Chapter Text
"People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned." - Saul Bellow
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It all started so small, just the phantom touch of a hand over mine. The slightest puff of warmth, as if a breath brushed against my ear. The subtle scent of blood, as if a single drop had once stained the pages of my book. Muffled footsteps, movement in the corner of my eye, despite there being no one there. Yet as the signs grew they brought no fear, only stoked a growing anticipation deep within me.
The library was empty, I knew, and yet the stacks echoed with the rhythmic sound of a heart. My own, beating so strong I thought it would rip its way out of my chest, and then another, so close I could feel it.
Inexorably, I turned and found a vision of beauty so great I was knocked breathless in an instant. Ethereal in black and white, dark waterfall of hair framing pale blue eyes that seemed alight from within.
She was Karma, I somehow knew, and oh but she was divine.
Gracefully, her head turned slightly as if in consideration, and I desperately wished that she were considering me.