June 24, 2009~

A few weeks pass, each arriving with humid, sticky weather and the bright sun. The last day of fourth grade just happened, so now I am left at the orphanage to do whatever I want. Mostly I hang out with Violet and Lily, but sometimes I clean the library with Mable. Life begins to get normal. I'm not confused anymore, and Violet immediately forgave me after I apologized for my weird behavior. Lily knows more about me than I do, and I find myself laughing with her on a daily basis. They treat us well at St. Scholastica's, but each day I feel the hole in my heart getting bigger. Each day, the longing for my mother gets worse…

"Hey, Ness!" Mable calls from the end of the hallway. "Nessie!"

I turn around from coming out of my room and see Mable jogging up to me, her long black hair flowing behind her. "Ness, I was wondering if you wanted to help Sister Ruth with the library again today," she says.

"Sure," I agree. I have nothing better to do.

"Great," Mable says, her grinning widening. "Let's go now. Sister Ruth will only get about five books on the shelf in a matter of two hours if we don't do it now."

I giggle, thinking of the shriveled old nun and nod. "Okay. Let's go."

Mable and I walk down to the library, a big room with lots of windows and shelves lined with multicolored children and teen books. Sister Ruth is sitting behind her desk, putting books onto a cart. Her delicate wrinkly hands quiver as she places each book onto the cart, and her huge thick glasses sit at the edge of her nose. Her white hair is pulled back into a tight bun and her eyes looked like they are closed.

"Betty? Betty is that you?" she asks, her small voice shaking as we enter.

"No, Sister Ruth. It's Nessie and Mable. We're here to help you put the books away," I say.

Sister Ruth widens her eyes and then squints again, leaning in closer to try and get a good look at us. "Oh, thank you, girls." She smiles. "Such pleasures to have such lovely little children help me."

Mable and I get right to work, stacking the books on the cart and wheeling them to their proper shelves as we put them away.

We are in the back of the library when I suddenly say, "I'll go get more books."

"You want the cart?" Mable offers.

"Nah," I reply. "You still have books on there, so I'll just get a few more. Besides, it's dinnertime in twenty minutes."

"Okay," she says as I quickly walk down the aisles and finally arrive back at Sister Ruth's grand desk.

"How many more do you need, dear?" she asks, facing the wall on the other side of her.

"Um, Sister, I'm over here," I say awkwardly.

Sister Ruth laughs good-humoredly and says, "Oh yes. Silly old me." She hands me about ten other books. "Here you are, Renesmee. After this we have dinner, so this shall be all for today."

"Yeah," I answer. Phew! I'm glad that finally our long work in the library is almost over. It's good we're helping Sister Ruth though. She's just so small and frail for a giant library.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream echoes throughout the immense shelves. It rattles my bones, and I drop the stack of books I am carrying.

"What on Earth was that?!" Sister Ruth cries, putting her hands over her head for safety as if something is about to fall off the ceiling and land on her.

Oh crap. Mable!

I leave the books scattered and upturned on the carpet and take off running to the back of the library where we were working. "Mable? Mable?!" I cry desperately, searching for her in the area where she is supposed to be. "Mable, where are you??"
I hear a whimper from the corner and turn to see her curled up. Her face is hidden against her knees and my heart pounds in my ears as I run toward her. I crouch in front of her and try to coax her out of her shell. "Mable, what happened?"

She lifts her head and her face is stained with tears; her eyes are wide and frantic as well. "There was a man…a man…a tall one…he was very white…and his eyes were black…he appeared out of nowhere…and he…he…" She bursts into tears again and buries her face into my shoulder.

"What did he do?" I demand. "Did he hurt you??"

"No," Mable blubbers. "He didn't touch me at all. But he told me not to scream…I screamed, Nessie, I screamed! And he growled like an animal…Ness, I was scared…you were gone…and Sister Ruth was gone…I was alone…" Her breathing was heavy and labored as she tried to relax herself.

"It's okay," I assure her, even though I don't know if that is the truth.

Part II:

Dinner arrives. Mable is completely shaken out of her skins and so am I. Violet and Lily immediately notice. "You guys look like you saw a ghost," Lily jokes, her silver eyes sparkling mischievously. I don't say anything, just stare at her. "What, I was right?" Lily asks, amazed. Violet's face is full of concern. "What happened, Ness?"

I shake my head. "Mable says she saw a man with white skin and black eyes in the back of the library. She said he growled at her, too, when she screamed."

"A ghost?!" Lily exclaims. "I was right??"

"It obviously wasn't a ghost," I snap. "Ghosts don't exist."
"Then was it a ghoul?"

"Probably not."

"A…a vampire?" she asks, raising her eyebrows.

"Lily, let it go!" Violet interrupts. "Ghouls and vampires don't exist!!"

"Yeah, okay...," she scoffs and walks off.

"Is Mable alright?" Vi questions.

I turn to Mable. Her eyes are still large wide circles and her skin is still starkly pale. Her lips are pressed shut.

"Mable, are you alright?" I repeat. She still doesn't answer. She doesn't even flinch when we say her name.

"Mable?!" Violet shouts. "Can you hear us?"

Mable looks at the ground and says, "I just want to get out of here. He's still on the campus. I can sense him." She faces me. "He's looking for you, Nessie. Be careful."

I stagger back at her comment and shake the ugly thoughts away of kidnapping and rape. Why would he be looking for me? What did I do?

Mable walks away, her legs stiff like a zombie's. I feel my lip quivering as I stare in horror after her. "What's wrong?" Violet asks.

"For the first time, I feel like I'm being watched," I murmur.

Then, I woke up.