Prologue

She crouched in front of the store, her wide eyes staring in. Her eyes darted back and forth to ensure that no one was inside. Although she had seen the manager leave the book store over an hour ago, she knew that no precaution was too much. Getting caught would mean she wouldn't get it. She refused to let that happen. She needed it - obtaining it would mean a friend - someone who had always listened and never told her to shut up. Carefully, she slid down the alley along the side of the store and stopped at a window.

It wasn't her first time being here. She had come here before to check the place out and to ensure that she had a way in. It had taken her multiple visits, but she had eventually figured out that this window would soot her needs just fine. The window, luckily, still had not been fixed since the last time she had visited. She wiggled her fingers underneath the window the slowly managed to lift it up. She put both hands on the windowsill and struggled to lift herself high enough before falling on the other side of the window in a heap of books.

As she slowly got up, she put her hand to her side and saw it come away sticky with blood. She looked down at what she had landed on and sighed. Of course she managed to land on the corners of the books. Oh well, it's just one more scar. Who cares about one more anyway? At least this one was caused by an accident and nothing else.

She inhaled the musty smell of old books - a smell she rather enjoyed. She moved as quickly as she could through the rows, making her way to the back. She already knew where to go. She entered the row that was two from the back, the one that had a rusty sign proclaiming "Only the Best Blanks" which looked like it could fall at any second. Just as she expected, it was on the floor underneath a small pile of other books. They were of course all meant for discard. After all, they were no longer blank books, for people had filled these diaries and journals up. They were, just like the one she was looking for, not meant to be sent out for another to use. After a few minutes, she found what she wanted.

She pulled it from underneath all the others and gave it a small smile, as if she was greeting a long lost friend. She blew on the cover, causing enough dust to become airborne that the air around her seemed to be clouded for a few seconds.

The book was really nothing fancy. The sides were worn, the original blue color of the book long faded. There was no decoration on the book other than a small child-like drawing on the bottom left corner of a little girl with a small smile on her face.

She rubbed her thumb gently over the small drawing before turning and heading out of the used booked store.