Don't ~
Call For Silence

Peaches

            The doors were heavy as iron, though they were clearly made from wood. Pounding on them with his fists and pushing with his legs, Mei managed to ease the doors open just enough to slip his small frame inside, then left them ajar, unable to bring himself to try to shut them now that he had them open. How the villagers managed to open these doors every day to enter the library was more than he could imagine.

            Though it had been daylight outside, the building shined like night, the only illumination stemming from the crack in the double doors and the greasy glare that hummed in through paper-covered windows. Somewhere candles had been lit or were still burning as they room smelled faintly of fire and sweet wax. Mei closed his eyes to adjust to the dark faster and took several steps inside the room, removing himself from the gaping doorway light.

            Only hours before he’d first set foot in this village, and only days before that he’d stepped into this country for the first time in his life. Now he was already seeking shelter in the sturdiest building he’d yet faced in this land; his attempt to throw off pursuit.

            Opening his eyes he squinted, but everything was dim shadows and the bright sunlight still stained his vision. Outside there were voices, so he steadied himself with both hands before his face and walked farther inside.

            The entryway was huge and vacant. Just beyond it the forest of tall shelves laden with books and journals loomed. Mei’s pockets jingled and clicked with every step he took, and he reached down with one hand to hold the louder pocket silent while he crept closer to the shelves. He didn’t even want this stuff, but he couldn’t leave it here now, not in the middle of the library floor. He couldn’t even go back out and apologize because he didn’t know where he’d gotten it from and besides that, his social skills weren’t exactly, well, there was just no way to apologize profusely enough to get them to understand without speaking.

            Upon reaching the first shelves he ducked between them and jingled along halfway down the row until he was in an area that was completely dark, then he crouched down, gripping his knees with both hands and sighed out loud.

            That sigh reverberated off the dusty book-laden walls and rattled further up toward the ceiling, startling him. Hands over his mouth now, he stood using only his legs and then started in further. For some reason the clink of the objects he carried didn’t feel as loud as the steps his feet were making against the floor, but he shoved his hands into his biggest pockets and held the most metallic objects still anyway.

            Three large bookshelves down his eyes had adjusted to the darkness just enough to tell him that he was in between row IIX and row IIIX. Where that was exactly didn’t seem important. If he kept going straight eventually he might run into a wall and he could wait there and then find his way back out using the circumference of the room when he’d been hidden long enough.

            Feeling heavier suddenly he noticed that his hands had left his pockets and he was now carrying two substantial volumes of books from who-knows-what shelf. He groaned in frustration and stopped walking to weigh the books in his hands. He couldn’t just leave them here between the shelves, that wouldn’t be nice at all. He’d figure out what to do with them later if he didn’t acquire too many more. He couldn’t believe he’d picked them up in the first place, that was the most frustrating thing about it. He couldn’t believe he’d taken that wristwatch, or the egg spoon either. He didn’t know how he’d managed to pocket the potted herb or where he’d picked up a wallet containing so much money; but that’s just how it’d always been. It wasn’t something he meant to do, and his mother had assured him it wasn’t a problem, but it seemed like it, now that she was gone.

             The library had looked big enough from the outside, solid stone several stories high and possibly an acre in size, an impressive chamber for books at best, but after passing another four full length shelves and having yet to hit the back wall Mei began to worry that the size was more than he’d bargained for.

            Against what he knew was better judgment, after all, the wall could be just one more shelf away, same as it had been for the last several, he turned at the next corridor and proceeded to the left, passing row after row of pitch-dark shelves.

            If it weren’t so very dark it might have been easier to stand, but Mei could feel the panic of being severely lost leaking through him. His arms felt heavier again and he wondered when he’d managed to swipe another volume of something oversized from some shelf. Irritated with himself and tired from the stress, he put the books down on the ground beside a shelf, rising into the air a dull “thump” that echoed around and back to him. He then sat down beside them and dug his face into his hands.

            The day had started off so well. His intent had been to find somewhere he could finally settle down. If he could find work in this town, if he could survive just one day he would stay here and make a living. Of course that hadn’t worked out so well. Why should it? It never had before. The moment he made friends he wound up taking their things and without the ability to explain what had gone wrong he’d ended up on the run again, as always, trying to think of a way to make it up to them without being in trouble.

            The heavy door closed with a thundering clap and the whole library seemed to shake in a sense of finality. Mei shuddered. If he were trapped inside now what would he do? Every muscle in his body tensed and he pulled himself in between two of the towering shelves for some sense of deeper protection. Now footsteps tapped along the stone floor. It sounded like a single set, though perhaps it was a group who designed their step to sound like one though it was many.

The footsteps tapped along and after several seconds the floor down the aisle Mei had previously been standing in grew lighter, just enough to let him know that whoever entered had brought light with them.

Standing stock still and staring at the stones on the floor, he willed the light to just up and move along past this row so he could make for the direction the shock of the door closing had come from. However it lingered, pausing with the steps and flickering a moment and then abruptly beginning to come closer.

“Hello?” a female voice sunk through the shelves and struck him with dread. The books he’d picked up he’d been so careless as to leave in the middle of the aisle where anyone who knew how the library was organized would be unlikely to pass by without noticing. It was too late now, how could he possibly escape when he’d lead this person straight to him?

“I’m, but this library is no longer open for business. The door was supposed to be locked. You have to leave now.”

The footsteps were steadily coming closer and in his panic Mei couldn’t even force himself to scoot farther into the darkness. Right at the edge of the deep row of giant bound books he crouched, shivering. The light grew closer and closer.

“If you’re still here I suppose. Maybe I left these here myself.” The light stopped moving one row away. The dim area of illumination had crept up onto Mei’s leg. He realized he hadn’t been breathing. Too scared to begin now he sucked in the inside of his cheek and bit down.

“Well hello there. Who might you be?” Mei jumped and looked up sharply to see a girl’s face peeking around the side of the shelf, only recognizable as such by the long pony tail that hung around the shoulder of the silhouetted head.

More than a blood-curdling scream shimmied through the boy’s body but got stuck and escaped as only a half-gasped squeak before both immobilizing his limbs and bidding them to flee at the same time. He scrambled about in place for a second before orienting himself enough to find his feet, but by the time his mind began to work again the girl had realized his fright. Pulling her head back and moving the source of the light so she could clearly be seen she spoke quickly again;

“I’m sorry! Don’t be scared! It’s okay. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She couldn’t have been more than a few years older than Mei was himself, but her eyes were sunken in like someone who’d chosen insomnia over sleep in order to pour over books in dim light. She was wearing a dark cloak over a very simple dress and carrying a basket on one arm. In the other hand there was a lantern- the source of the light.

She smiled at him, but it did little to calm Mei’s on-end nerves and he could only cower at the edge of the shadows, unsure of what to do and unable to explain his reason for being there in the first place. She looked him over and after a moment said, “You must be the one they’re looking for outside.”

He started again at this. So it was a search party! They’d found him now and what would they do with him? He wasn’t from around here. However, she sat down, carefully setting her basket to one side and placing the lantern between them rather than calling out an alarm, and she bid that he do the same.

“I can’t see well, sorry that I don’t light this place. It’s hard enough to manage all the books now that my Master’s dead. Outside they were saying you have pink hair. Where must you come from? I thought it was just a story they were telling, but now you’re here.”

Mei didn’t answer, instead he remained on his feet, a few feet away and still wracked with fear of what might become of him. After a moment of silence she nodded and reached into the burlap sack she carried in the basket. Very slowly she pulled from it a light colored object of circular nature and held it out to him.

“Would you like a peach?”

As though it had never come Mei felt the terror wipe from him and a new curiosity over this foreign object sprang forth. Pockets rattling and clanking he sat down opposite the girl and held out his hand, accepting the peach she offered.

“You can’t see it well, but they’re sort of pink, like your hair. They only harvest the peaches for a short time each year to sell at the market and I thought, since today was so nice that I’d get some and take them to the roof with me while I studied today,” she spoke casually, pulling out another peach for herself, wiping it off with her thumb and then taking a bite of it.

Intrigued by her action, Mei took a shallow bite of his peach as well. The sudden sweetness shocked him and made him smile and he took another bite right away.

“Good, right? They’re my favorite thing they grow in this part of the country. The market outside today was especially for selling them. My master always used to buy them and I thought I’d go out and treat myself to some today. I guess it’s a good thing I did, so you could get inside, huh?”

The candlelight kept flickering back and forth, casting shadows now this way, now that as though inside it’s glass container there was some cycling wind keeping it alive and in motion. It was on this that Mei kept his eyes while he licked the sticky juice from his fingers and took another bite. He knew he was nothing more than an intruder and it seemed so important to apologize properly, to make her understand he hadn’t meant to be such trouble, but how could he say it? He looked at her and she smiled at him and nodded again.

“It’s okay. The only thing that makes people mad is that they want all their things back. You can’t help yourself, can you?” she pointed beside him and somehow he’d wound up with another book seated beside him. Two shelves up directly to his left a hole stood as his accuser.

Mei gasped and set down his peach carefully on the floor, wiping his hands on his pants, which only reminded him of what he’d acquired throughout the rest of the day. The girl watched intently as he shoved the book back into place and then picked up his peach, held it in his lap, and hung his head.

There was silence between them for a moment, then she pulled something out of the peach she’d been eating and showed it to him. “Watch out for the pit in the middle. They come out easily but I you can’t eat them. See? It’s like a little rock. You can plant it and peach trees grow from it.”

Mei looked down at his peach, then took another bite. There was something hard inside. The girl set her pit beside the lantern. As soon as he’d dug the pit out of his own juicy pit he found he had two in his hand, and apologetically gave hers back.

“You’re pretty weird. I don’t think anyone’s going to be mad at you though.” Mei cast a sad glance to the side sighed. The girl reached into her basket again, “I’ll tell you what; I have to go study while there’s still light, but how about you give me all the things you took and I’ll leave them outside the library doors. Then it’s like you never took them at all, okay? Here, you can have these.”

She handed him three peaches, surprisingly balanced in a single hand and he accepted them with both of his. Placing them to his side, he began to remove the acquired weight from his pockets. The girl remained calm, accepting each thing he handed her and placing it carefully into the basket beside the burlap of peaches. She was collected, only really surprised about the potted plant and a few other bulky items.

Mei pulled everything from his pockets then ran his hands over every fold of his clothes again. One or two things he’d thought he’d removed he found had wound up back with him, but after a few checks he was satisfied that no stolen object was on his person.

“Is that everything?” the girl asked, and he nodded feverously in response. “Alright then. I’ve got to be going, but you’re welcome to stay here as long as you’d like. I’m going to put these things outside the front door, but there’s a way out if you go back along these shelves and take the stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs you turn left and there’s a window that directly faces an old tree. It faces the fields so no one’s likely to see you if you go out that way. I’ll open it on my way to the roof for you.” She stood up. “You can have the lantern too, I don’t need it that much. Just leave it and any books or anything you pick up inside the window when you leave, okay? You take any books from here and I’ll hunt you down.”

She smiled, and Mei couldn’t help but return the gesture. He nodded and stood up also, leaving the peaches on the floor. She was picking up her basket.

“It’s too bad I don’t get to know your name. I’ve never met anyone with pink hair before, although my master said something about it once. I assume you’re planning to leave town tonight, but if you ever come back you’re welcome here. Oh! And after you get out of the gates you’re going to want to go North east. Otherwise you won’t run into anything. Good luck, peach boy.”

With that she turned to leave. Stepping over the flickering light Mei flung a hug around her shoulders, which she awkwardly reciprocated with one hand. She stepped back after a very brief moment and said, “You’re welcome,” then walked off into the darkness, wandering with ease through the giant labyrinth.

Mei stood a moment longer, then leaned down and picked up the peaches carefully, putting them each in their own separate pocket. Then he picked up the lantern, and placed yet another book back on the shelf. He smiled to himself. It wasn’t that the girl had been like his mother, but it was something like that.

“You have to give people the chance to understand you, Mei. The world’s not so bad when you do,” that was what she’d said.

He picked up the lantern and turned in the direction she’d indicated.

“Peach,” he said outloud, turning the word over in his mouth, then nodded. The library hissed back at the sound of his voice, but it wasn’t so frightening a place with a light in it.