Dear Adelaide,

21

The woman blinked her bagged eyes at me in amazement and tried taking and unsteady step down from her stool. She'd hardly looked where to step, however, and began to topple over sideways. I leapt forward and took hold of her arm to guide her to the floor.

"N-No, I'm-" I waited until the woman had both her feet planted on the tile. "I'm not Adelaide."

She stared at me then, with her mouth wobbling as it stayed pressed in an open, o. She tightened her grasp around my hand, green veins bulging up from her skin. She swallowed and the bump in her throat moved up, and then down again.

"Forgive me, Dear. I thought you were a ghost...or an angel perhaps..." She took the last book off her cart and placed it into an empty slot among the shelves. "No one ever checks them out anymore, but it gives me something to do."

Her hair was half as long as she was, a small crooked woman with a slight hunch in her spine, certainly the oldest living person I'd ever seen.

She looked to me again, licked her gums. "I thought perhaps it was my time to go and you'd come to fetch me, heheh..." The woman got behind the ancient squeaking cart and started pushing. I trailed at her side. She paused and squinted sideways in at me again. "Strange, I've never seen anything quite like it..."

"Like what?"

"You look just like her." She began pushing again.

"Like Adelaide, you mean?"

"Yes...You know about Adelaide?"

I nodded. "Yes ma'am, I'm staying in her house."

"Oh!" The old woman gasped, bringing a bone thin hand to her lips. "That old place!?...Strange strange strange..."

"You knew her, though? Adelaide?"

"Of course, Dear. Everyone knew her. She would come in here especially often however, loved the library. She was such a doll. Everyone just loved that girl. That's why it was such a shock when...." The old woman caught herself descending and gasped, smiled and placed a shaking hand on my shoulder. "I'm Mabel, Dear. Not many of us left in the town but at least you know me now."

"Mabel..." She nodded and continued pushing towards the front. "You knew her well then?...A- Adelaide?"

"Oh very well, Dear. I was friends, with the family. I was there the night that-" She paused again, covering her mouth. "Oh-" She shook her head.

"That's alright, Mabel, I-I know what happened to her."

"Oh, but you couldn't, Dear. No one does. No one knows why. Why would anyone want to hurt such a dear sweet girl? I-" Mabel sniffled, then stopped. We'd arrived at the reception desk. She wiped a tear from a drooping eye. "I haven't thought of all this in so long. And now you're here and-..." Her eyes became trapped a moment on my locket. I could see the golden reflection of it swinging in her pupils. She brought a chilly hand up to hold the side of my face. "Oh, dear sweet Adelaide. It is you! ...You have come to fetch me..."

"No, No-" I shrank back. Her hand still hovered in the air by my face. "I'm...Olivia. My name is Olivia."

"Are you sure, Dear?" She'd grabbed the countertop of reception for support as she continued to stare on at me in awe. "I'm-I'm sorry, Dear, forgive me, I'm just spooked is all. You've given these old bones quite a shake...imagine that...Look at you...Imagine that..." Mabel took a seat behind the desk.

"I'm sorry to make you think of all this, but, Mabel, you haven't any idea who it was that killed Adelaide...Do you?"

Mabel's face floated downwards towards the desk. She shook her head slowly. "I haven't the slightest. The Cottlethornes were a very popular family, well-loved throughout the town. But no one in all the world was more loved than their Adelaide. ...Although...I always felt there was something going on in that family, something they kept quiet about. I never found out what...I just...couldn't see how an entire family could be kept just so glad all of the time. But, perhaps they just were. Some people are just happier than others I guess...Of course, it was hard not to be happy when that Adelaide was around. I just have the fondest memories of her...I couldn't tell you why, but she just had that effect on people, on the whole world around her. Even the grass seemed to perk up when she stepped a foot in it. When she died..." Mabel brought her face slowly up to peer out the double glass doors that looked over the park. "The town died with her. People cried walking down the streets. We just couldn't believe it. We couldn't believe it! It rained for a long time too. It used to never rain, you know that? Not here...But it's strange, how it all happened...all at once...Even the sky changed after that day. It's been stuck grey ever since. Imagine that! A sky grieving over a little girl? But I always believed it." Mabel took in a long breath. "I think the rest of the town did too. I think that's why they left. They realized it would never be the same here again." She brought her eyes back over to look at me, her head shaking with age. "Now, look at you...incredible."