A Flash of Red

Chapter Nine

Harry

Tara and I were sitting back in the main room, also known as the library's open shelf room. I was sitting on a crate and Tara sat on the floor in front of me, leaning back on the part of it that wasn't taken up by my legs. Everyone was talking amongst themselves, creating a warm buzz in the room.

"Did you get a chance to meet everyone?" She asked, looking around at the others.

"Yeah, but I'm not very good at remembering names." She stood up and motioned for me to make room on the crate. I moved over and she sat next to me.

"I'm going to give you the Newcomer's Rundown. Are you ready?" I pretended to crack my back and stretch, taking deep breaths and blowing them out though my mouth. I put on a tough face and gave her a firm nod.

"Ready." She laughed.

"Okay, so you've met Mr. Andrews." I nodded. "He's a doctor, so we luck out having him around."

"You should have him look at your hand."

"Maybe."

"He's very protective over you."

"We're all protective of each other, but he's the one who found me."

"Found you?"

"That's a story for a different time." I nodded, not pushing it.

"Carry on."

"That's Mrs. Hain, as you already know. Emelie is her daughter. She's eight. And Trevor," she pointed to a little boy with blonde hair and green eyes. "Is her son. He's four." She looked around the room. "You know Mrs. Wayde, I'm assuming?" I nodded.

She pointed to an older woman sitting in the corner. "That's Ms. Adalyn. She's around 77 years old. She can be grouchy sometimes and if we don't all play bingo or some other game at least every other night she gets very irritable and cranky." I laughed.

"Mr. Sawyer," she said pointing to an even older man. "Is 83. He's very sweet but he's going deaf so you need to face him when you're talking to him so he can read your lips. You should also talk pretty loud, and by that I mean you need to yell." She took a breath, pointing to the two elders. "They both lived in the same building as Mr. Ventris here in the city." She gestured towards a man with dark skin, around the age of 30. "None of them knew each other but they knew of each other so when it started getting crazy he looked out for them. When he found out about the library, he brought them here. He said they complained the whole time."

She looked around the room for a second.

"Then there's Noah."

"Ah. Noah. I don't think he likes me very much. You on the other hand..." I trailed off and raised my eyebrows.

"No way." She said. I laughed.

"Did you see him when you defended me earlier?! Hell, I thought he was going to strangle me." She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"He just thinks I'm a helpless girl who can't fend for herself."

"Which you're not."

"And don't you forget it."