The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter One

"She doesn't look like much." Katniss peered down at the girl.

"It's not up to us," Hermione replied.

Arya rolled her eyes.

Katniss, Hermione, and Arya pondered their new charge. Tears streamed down the girl's face. She was on her knees trying desperately to wipe something unseen off the seat of her jeans, and craning her neck to see the target of her efforts.

"Hellooo?" Hermione waved a small wave trying to get the girl's attention.

"What are you doing?" Arya asked the girl, sounding bored.

"There was... I stepped on the cans. I didn't see them. And then I slipped. I landed in dog..." The girl looked up, seeing the faces that surrounded her. Several times the girl looked like she was about to say something and then thought better of it. She wasn't sure whether to be more scared, or more confused. Confusion had won out for the moment.

"Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!" Katniss laughed as she spoke.

"That's really not very helpful you know," Hermione chastised.

Arya rolled her eyes for the second time.

"She should know it." Katniss insisted with mostly mock petulance.

A soft chuckle emanated from another figure that was quietly watching the proceedings. Neither old nor young, neither beautiful nor ugly, her most defining characteristic perhaps was her monochromatic gray. It was like you could only see her on a black and white television while everyone else was displayed in color. Everybody in the Stacks referred to her as 'One'.

The girl slowly rose to her feet after realizing that whatever had been on her pants was now gone. The air was different. The smell was suddenly of books, all sawdust and ink. The tears had stopped.

Hermione stuck out her hand. "Hello. Welcome to The Stacks. I'm Hermione."

The girl looked at the outstretched hand and made no move to reciprocate. It was as if she'd been offered a fish. "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

"She said, she's Hermione." Arya repeated, sounding exasperated.

The girl's eyes darted unblinking between the three girls, they looked to be about eleven-year-olds, and the older woman that surrounded her. "And where – "

Katniss sighed and muttered under her breath interrupting the girl, "Yeah, she said that too." And then more directly Katniss spoke slowly and with a forced smile, "You're in the Stacks."

Sensing the impatience coming from the three girls, the girl stammered out a response. "I don't know what that is."

"That's okay." Hermione took one of the girl's hands in her own and patted it. "I've got a thirteen step plan to get you acclimated. The most important thing is that we're going to take it slow."

"Or..." Katniss said as she raised her eyebrows cutting off Hermione's recitation. "We could just throw you in the deep end."

"Wait what?" Hermione looked stricken.

Arya laughed at Hermione's consternation.

Katniss pulled the scared girl towards her by the shoulder and continued, ignoring Hermione's objections. "You're not in Kansas anymore."

"Kansas?" The girl's voice cracked.

"A joke. Sorry. You're not in, where was it? Oh right. You're not in Madrona anymore." Katniss said with some sarcasm. "In fact, that place isn't real."