BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY, I CAN GO TWICE AS HIGH.
WHO: Ludwig and Ivan.
WHEN: Thursday afternoon. (July 8th)
WHERE: Liberty Public Library.
WHAT: Exploring the wonderful world of books. Oh, what the hell is he doing here?
Turn on your phone.
Call me.
Say anything.
These were the tiny, hopeful words that played in an endless loop, becoming white noise to the leftover thoughts rattling round inside Ludwig's head. That morning he had been running on autopilot and lukewarm cups of coffee, movements stiff and starchy as a hotel napkin. He hadn't slept; he'd worried himself far away from the edge of sleep. Was Feliciano safe? Had he walked to a friend's house? Why wouldn't he just listen to him? He hadn't eaten either, stomach hollow and numbed by that sense of distress that seeped into flesh and bone. Feliciano had never done this to him before. Never.
It was with darkening circles beneath his eyes and a face pale and drawn from sleeplessness that he stopped fiddling with his mobile long enough to focus on where he was. Library. Right. To find some sort of melancholic, romantic novel (which he wouldn't dare to keep on his own shelves). Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, maybe, just because he was feeling that useless. The German's eyes widened as he realised too late that he had wandered into what appeared to be the adult shelves. That kind of adult.
The Ethical Slut. SM 101. The Loving Dominant.
The titles alone were making him pink. He stepped back from the shelf and looked round in a panic as if he might have been caught shoplifting or buying pornography rather than innocently reading the spines of books in a bloody library. And why on earth did the public library have these books in their catalogue anyway?! Liberty, oh Liberty, why?
The narrow aisle was empty. Holding his breath, he listened carefully, hearing the faint click of typing from the rows of public computers nearby. Possessed by a deadly curiosity, he blindly snatched up a book and walked hurriedly out of the section.