Bloom

22. messy libraries

Haven

Opening the door of the library, a deep frown appeared on my face when all I saw was dust, a hundred moving boxes and piles of books scattered all over the area.

The posters were ripped off the walls, along with some wallpaper, men painting over it instead with a white, fresh, colour.

Hesitating, I still stepped inside, looking for Hannah. It was my coaching hour with Zephaniah, after all, and I didn't want to make him think things when I wouldn't show up.

Eventually, after stepping over a few books and boxes, I noticed Hannah, her hand resting on her stomach as she stared at the thousand books laying around.

I smiled, walking over to her. "Where to start, huh. So many books, if only I could read them all in my lifetime." I spoke up, looking around.

"Haven," Hannah smiled, removing her hand from her stomach. "Where's Zephaniah?" She wondered, confusion written on her face.

"I was wondering the same thing. That's why I came here," I said sheepishly, looking at her. She was so young. Although Tara had explained quite a lot about their family relations and all, I still didn't understand how that worked.

"Oh," Hannah sighed, shaking her head. "We're redecorating the whole library, changing the places of the shelves, sorting our book collection. I told Zephaniah that maybe you could do this at our house, but he didn't tell you?"

"I haven't seen him," I answered, feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn't told me, as it made me feel like he wasn't looking forward to the coaching hours.

"Yeah, it's a big change. He probably hadn't quite followed what I was saying. Sometimes he doesn't really know how.." Hannah trailed off, stopping her sentence mid-way. "Anyway, my husband should be home. He probably picked him up. I'm so sorry. Do you still want to go? You don't have to if it's too much,"

"No, that's totally okay. I've got a car with navigation and although it's so old that it sometimes leads me to the ocean when there's not one near here- I should be able to find it," I couldn't help but laugh, muffling it as I pressed my hand to my mouth. "Unless, he doesn't want to?" I suddenly realised.

Hannah laughed as well, her hand finding its way towards her stomach again, I wondered why. "He wants it. It belongs to his Wednesdays. Here, this is our address.."

Once I had gotten the address, I thanked Hannah and made my way over to the car, switching on the navigation and typing the right address into it. It loaded for about five minutes to register all the roads and once it had finally chosen one, I started the car and drove off to where the monotone voice took me.

Soon, the busy student area faded to the background, high trees and calm roads appearing instead. I drove past a park, where children were playing and swinging, it changing to a field with a pond, ducks quacking loudly when someone threw bread into the water. Eventually, I slowly arrived at a very cosy looking neighborhood.

People were outside, taking care of their gardens, children playing in the small playground near the houses. It was about five minutes later when I parked my car in a street with decent looking houses, the ones I lived in myself. The typical English ones, with brown or reddish stones. It was the way you looked at it, Jude always said.

Peeking inside, I was quite disappointed when I couldn't see anything, though, the small name plate near their house number, confirmed that I was at the right one. Pressing on the bell, I played with the ring I had put onto my middle finger as I waited for the door to be opened.

The house looked cosy, the type of house any starters, young couples, wanted. The small garden was neatly taken care of, fresh flowers stacked in small rush baskets underneath the windows on the front.