Works in Progress

My mother used to take my brother, my sister, and I, everywhere when I was a child. One of the most rewarding places she took us was to the public library. I wanted to write a story about going back to the library and the choices that propelled my life forward. The genre of my primary piece is poetry. I wanted to evoke different feelings out of my audience when I wrote my poems, and I hope to capture those same types of feelings when writing my creative nonfiction story. Another common theme is that I am writing about past experiences that I had when I was younger.

Charles

He was not sure if it was the book he read or if something throughout the day made him feel sad, but Charles could not escape this gloomy feeling that came over him. He lay slumped there in the library, hoodie proving to be no match for temperature of his ice-cold desk. It seemed that skipping school and falling asleep in the library had become a daily routine. He enjoyed reading books; however, he despised taking tests. Every time there was a test to take, he found himself hiding out from society in the local public library. The library was the only place to go when skipping school, everything else was closed. He could not go home because that is where his mother stayed. She had been a stay-at-home mom ever since Charles was diagnosed with arthritis in his right knee, causing him to be unable to walk in his stroller. The doctors told her that he would grow out of that condition, and they were right. Charles would lay at the desk for hours, trying to fall asleep, but could never really keep his eyes shut for more than a lousy few seconds. Eventually, he would grow tired of his position, either due to pain running down the back of his neck or due to the tingling feeling that overcame his legs when his butt went numb from the metal chair. That is when he would get up and take a stroll around the library in search of a good book to read.

            He loved going to the library. Even on days that he decided to go to school, he would often dream of the serenity at the library. Not just any type of serenity either, only the peace and quiet a library could conceal. The books he carried home from the library, reminded him of the magical place. While at the library, the smell of books fluttered the air. New and used books had a funny smell to them, but Charles could instantly distinguish the difference between new and used books; the books had different smells. He found many of the books to be boring. He walked down isles picking up books that had the best-looking cover, reading them, often checking them out, and bringing them back to his home. Some books would remind him that there were people experiencing worse days than he. That is what kept him going, the fuel that kept him alive. It was this day at the library, while dashing in and out of isles of books that he saw her. The most beautiful girl that he had ever gazed upon, sitting at a table in the library, studying. She sat there with short curly hair that ran down to her shoulders, a tartan skirt made of blues and yellows, a pair of black tights, white polo shirt, and high heels. He had been going to this library all his life and it felt as if God had finally answered his prayers and sent him an angel.

            Charles did not want to ruin the moment by approaching her in the library, so he found a chair in the back of the library and sat; keeping his new crush locked in his eyesight. Every few minutes, she would look up at give him a smile, but he was too panicked to acknowledge that she was looking back at him. He sat there for hours starring at the love of his life until finally a girlfriend of her’s walks into the library and sits next to her. The two of them start whispering back and forth in each other’s ears; they pause and look over at him. The girl’s friend gracefully gets up out of her seat and slowly walks directly towards Charles. Talking in a low voice she said, “My friend thinks that you are hot. You should go over and say ‘hello’ to her.”

Smiling, Charles hops up out of his chair. “I was about to walk over there to her.”

“Sure, you were, she said that you had been sitting over here for hours.”

“Has it been that long?”

He walks over to her sitting at her table, eager to see what fate has in store.

It was love at first sight. The two were together like peas in a pod. All Charles could think about was how he could make her happy. They walked hand in hand leaving the library, making it a habit to go to the library every day; their private hiding space was in a public library.

Sophia

Sophia had bounced around from school to school; she was an honor student who loved to do her homework. Aspiring to be a doctor, she knew she had to study hard if she was ever going to live up to the expectations of her parents, who were both doctors. Sophia’s best friend, Deserie, followed her everywhere and knew her like no one else in this world. So, when Sophia told her to approach Charles and invite him over to their table, Deserie knew what was going to happen because she had seen it happen so many times before. Every time Sohpia and Deserie went someplace together, Sophia always wanted Deserie to “hook her up” with a guy that they saw out in public. Charles had no intention on being one of Sophia’s fling’s, he knew she was beautiful and that she could have anyone that she wanted. The fact that she had made the first move by inviting him over to see her caught Charles off guard. Charles and Sophia made things official and considered to be officially together after a couple days. Every day they would meet up after school and go to the library to study. Charles wrote Sophia letters and poems throughout the day and delivered them to her after school. Like turned to love very quick, as the two were never caught out in public without the presence of the other. The lack of attention made Deserie jealous. She liked Charles too, and Charles could tell. One day, before Sophia arrived to the library, Deserie approached Charles and told him, “I liked you from the start; I should be your girl”. When Sophia arrived at the library, Deserie packed up her belongings and left. The idea of leaving his beloved never crossed his mind more than a second, she was perfect, and he wanted to keep her.

The next day at school, Charles’ best friend Anthony had gotten ahold of a knife from the lunchroom. Charles’ other friends came rushing to him and told him, “Come quick, Anthony has a knife and he is trying to kill Sophia!” Charles went running down the hallway towards the cafeteria and that’s when he seen his good friend Anthony, with a knife, body trembling, and screaming at Sophia that he was going to “kill her”. 

“She’s the devil, I am going to kill her!”

“Anthony, give me the knife”.

“No, She’s the devil”.

Charles stood between Anthony, his knife, and Sophia. 

“Give me the knife Anthony, you are not going to kill anyone”.

“Yes, I am”.

“No, you are not”.

Charles slowly got closer to Anthony and began to pry the knife out of his hand, finger by finger, Anthony’s death grip on the knife slowly but surely eased up.

Sophia stood there, crying in my arms, until the bell rang, sending us all back to our respective classes.