The soft, woodsy smell of books always made Mary feel empty nowadays. It used to be a source of comfort, the warm room, the never-ending shelves, the silence. The peace.
It had gone from being a sanctuary to a prison of sorts- What had once been her escape was now making her feel trapped. The books that once made her forget the suppressing loneliness now shoved the fact into her face, reminded her that she
But it wasn't her fault for not having many friends. Nobody in Mineral Town was suitable... Karen seemed really stuck up, as did Ann. Popuri was okay, but really dumb. Elli was too serious.. although Mary was sure the other girls had similar opinions of her. She wasn't though- she was just really shy! Why didn't they come visit her at the library? On that note...why didn't anybody visit the library?
Day after day, for the past few years, she sat alone, browsing the books she had already read tens, no, hundreds of times. Books that used to make her bawl turned into last resorts, something to keep her from dozing off on the job, in case anybody ever did show up. Not that that was likely. In all honestly, she was worried about how much longer she could keep the library open. Luckily, her parents were paying to keep the electricity on, but how much longer could she mooch off of them? She was almost a fully grown woman. Her mother, Anna, was expecting her to get married soon. But to who? She barely had contact with anybody other than her parents and Jeff, the strange, butler-esque man who ran the Supermarket and constantly complained about his stomach problems.
She didn't want the library to be shut down. Sure, she had read everything, and it wasn't like it would be missed by anybody in the town- but the nostalgia kept her from feeling completely empty. Maybe change would be good. Maybe she could use it as inspiration to write a story… if only she could write well enough to make some real money. To get out of Mineral Town.