No More Fiction

Shalett As soon as Professor Oakley said the golden words "Alright, you're dismissed", I was up from my seat, hurriedly shoving my stuff inside my bag and already making my way down the room towards the door. The halls were already in an uproar like usual as more people from my class started to fill the halls. I slung my bag on my shoulders, the small rabbit keychain with a small silver bell at the bottom—a giveaway from a book fan signing I attended—clinks along with my movements. I gripped my bag close to my body, protecting my laptop from getting bumped by students who were in a hurry to get to their next class. The halls of the three story building of the Multimedia arts department were always noisy and full of people that it gives off that highschool feeling. You'd always see students shooting films for their projects on the less crowded corners of the building. Others were sitting on the tiled floors waiting for the other class to end at a corner talking about projects or just gossiping in hushed tones. I was already in my third year yet believe me, I rarely see these halls empty. My steps grew quick and my wavy hair bounced, dancing along my movements as I took the stairs down to the first floor two steps at a time. As I passed by, some students who recognized me from my previous classes greeted me, tapping my shoulder or just plainly waving and calling out my name. Shyly, I tried as much as I could to return the greetings with a wave of my hand but the wave turned out a bit awkward as I moved with fast steps. Honestly, I couldn't quite remember their names despite it being the middle of the term. I'd always kept distance with the people around me, often spending my time alone or with my best friend and it didn't help that I just suck at memorizing names and I find that trait of me a bit rude. Behind me someone suddenly grabbed my right arm and spun me around. Standing before me was a tall girl in a dark blue dress that revealed a bit too much of her legs and bust. She let go of my arm at the same time I pulled it away from her grasp. Startled, I took a few steps back to maintain distance from the unknown girl. "Hey! Are you perhaps Shalett?" She asked and I could note the irritation in her voice. I nodded my head and she went closer, too close for my own confort. My heart started thumping loudly. I could feel something was about to happen. What does she want from me? "I just wanted to ask a few things about Shaun” and as she speak two more girls walked closer to us and they weren’t there to stop what’s happening but to join in. “I saw you with him the other day”, the tall girl continued and the girl on her left with the smoky eyes went behind me. “Mind telling us what’s your relationship with him?” she inquired and continued on chewing her bubble gum. “You aren’t his girlfriend right? Though I doubt you are”, the girl on the right added as she eyed me from top to bottom and decided that pushing me was the most normal thing to do to someone you just met. I think I know what this is about and rolled my eyes internally but I still flinched at their presence. I’ve been subjected to this type of situation far more than I could count and honestly, I’m getting used to it. I don't even know if that's okay. "Look, I think there is a misunderstanding here. If this is about my relationship with Shaun or any of my two older brothers, I think”, I paused for a bit and scratched my forehead thinking of a good way to say it. “I think it would be natural that I’d be seen with them. Yeah… I think that’s natural” I gave a wry smile when they just gaped at me. I took a few steps away from them. I was about to leave when a loud shout echoed from afar and there came my friend, Dresden running towards our direction. A book was on her hand and was pointed at the three girls who were threatening me. I was pulled hastily away from them, almost losing my balance from the force and she threatened the three with the book she was holding. It was big, hard bound and heavy. "Leave Shalett alone. She's their sister for pete's sake!" I turned and pulled Dresden along and coaxed her to calm down as we went to the big doors at the back of our building, leaving the three with their mouths hanging open in shock. Thank god for Dresden and her amazing sense of time to appear in the most unexpected moments of my life! “Is that another one of those ‘are-you-their-girlfriend’ confrontations again?” she asked and fixed her bag as we walked towards the exit, people casting curious stares at us which I try not to pay attention to. I nodded and made a face. She laughed and shook her head. “Sweet, so much for the start of the week” and I couldn't agree more. “We'll we can't help that since you don't resemble your brother but oh wait, that just means one thing, my dear. You are beautiful enough to make their admirers jealous!”, she wiggled her eyebrows and I nudged her side, now smiling. Trust Dresden to convert all the negative things into something good and funny. I’m really glad I have her. Dresden and I have known each other since first year. She is a nursing student but we got to sit next to each other in one of our minor classes and since then we’ve been stuck together providing social life to this demanding university life of ours. “By the way, do you still have classes?” I asked. “Nope. I’ll be joining you to your sanctuary” and we both grinned. When we were finally out of the building, we made our way across the school garden towards the tall building which was standing proudly at the center of the campus. My quick pace slowed and was now replaced by giddy steps as I near the big double doors of my sanctuary, the library. I pushed the heavy doors with great effort and it creaked a bit too loud than I had intended. As we entered, we were greeted by the smell of the aircon mixed with the scent of wood and old books with the addition of a few startled students that looked in my direction but immediately went back to what they were doing upon seeing who it was. Upon inhaling the familiar scent, I felt myself relax. The library was incredibly spacious and airy with high ceilings, two large floor to ceiling windows providing light to the whole area and two wonderfully designed staircases on both sides of the room leading to an upper floor to cater more shelves and seats for the students to study privately and comfortably. The lower floor contained most of the seats. They were placed near the entrance and some at the back as you pass by the shelves, completely occupying the right side of the room. The left side contains computers and some other machines that'll help you browse the catalogues, print materials, surf the internet and borrow books. Beyond them was the teachers' reference section. Also, librarians weren't extinct in this university unlike on some local libraries that I've visited. At the middle of the room just across the entrance was the circulation desk where our mute librarian, Keith, stays and keeps the references that we had to purchase for certain subjects and those other references that weren't allowed to be taken out of the library. Keith was a big man with a high, pointy nose and chestnut hair that resembles a bird's nest. I don't really know how to describe it properly but that's how it seemed to me. His face got freckles and when he smiles his face would go a bit red as if he was blushing. He was easy to spot with his neat grey uniform, in contrast with all the brown stuff around him. I was having a hard time adjusting with my lessons back then when Keith helped me. At first, I was wondering how Keith could help me because I couldn't understand a thing he was gesturing but a few minutes later, he came back with the books that I needed and boy, that really saved me from failing my exams. Keith was nice and despite his looks, he was pretty reliable and he recommended good books. Keith wasn't deaf actually though he just lost the ability to speak due to some accident. A few seniors here actually said that he wasn't a mute a few years back. Later on, I've decided to learn sign language and other ways of communication so we can talk to each other effortlessly. I went near his desk and was greeted by the sight of Keith's head poking out of the books piled a bit higher behind his desk, him sitting on the floor and was busy organizing but he did a small awkward wave upon seeing me. I returned the greeting with a bright smile. "Hey, Shalett! Got stuck in class?", he asked using sign language. "A bit", I answered, motioning as if I was pinching something in the air. “And something more” I added. Dresden walked in and Keith greeted her too. “Our girl here got stuck because of the admirers of her brothers' who tried to corner her again on the halls” Keith looked at me and hastily said in sign language, “Who? Where are they? Want me to report them?” His eyes were wide and tinged with worry. "Come on, guys, I know I look frail but trust me I can defend myself from them", I rolled my eyes and was about to say something more when the two started acting strange. Dresden was motioning for something behind me. i could understand her whispers so she said in greeted teeth. “Mr. Giant approaching this area in three….. Two… one….” Suddenly, I could feel someone standing behind me. Then, next thing I heard was a very familiar deep voice that always brought butterflies to my stomach. Vaid. "Hey Keith, do you mind helping me with computer number 4," he asked. "It seems like it has a glitch or something". I remained rooted to my place and I refuse to look around, suddenly feeling extremely shy. Keith signalled for him to wait so I immediately said goodbye to Keith in sign language and moved away from his circulation desk, careful not to look up or bump the giant behind me. I went next to Dresden and pulled her to go upstairs. She sent a quick goodbye to Keith and we went up. "Why the hell are we going up, Shalett? That was your chance to talk to Mr. Giant!" "Uh, no. I don't think I can do that. So can we just go to our seats and just start studying?" "Stop wimping out, Shalett, you are just going to say 'Hi' when you talk to people to start a conversation." "I know but look at me. I am no celebrity like my brothers and I am probably red like a tomato right now, my face will give me away in less than 3 seconds." "You are beautiful, Shalett, just extremely shy. You know what, if you don't try to do something on your own, I'll be pushing you to him the next time we see him so he will notice your existence." I rolled my eyes and just laughed at her. I know she wouldn't do that. When we reached our seat, I placed my things on the chair and sat on the seat beside it. Majority of the seats here on the upper level were placed near the railings while the shelves were pushed beside the walls in neat rows. In the space between the seats and the stalls was a wide carpet with low tables and some cushions, like what you'd see on japanese homes. These were for students who liked to study in groups. I immediately pulled my laptop out and turned it on while Dresden sat at the seat across from me and started pulling out books from her bag, stacking them hazardously on her right. I told her to transfer it to the other side because she might bump them with her arm and everything would fall down to the first floor. As I rummaged through my bag for my notes, my eyes went across the other side of the upper floor where Vaid a.k.a Mr. Giant usually sits. The conversation with Dresden earlier suddenly resurfaced and I can't help but ponder about the idea of introducing myself to him until both Dresden and I parted ways after finishing our assignments and decided to go home. When I got home and had a fresh bath, I decided to work on a script that our group needed by Friday. I spent long hours sitting in the same position and when the clock struck nine, I finally lifted my head and went for a stretch. My neck and back were aching so much. I stood up to have some three minute noodles when a familiar chime from my laptop grabbed my attention. It was an email sent by my favorite author, Vash, inviting us to an event at the end of the following month. I opened to check what kind of event was it and suddenly a very stupid idea comes to my pretty little mind upon seeing a picture of an owl with a letter on its beak at the end of the email. Why haven't I thought of sending Vaid a letter before? Saying hello would have been so easy. And so, I bought scented papers and wrote a short letter to Vaid the next day. I wasn't quite sure what to tell him that I almost changed my mind about give the letter when Thursday came but I willed myself to calm down and tried to focus on the script I was working on instead. Friday came and my giddy steps to the library were replaced by nervous ones. The closer I got to the big double doors of the library, the more I thought about the letter I wrote inside my bag. Is this really a good idea? I paused at the door and inhaled deeply. I went inside then proceeded upstairs to Vaid’s desk. I was about to pull the letter out of my bag when I saw a group of students approaching the area. I aborted whatever I was doing and went around a shelf and walked away but I didn't stop until I reached Keith’s desk downstairs, my heart pounding so much I felt like I’m going deaf. I cursed myself for chickening out. Keith was busy typing on his computer when I arrived. Excitedly, Keith reported to me about what Vaid needed help for yesterday. Vaid was trying to borrow Orwell's book and the machines were glitching showing a copy was still available but it turned out that the book he needed was issued out and was yet to be returned that afternoon so he wasn't able to borrow it yesterday. I tried to listen to what he was saying, counting from one to five then backwards to calm myself down but Keith noticed how uneasy I felt. “You seemed fidgety today,” Keith’s sudden comment made me look at him. “Is there something wrong?” “Hm? Um.. yeah. Yeah. Everything’s fine. I’m just thinking about something,” I assured him. Keith gave a worried look so I diverted the topic by asking him for the book. He gave it to me without actually bothering to put it in account as returned on his database since it was only returned just a few moments ago. I thanked Keith and went to a corner when a student went to ask for Keith’s assistance. I heaved a deep sigh and looked at the book. A new idea now inside my mind. Maybe I’ll just help Vaid borrow this one? Right. I think this one I can do. I pulled the letter out and discarded it in shredded bits in the bin. I pulled out my purple sticky notes and started to write. I still wanted to try talking to Vaid so maybe I'll just slip in some notes but the library had a lot of people coming in and out of its premises and people could sit anywhere they liked. The chance that someone other than Vaid would find the book with my note was high. I looked at Keith and suddenly thought of morse. People were no longer using it nowadays and probably not all people knew about it but I needed to hide my message from other people and so Morse would serve its purpose today as I made two cryptic notes for Vaid. I just had to pray that he would be able to decode it. I slid the first note on the front page of the book and put the other in between the middle pages. At the end of each was an 'S' instead of my name Shalett. With my heart thumping loudly, I went up to Vaid's seat, again. I checked my surroundings and saw that everyone was busy with their own world, not even a single soul was looking in my direction. With sweaty palms, I placed the book on top of the table and went to the shelf near the wall, pretending to scan for a book in case someone is looking. I loitered for a bit near the area and went back to my seat after a few minutes and waited until Vaid came bustling from the double doors bidding goodbye to his classmates before proceeding alone to his seat where the book sat quietly waiting for him to discover.