This Was Home [h.s.]

| 30. CONFIDENTIAL |

Harry's eyebrows perked up in question as he turned to look at me again, stopping right at the entrance we were heading towards, the library where we were told would hold the answers about Alayna. Supposedly anyway. I was still having a hard time believing anything people said anymore. That was the greatest anxiety of all honestly.

"Get what? There's a few options I could come up with that don't make sense," he sarcastically chuckled.

I ignored it. "No one was running to get inside once the sun went down. I didn't even think about it until earlier. I was so taken aback by seeing everyone and everything...and then we were already inside by the time it actually got dark..." I trailed off. "And I haven't even heard anything about any kind of curfew or anything. Does that not matter here?"

Harry looked back at the entrance, probably in thought on whether or not he wanted to keep going instead of tackling my question.

His eyes met mine again. "The wall probably? The manual said they had guards basically everywhere." He shrugged his shoulders, obviously unsure of an answer himself. "I don't really want to stick around and ask though."

I noticed his attention directly behind me, looking around again. His stare looked intense, but I was fortunate that it wasn't on me this time around. He was surveying everyone else. Thankfully.

He let out a pent up breath and turned around to face the doors again. He reached for the handle, but I grabbed hold of his arm before he could pull it open any further.

"What if it's actually safe, Harry?" I whispered it quietly, still not liking how vulnerable I felt in the wide open area. "What if this is the one place I can promise to keep Alayna safe?" My voice had somehow gotten even quieter.

What if I wanted to stay here after-all, but Harry didn't?

I could deal with weird people if it meant a guaranteed place to be safe and with food. It wasn't like I had a plan after this anyway. We were so far away from our home now. It wasn't like we also had an infinite amount of gas left anymore. We used all but a tank or so worth of gas just to get here.

Luck helped us out this far, but I wasn't sure if it would last another go for that long.

My grip released on him and he rubbed the feeling away with his other hand. He looked slightly annoyed at my literal grab for his attention.

It was an honest question though. I had never seen such a calm, but odd group of people. Anyone I had ever come across had a permanent look of fear etched into the crevices of their faces. It wasn't something easily hidden, no matter how much anyone would try to. We were all scared.

But no one here had that look. It brought flashes of my mom to the surface and I winced in pain. The image of her smile felt like a fresh cigarette burn on my skin. It hurt too much to think about, so I squeezed my eyes shut quickly and erased the thought altogether.

"Let's just get to that when we get to that, yeah? Let's get inside first." He said it forcefully, but nonchalantly at the same time. He didn't even care to see if I followed him when he swiftly swung the door open and followed through.

My own pent up breath blew out between my lips with silent curses slipping out in between.

I followed.

I knew I was stalling anyway, and I hated that I was. I felt guilty about it, too. Nonetheless, I couldn't help it. I still had hope left and if anything had happened or if I was led another way with a dead end, I wasn't sure I would have anymore left.

I inhaled another sharp breath, exhaling it slowly as I took the first step into the library.

It seemed smaller when we were stood outside of it. But now that we were inside, it seemed endless. Maybe it had to do with how well kept everything was. It looked as if it had only ever been a library and nothing else. The shelves were an array of wood and metal materials, giving away the fact that it looked like that wasn't the truth after all and that it was actually all either handmade or repaired. The smell of old paper began to circulate around me once I took a few more steps closer, now to meet Harry by his side.