A tall girl paused in the parking lot, her hands rested on the steering wheel as she waited for the crowd standing out front to leave. They were just a group of kids from her class, but they had all tortured her since grade school. She'd been waiting for twenty minutes hoping they'd leave. Finally she plucked up the courage to get out of the car and make her way over, this was a public place afterall. But as she walked, they seemed to forget that. Her hand gripped the various pins on her bag as she set her eyes on the door, ignoring the jeering comments from them.

"Hey Sally!" One of the boys called. She gripped her purse tighter to her side, her eyes dropping away from the crowd as she continued heading for the door. "Sally!"

"She's probably too concerned with her date with one of those story people." One girl with strangled black hair sneered.

"Hey!" A boy stepped in front of her. "You know it isn't nice to ignore people." He had a grin on his face. Sally could think of numerous ways to answer but none of them seemed exactly appropriate. "Whatcha got there?" Before she could respond he snatched her notebook out of her hand, the one she had been holding to her chest with her free hand.

He rifled through the pages as his goony friends gathered around him. They laughed at her various designs and sketches of characters. She tried vainly to get it back but he would jerk it above her height each time she tried.

"Let me have that ba-" As she stepped forward again to take back her property, her foot caught on one of the goon's outstretched ankles and she tumbled to the cement. Laughter up roared around her and she felt pointless anger surge inside of her. Pointless only because she never released it.

A man walking on the sidewalk began to stroll forward and the laughter died down, the boy threw her book back on the ground in front of her nose and left, pretending to be a man even as he strolled away. The man's pace quickened as he saw her lying on the ground. "Are you alright?" He asked, helping her up. She nodded although it hurt to stand and her jeans were torn.

Sally meekly picked up her notebook and thanked him before hurriedly continuing forward as rain began to fall, her hand reaching out to wrench the door open and she was greeted with the welcoming scent of old books. She felt herself relax as the silence died away to the ticking clock in the biography section. As she walked down the old creaking hall, a sandy blond haired woman behind the counter looked up from her book.

"Sally what happened? You look awful." She said hurrying around the counter to help her friend.

"Those jerks." Sally explained, being gentler with walking as the pain began to intensify in her knee. She looked down and realized for the first time that it was bleeding.

"C'mon hon, we'll go to the back and get you cleaned up." The woman said as she helped her walk.

"Thanks Kendra."

Kendra helped her into the back room where they kept files of those with library cards and damaged books. Sally sat down on a chair while Kendra got antiseptic and a band aid and placed them delicately on her knee.

"I've told Mr. Branson about them hanging out out-front, but he keeps saying he can't do anything." She stared intently at her friend's knee, angered by the injustice.

"Speaking of which… How is he?" Sally asked more tentatively.

"Sleeping… Hopefully he'll stay that way. I have to head out, I was praying you'd get here soon…" Her face twisted to show she was sorry. Sally shrugged. Mr. Branson was the owner of the library, but he was too old to run it himself anymore so he paid Kendra and Sally to run it for him. They only had to stick around until about eight or nine in the evening to make sure everything was in order but otherwise had normal librarians duties.

"Alright.." Sally responded quietly, pulling her pale blond hair behind her ears.

"Sorry to leave you to yourself but you know how my mother is…" She sighed. "It shouldn't be too bad… The storm will probably keep people away." She finished as a crack of thunder hit the sky. "Will you be okay?" She asked tentatively, and Sally nodded. Kendra still seemed unsure as she pulled on her coat and headed for the door. She cast one last look at the girl before heading into the rain to hurry to her car.

A/N: If you can't tell I'm using original characters, it's put to the basic storyline of the Pagemaster although this early in the story it may not be recognizable. The acid trip has not yet begun!