Skimming the Shelves PV Sonya Carlson Closed

Sonya entered the library calmly ant took a breath. She loved the library and the many shelves of books calmed her, especially after a long day when she was feeling slightly homesick. It was quiet, not very crowded, and most importantly had lots of books. She had loved books for as long as she could remember, probably all thanks to her father who was an author. They had played an important part in her life and she wasn't planning on that stopping anytime soon.

As she walked along the many shelves her fingers traced the spines of the books and paused every so often when she saw something familiar or particularly intriguing. She turned a corner and spotted one of her father's books and grinned, she love it when she saw his books out in public. She lingered on it for a few seconds then carried on. She turned another corner gazed at all the books on the shelves, she could do this all day. Sonya took a breath before smiling and walking down the aisle.

She walked until she was near a boy, most likely a first year, who stood there flipping the pages of a book. "Pardon me," she said with a smile, about to pass him until she saw the book he was flipping through. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard," she gasped quietly and stopped short. Her father had read to her from that book lots when she was younger. Sadly, he stopped that tradition and moved on to having her read larger books a few years ago. Still, she had read it on her own sometimes and it brought back lots of good memories.

Sonya thought of all the times she begged her father for another story before she fell asleep and smiled to herself. That book was a big part of her childhood, the ultimate storybook. "That's a great book you got there," she spoke up and smiled at the boy, before she stood there too long and he thought she was odd.

Ezekiel heard footsteps come up close. He glanced toward the sound, and saw a young girl looking at him. She looked around his age, maybe a bit older. She was strikingly beautiful, though. Ezekiel couldn’t help smiling. He quickly looked back down at the book, slightly embarrassed at their awkward eye contact.

She continued shuffling past.”Pardon me,” the girl said.

Ezekiel nodded in her direction and smiled. He shifted his position a bit, so that she may pass easier. He believed she would have done so, but she gasped when she caught sight of the book he held in his hands. Guess she recognizes it.

”The Tales of Beedle the Bard...” she said, “that’s a great book you got there.”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but respond. He turned to look back up at the young girl and said, ”Only the best book out there! This thing has the best tales any kid could read.” He looked down at the book for a moment, then handed it to her. As he turned around again to grab a second copy (because there were always extras in a big school such as this), he began thinking if this was the first friend he’d have, or just a nice conversation between strangers. He turned again towards the girl and held the book close to his chest.”You read it before? It’s one of me favorite books of all time.”

Sonya smiled as the boy handed her the book and got another copy for himself. "Of corse I have!" she said excitedly but still quiet, as this was the library. "My father used to read them to me lots when I was younger. I haven't actually read it in what feels like ages," she explained opining the book and skimming the pages. Her fingers traced the pages as she smiled at the oh so familiar words and pictures. She had so many good memories of the book that she thought of while skimming through the stories.

She turned a page of the book and smiled, "The Tale of the Three Brothers. That one's always been my favorite. I know most people say that, but I've truly always found it quite intriguing." She looked through the story but didn't quite read it, after all, she knew that one by heart. After a few more seconds of looking through the book she turned her attention back to the boy. She had already concluded that he was most likely a first year and his robes identified him as a Ravenclaw. He also seemed extremely nice, as he had actually talked to her and not just shrugged her off. "Anyways, I'm Sonya," she smiled and held her hand out to shake.

Ezekiel smiled and listened to the girl talk about her father. Similar to his story, her father read those stories to her all the time, although it had been a while since she had picked the book up again. The Tale of the Three Brothers was her favorite story...

Ezekiel’s mother told him many times that you can find what a person’s like just by talking to them about their favorite stories. The Tale of the Three Brothers was a story of selfishness, wisdom, and cunning. She seemed like the girl who would like that story. Of course, like she said, many people do. Something was different, though, but Ezekiel couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe it was just because he had never run into someone like him in the library, let alone the whole school.

The young and pretty girl introduced herself as Sonya, and held out her hand. Ezekiel reached out and shook it. ”Name’s Ezekiel, but you can call me Zeke if ya want to.” He looked back down at his book. She probably expects a response from him about it. ”My story’s kinda like yours. Me mum used to read this to me every night before I was eight.” Ezekiel smiled, holding back small laughter. ”She used to beg to choose another book, but I wanted to read this one every single time,” he said. His smile slowly faded. ”I wish she was still here,” he mumbled under his breath. He looked back up at the girl, who expressed a confused yet pitiful face. Oops. His hand shot up to his mouth. ”Shoot! Did I say that out loud?” He said that a little louder than expected... Ezekiel could already feel his face turning red.

Sonya smiled as Ezekiel explained what the book was to him. He then said something about his mother to which she tilted her head slightly and frowned. Wait a second... did he mean his mother had passed away? Her thoughts were confirmed when he got upset about saying that phrase. Sonya knew precisely what had just happened, the same thing happened to her quite often.

Sonya's mother had passed away right after she was born. She didn't know it this would be worse or better then actually knowing her before she died. She never knew her mother, so it wasn't like she could miss her but she still often felt like she was missing something in her life, and that something would be her mother. She also couldn't help but think sometimes that it was her fault. If she was never born her mother wouldn't have passed away and nothing would've been off in her family's life. She may not know exactly what had happened with Ezekiel's mom but she got the gist. His face promptly turned beet red and he looked quite upset. "Hey, it's fine. I get it," Sonya's face lightened a bit to try and make him more comfortable with the situation, "Happens to me quite a bit."

Ezekiel tried hiding his discomfort. How could he say that? He just met this girl, and now he’s got them on the topic of his own mother. He tried focusing on her words, but his mind was clouded with embarrassment. However, she said something that caught his attention.

”Hey, it okay, I get it. It happens to me too.”

Was her mother dead too? That couldn’t be. People slip up on other incidents all the time. Still, Ezekiel couldn’t deny it. Something inside him wished it wasn’t true. No one should go through that kind of grief. However, something else wished it was true. Ezekiel had never had friend to relate to when it came to his mother.

Anxiety began crawling up Ezekiel’s spine, but he pushed it back. He had to address it someway. ”My mum died when I was eight. Nobody knows how or why, so I can’t really tell you. I still really haven’t gotten over it...” His voice trailed off. He lost eye contact with the girl and began staring at the ground. ”She was a genius. She got sorted into Ravenclaw, like me. That means I have a better connection with her now that I’m here.” He smiled. ”Well, almost. I’m not a girl, so there had to be some changes.” A small, silent laugh escaped from Ezekiel’s lips.

Sonya giggled quietly at the what Ezkiel said about not being a girl however, she could sense his discomfort. It was similar for her, she never wanted to linger on the subject of her mother passing away for too long. However, he had talked to her about it and opened up. She knew it wasn't the most comfortable subject, but something like that was something she'd open up about too to someone with shared experience so she decided to open up a bit as well.

"My mother passed away right after I was born," she said, pretty quietly. She was used to saying this, as she usually included when she was getting to know people so it didn't awkwardly come out later however, she wasn't used to saying anymore about it. She typically grazed over the subject. "It's not like I ever knew her so I can't say that I miss her, but I still always feel like something's missing." She gave a shaky sigh, willing herself not to cry. She just met Ezekiel, she couldn't push her emotions onto him.

"You know, it's funny. Although she's gone I feel close to her as well when I do things that she did. She was a theater performer and I'm learning to be," she gave a light smile. "She was an amazing performer, my father showed me a couple videos of her." She gave yet another sigh, though less shaky. She had never opened up about this to anyone but her family, yet she felt comfortable talking to Ezekiel about it.

"My mother passed away right after I was born."

Ouch. That hit harder than expected. Ezekiel hugged his book tighter in his arms, listening to Sonya's short story. He could tell she wasn't used to talking about it, as she seemed to hold back tears as she spoke. She spoke of her mother's theater performance, and how her relation to that made her feel closer, like Ezekiel felt when he was sorted into Ravenclaw. His heart warmed at the thought.

At first, Ezekiel was at a loss for words. How could he respond to that? His mind raced for answers. Then, "I'm sorry about your mum. It's pretty hard thinkin' about all the time you coulda spent with her that all went to waste." He glanced down at the ground for a moment, then back up and into Sonya's eyes. "I could never tell which felt worse; knowin' your mum before she died, or never knowin' her. There are ups and downs to it. Like, the ups would be ya have memories to share and think about, and ya learn so much from her when she's alive. And there are the downs, like..." He fell silent for a moment, but it seemed like ages. "...like saying goodbye."

After that, Ezekiel couldn't continue. Once again, he failed to make eye contact with Sonya and his eyes escaped to his feet. "That's the worst part," was all he could manage, for he too, held back tears.

Sonya bit her lip as Ezekiel spoke. He seemed upset and slightly uncomfortable and she was never real good at this kind of talk. She tended to bottle up her emotions around people and focus on the positive. She wasn't sure how to respond to the words of grief and pain. She couldn't imagine having to say goodbye to a parent, forever. It was difficult enough to just miss a parent, much less know what it was like when they were around. Even without that she had some different troubles with the death of her mother, like every so often when she thought it was her fault that she had passes away. When she felt that guilt it was awful. She decided not to bring her issues up though, and focus on passing the subject and comforting Ezekiel.

"I'm sorry that you had to say goodbye," Sonya said quietly, "I can't even imagine that." And she couldn't. She had always imagined what it would be like to have known her mother, but she had never considered the possibility of loosing her later. That would have been awful. She wasn't quite sure of what to do next so she pulled Ezekiel into a light hug that hopefully wasn't too awkward.