children. Her parents are still hippies and she is infected with the hippie gene. There is no stopping that girl!" Nora was entertaining herself mostly.

"Hippies are still around?" Hyde asked.

"Yes. Apparently. It could be just her family but yes."

"Well, I should let you get back to...uh, the ghosts." Hyde looked at her books.

Nora smiled at the books. She would rather read than talk to him anyway. She knew he wasn't interested. Who would be? She was a freak."Well, it was nice talking to you, Hyde."

"You too, Nora." Hyde liked her because she didn't hit on him. It was nice to talk to a girl that didn't like him. She clearly didn't find him attractive and he liked that. He loved all of the female attention but it was nice to be himself for a minute. Just take a breath and not have to be fantastic.

Nora read and took notes and Hyde borrowed a couple of books. She wondered what he was looking for. Who, maybe. She wondered if he was searching for someone.

He seemed very astute for a jock. He was cute but not her type. Nora didn't have a type, really. No men would ever find her attractive. She knew that. She could never be herself around them. She had to hide from everyone.

No one would ever want her and she knew that from past experience. No one would care. She was living her life for her. Only her. Nora found a haunted house about twenty miles from the school and now she had to go.

Last year, she stayed in the city and that kept her busy. There were a lot of places to haunt but this year she wanted to travel out farther. There were less chances of getting seen and Nora loved to find new places. She gathered her things and was out the door.

Hyde watched Nora leave. She wore interesting clothes. Long sleeves and jeans. The shoes were great. A pretty leather boots of some kind. They made her look taller.

She was very pretty and that surprised him that she was alone. She clearly didn't have a guy and he wondered why. He wondered a lot about her. She was quiet and kept to herself. Almost hiding.

She was funny and smart. Fun to talk to so it's wasn't like she was awkward. All of the pretty girls always hit on him but she didn't.

She barely looked up as she walked across the library and she had to be hot in those long sleeves. It was August and it was a hot day. Eighty degrees at night. She had to be suffocating.

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