I don’t think I’ve ever told that story to anyone.
Fuck, I rarelytalkabout my past with anyone.
It’s more important to stay present.
Especially considering what I do for a living.
How I live my life.
Keeping memories – especially Mom’s – have always been my own version of buried treasure.
Never to be found.
Damn sure never to be salvaged.
How did he get me answer so easily?
Not even think twice about handing him the coordinates and the code.
What kinda fucking spell am I under?
How do I break it?
“The librarians,” is announced just above a whisper as though he fears getting the people in trouble.
Bewilderment bursts onto my face but not out of my mouth.
“Myschoollibrarian was actuallymarriedto the head, city, public librarian.”
“No shit?”
“100,” he warmly replies and clicks a few more things on his keyboard.“I was six.And myschoollibrarian, Mrs.Caterham, recognized the signs of abuse – super common in foster care – and arranged for me to stay after school in the library for ‘tutoring’.Once it was time to close up at school, she would then walk me over to the public library, where her husband would keep an eye on me until it was time to take me home.”
“Your foster family never noticed?”
“Not as long as I was home by headcount.”
Pain pounds unforgivingly in the center of my chest.
“They’d let me read whatever.I was always drawn to books about animals.The jungle.The rainforest.The mountains.”
“Very Steve Irwin esque.”
“Perfect 10 compliment.”He winks.“I’d spend some time reading and then they would shift my attention to learning comp shit that I would later learn wasn’t meant for me to actually ever learn.They’d feed me dinner.Make sure I had plenty of snacks to tide me over ‘til the next day.Send me home with new socks.Underwear.A shark shaped toothbrush.” It’s his turn to become wistful over the memories.“They were good people.Thebestpeople I’ve ever known.The only ones who ever really gave a fuck about me – besides Garcia.”
“What happened to them?”
“They disappeared,” he answers without missing a beat.“Erased from existence as if they were nothing more than a psychotic break, I didn’t know I had suffered.”
“Did you ever go searching for them?”
“Digitally?Of course.”Cockiness curls his lips into a grin.“Turns out they had deep ties to a top-secret government program, organized a rebellion using their unique positions, got labeled as committing treason, and met a very gruesome death staged as a robbery.”
There’s no stopping my head from angling itself slightly to the side on a dropped jaw.
“They werereallygood fucking people.”His focus returns to the device in his lap.“They didn’t deserve to die like they did.”
“They were basically your parents.”
