Chapter 17: Biting Words

School libraries brimmed with the rotted core of what parents and teachers felt was important in the world. Row after row of static thoughts, unchanging as those who wrote it, statues from years or decades before.

Sonja sighed miserably as she strolled down the stacks, fingers trailing along books that should have felt dusty, if they weren’t already. Her eyes trailing through the faded age of the books, many of them twice or three times her age. Some spoke of ideas that were remarkable, when her teachers were young, while others were old when the school grew up between the tools of construction workers.

She found what she wasn’t looking for, a roughly bound book on the history of the city. Her steps paused as she teased it out from tightly packed books. Her fingers paused when she saw the top of the pages. Someone had used a black marker to write in the name of the school, but that did nothing to hide the large chunk of pages missing near the back. Frowning, she held the book in her left hand and cracked it open, flipping half-way to page through the pages.

Sonja paused again near the back, where the pages were cut out very carefully. Her eyes caught the tiny sliver of paper where they used a razor to cut out a section of fifty pages. Paging back a little, she browsed through the words, written in the neat type of an ancient typewriter. The chapter before was on the county the school resided in. The section behind spoke of a third county, but the county described in the middle was missing.

Her breath catching her throat, she paged to the beginning of the book and peered at the white strip of paper on the front. The stamped dates showed that no one checked out the book in almost three years. Before then, no one touched it for at least six. Flipping through the pages, she found the publisher of a small press, no doubt long since faded into the pages of history themselves. No ISBN or other tracking number.

Partially curious, she closed the book and padded down the stacks to the front desk. The decrepit old woman behind looked up from behind her glasses and wrinkles, speaking in a voice that no longer knew how not to whisper.

“How may I help you, de-” The “dear” caught in her throat as the obvious memory and recent sexual harassment memo flashed across her dying brain. Sonja shuddered mentally, never wanting to see the other side of the glassy gaze. The old woman froze, as if the sentence finished properly.

Sonja roused herself before speaking in a whisper. “Oh! I found this book and noticed it was missing pages... it looked like someone cut it out.”

Handing the book over, she breathed in the dank smell of paper and age. The old woman’s hands raised up into the air, shaking from the effort, before claw-like fingers snatched the book from her hand and pulled it in, a fisherman finally catching his prey.

The old woman cracked open the book herself, a few sprinkles of dust falling to the desk, as she paged through it. She paused at the cut-out section, then kept on paging through the book.

Setting it down and making no effort to return it, the old woman smiled up at her.

“Oh... we know about this book. The section was removed some years ago... by order of the school board.”

“Is there an original copy?”

“I’m sorry...” The old woman wasn’t sorry, but neither was she willing to talk about it.

Sonja fought for a moment to raise her voice, but it would do nothing. Instead, she barely nodded. “Just wanted to make sure. Thank you.”

“No problem, de-” That same pause. Sonja turned her back and returned to the stacks, her feet retracing the steps back to the section on history. Behind her, she could feel the glassy gaze of the old woman watching her. It felt strangely pointless against her shoulder blades.

Returning to the shelf, she saw the slightly gaping opening of the book she brought into the light. A few books down stood the book she was actually looking for, another history book of California, not just the area in specific. Pulling it out, she held it on hand and padded in the other direction, back toward the table.

As she grew closer, she frowned as she saw others standing at the table, with Meris still sitting down in the middle. Betty’s hair was bright in the dingy feeling of the library, but even the other girls in her pack stood out. It almost looked like they were virgins of the library, the dust hadn’t been able to sink into their thousand-dollar haircuts or perfumes.

As Sonja drew closer, she could hear the whispered voices of girls who didn’t see her.

“-tell that bitch that if she ever steps into a game field again, I’m going to make sure she leaves in an ambulance.”

Meris wilted under the acid tone, her hands clutching her purse tightly.

Betty snarled as she leaned over, towering over the frail-looking girl. “And if you ever wander through our area again, I’ll make sure that Sonja has the address to your gravestone tattooed to that fancy little ass of hers.”

Fear and terror shone in Meris’ eyes and Sonja felt anger growing in her heart. Stepping forward, she pressed one hip between Marisha and Ming and shoved hard.

Both of them were surprised by her appearance and stepped away quickly as Sonja let herself slip down into her chair and looked up at Betty with a smile that never reached her eyes and a cutting whisper. “My ass? I thought Marisha was watching that for you, Betty dear.”

Betty barely let the sudden appearance startle her. She towered over Sonja, but Sonja only saw the sudden weakness, the ineffectual rage that rose up in those purple eyes.

“Listen bitch-”

Sonja smiled at her and put a finger to her lips. “Shush or the bat will kick you out.”

Rage colored Betty’s cheeks and for a brief moment, Sonja wasn’t sure if Betty was stupid enough to lash out at her.

Meris whimpered and Sonja glanced over, to see Betty’s fingernails digging into her shoulder, the knuckles white as the purple tips dug into the fabric. When Sonja looked back, the rage burned deep in her own eyes and she fought not to punch the smug girl.

Having her attention, Betty smiled sweetly and without joy. “You listen to me. I don’t want to see either you or your slut in our halls again. If you could curl up and die, that would be perfect, but failing that, I’ll make sure you shuffle that mortal coil the second you walk into a football field at night.”

“Shuffle that coil? Been to church lately?”

The snarling hiss cut through the silence of the library. On the other side, Sonja could almost hear the cracking as the old woman peered up from her desk, trying to find the source. Betty’s back was to her, so having no obvious target, she just made a general hushing noise to the library and returned back to whatever she stared at all day.

Meris whimpered again as she fought not to cry out as Betty dug her fingers in even deeper.

As Sonja watched, she saw a faint point of bright red start to spread out from one hand.

Blood.

It was almost too much for her and Sonja slapped her hand up. Betty’s grip was surprisingly strong, but Sonja was stronger.

Meris cried out as loudly as Betty’s fingers were torn from her shoulder, a few droplets of blood rising into the air, then falling down on her shirt.

Sonja surged up, bowling Betty back even as the old woman finally responded, yelling out in a whisper that almost sounded loud. “You two! Stop it this instant!”

Glaring at Betty, Sonja responded sharply, “Good idea, brick layer.”

Betty held out one hand streaked with blood, “Any time, bitch.”

The old woman called out again, “I don’t care what either of you do, but leave my library now!”

Meris and Sonja gathered up their things as Sonja and her pack strolled out of the library. Passing the old woman, Sonja felt the glare as much as she felt every sniff from Meris.

Outside the door, she pressed Meris against the wall to inspect the wound. Tears dripped off Meris’ face as Sonja found a silk cloth in her purse and pressed it against the cut, to prevent the blood from soaking almost as much to touch Meris.

The young girl smiled through her tears as Sonja stared into her eyes.

“Why didn’t you cry out.”

“I... I didn’t want you to get in trouble.”

Sonja smiled, feeling a wellspring of love for the frail girl that continued to grow every single day. The tears softened lightly before Betty’s cutting voice pierced the hall.

“Oh please! I thought the lesbian slut would be on her knees at this point, lapping at her dear protector.”

Shooting her a poisoned look, Sonja snapped back again. “At least I don’t have to find the smallest dick in school to compare mine to.”