===

Friday 29th July

Dominic Richards had made a decision. Today, before he left the library, he was going to have a proper conversation with at least one of the Terrell sisters. They'd been the only other people in the library with him for the last two weeks and Dominic found it unnerving that he had only exchanged a few words with the pair.

Dominic was sat at his usual table, his text books creating a faux studious aura. After deciding that it would be easier to communicate with the hibernating Kaden than the solitary Jordan, he pushed himself up from his seat and walked purposefully to the front desk. As expected, Kaden was fast asleep on the table, a grey blanket draped around her shoulders, curtesy of Jordan.

"Excuse me?" Dominic said as he tapped the table. Kaden stirred slightly but stayed asleep. "Excuse me." Dominic said in a louder tone. His second attempt has as much effect as the first one. "Kaden!" Dominic in practically shouted, causing the teen to awake.

Kaden lifted her head abruptly, her brown eyes wide with shock. She stared at Dominic, her eyes lightning up with recognition after a few moments.

"Oh, hi." she said in a husky morning voice as she shrugged off the blanket that was clinging to her frame and fluffed her hair. "Sorry, hi." she repeated after clearing her throat.

"Hi." Dominic replied with a slight smile. Kaden was darker than her sister, her eyes seemed more black than brown and her hair more kinky than curly. However despite their differences, both sisters were quite easy on the eyes, Dominic thought, and they both had a mysterious aura about then that intrigued the teen boy. "I just thought I should see if you were doing okay."

"Oh, yeah, I'm doing great." Kaden uncertainly as she glanced around. "Have you seen... Have you seen my sister?" she asked, realising who the blanket she had discarded belonged to.

"Yeah, she's uh--"

"Cooped up in Aisle 10?" Kaden asked with a hint of sorrow.

"Yeah." Dominic replied with a somber nod. He watched attentively as Kaden's expression faltered. "Well, I'll just get back to my studying." Dominic said after what felt like a few minutes silence in remembrance. 

"Yeah I've got some filing to to." Kaden muttered. Dominic then proceeded to walk away, back to his table to do some "studying" as Kaden tried to think of another way to accept reality that didn't involve sleep or alcohol.

===

Monday 1st August

Dominic almost lost his footing when he entered the Stonehall County Library and was greeted by a fully awake Kaden.

"Sorry, I startled you a bit there, didn't I?" Kaden giggled. "Sorry." she said again with a grin.

"It's fine." Dominic assured her, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"Good 'cause, you're in for even more surprises today!" Kaden went on in a shrill voice. "I asked Mark what you were studying for so I could get you some extra material and look at everything I found!" Kaden said excitedly, gesturing to the desk that was piled with books.

As Dominic got nearer and nearer to he table, the stench of alcohol become more apparent. He noticed that Kaden's eyes seemed a bit too bright and a voice a bit too high.

"Kaden... Are you alright?" Dominic asked, already knowing that the true answer and the answer that Kaden was about to give were two completely different things.

"Yep." she chirped. "Take a look at the books!" she insisted. Dominic sighed before picking up a book from the top of the pile. Bereavement- how to deal with the loss of a loved one was the title. The next book was called Pull Through- how to cope with grief.

"Kaden these aren't--"

"What you wanted? Oh, never mind then." she said, a grin still plastered across her face as she manically pushed the remaining books onto the floor behind the desk. "Silly Mark, he's always saying the wrong things." she chuckled to herself, swinging around on her chair. Dominic took one last glance at he clearly intoxicated girl before dropping his bag and dashing towards Aisle 10.

Dominic didn't dare go down the aisle again, he'd hardly seen Jordan after he had the last time. But he needed her now, he wasn't sure how to deal with Kaden in her current state.

"Jordan!" he called down into the darkness. "Jordan are you there?"

___

a/n: thanks for reading! Who's your favourite character so far?