The room had something amiss. There were bookshelves lining the walls as she chose to sit on the small windowsill, a book in hand and the cloth bookmark keeping her place in this fond old book of hers. Her ginseng tea steam lofted from her Egyptian  blue tea mug. She rested her chin on her leg that was tucked close to her body. She wore a dark grey dress with a scattered flower pattern. She turned her head slightly to look out the window as autumn leaves flew  past, looking out at the empty city at midday. As her book slipped from the space  between her legs and stomach, it hit the floor with a thunk that broke through the silence of the empty room. She left the book laying there on the ground, the cover facing her. As she turned back to the window the sun reflected on her golden brown hair and shimmered in her dark to light green eyes. Her hands interlocked together as they rested in the middle of her legs keeping them steady. She leaned back slightly, taking her eyes off the city she had grown up in. This house had always been her home, but back when she was little it was more of a home then than now, with the rooms empty and sheets covering everything. It almost seemed as if the family that made up what she called home had vanished out of thin air. 

The sheets coved what was delicate and unharmed. The delicate items never had to be put back together. All covered items  were delicate except her , the one thing that could break and crumble at any moment. Unlike the wood tables and piano, she had already been scratched and bruised. She remembered the days when her skin was as delicate as the white dusted sheets. As she would play with her younger sisters a simple game of hiding beneath the sheets before they all left. Leaving  covers that had been new back then but know the covers are torn with old dust.   She lifted her eyes and moved her head back, her head hurt slightly as it was pressed back against the dark wood & The steam from the teacup rose and swept under her nose as she smelled the familiar aroma. She whispered in Welsh as she looked up at the concave ceiling. Closing her eyelids so that the fall day that reminded her of the days she used to play outside. With  her little sister and older siblings as they watched them play in the orange yellow leaves. Trying  to drowned out her memories with the darkness that came when she closed her eyelids so She closed her soft  eyelids.  Not  closing them to fall asleep because , often she could not do that because the night terrors always came once she settled down and let herself drift into a dream. But closing her eyelids did her no good either as a scream repeated in her head and she saw blood trickle towards her. 

Then her brain skipped to a girl with dirty blond hair on a swing next to her. The sea green eyed girl smiled as her pale hand wrapped around one of the silver  chains. The sea green eyed girl went on about the boy she thought she loved. Well, love was a strong word.As herself she smiled and laughed but really she adored this delicate girl with pale features  who was in love with someone else. She snapped open her eyes , her pale mint jade eyes tracing the J + A. She  lifted her breath towards her open lips to be pushed out as a heavy sigh. She wondered if anyone ever felt like this, like something was missing. Something had broken inside her but there were no cracks on the outside. She  knew something was missing but all she felt was nothingness , not happiness , not sadness. She knew that she was not born like this , empty. But  then when had things changed? She laid her legs down on the wood covered with a thin  teal  blanket so that her black  flats  touched the inner wall of this enclosed windowsill box. She let her eyes turn towards the thin glass of their family home window as they traced the black street lamps.  They had been there since she was little when she was allowed out of this thriller house. When  the snow did landed black grey on the windowsills. When her family had cared enough to visit once or twice a month, but that seemed to be years ago now she was stuck in one place locked in a cage dressed as her old family home. 

Then her eyes caught the rare sight of a group of kids or were they teenagers? It was hard to see from up here and honestly, you never know. She had learned a while ago not to judge a book by its cover. The group of teenagers consisted of your usual friend group or at least from what she had seen of the groups going past her window from time to time.  There was a girl with  curly auburn hair, in army camo clothing. Now that she was thinking about it, most of the people in the group had some type of green on. Maybe they were a part of some kind of rebellion. It would be no surprise to her if they were , it seemed there had always been some kind of rebel system  to join if you wanted to make a difference. She rolled her eyes , good luck with that, she thought as she swung her body over to the other side of this blanket. As her legs touched the wood, her feet lightly landed on the floor or at least the tips of the bottom of her toes did in the  tight shoe. She turned towards the open door across the small library causing the soft wool blanket to slide out of place beneath her. 

She looked at her book on the ground & knelt down , picking up her book with the shaky hands from the meds the doctors made her take. As her hand wrapped around the book , her skin got caught on a splinter under the old book, which caused a tiny bit of blood to drip onto her hand and roll down a couple inches as she lifted her hand and set the book nicely on her lap where the fabric folded into itself.  The  black letters of the book title were Know More Clear Emma.She finally remembered the tea that had probably gone cold now that the steam was long gone. She slowly dropped her head backwards as her hair went into her face and she rolled her neck left and right. Then she lifted her head once more coming up too fast which caused a lingering headache. Her green grey eyes looked dully at the door across the room and she slid the book labeled Emma onto the blanket and stood up uneasily. Lifting her arms above her head as her elbow over extended  and her left tan hand went across her right hand. When she was done, she dropped them at her sides. Her right hand went to the handle of the dark mug with tea in it and she placed it lightly on her lips. 

Tes took a sip of her tea , the liquid not too cold but deftly not as warm as she wanted. Then she set it back on the tea ring that was actually caused by the coffee. Her  sister used to have coffee in the morning when she would sit on the small seat and watch the sunset, it colors tracing the sky.  So technically, it was an old coffee ring stain but she didn't like to remember her happy times so she simply told herself it was a tea stain. Tes stated towards the door, not looking back at the book or tea. She had drunk a sip so she really was not wasting the tea, was she? As she met the door her hand lifted up to the small inner thin piece where the door sealed when it was closed and her hand stayed there for a few seconds not turning to look back though the window. Tes just stood there as she heard the screams once more and continued on down the dark hall. Tes wrapped her cold arms around each other as she pulled them close to her ribs. Shivers ran through her body as her eyes flipped to a past memory projecting it in the future as blood traced the now neat walls of this hall high up. But not so high that if you jumped you would bleed to death from the drop. It was more likely you would only break a bone. 

As she passed the rooms with their doors shut , she saw a window. It had gotten a little darker than earlier but then again. These  days she couldn’t tell because the sky seemed grey everyday. All she knew was that she needed to be wrapped in warm blankets , but she probably wouldn’t end up falling asleep just wrapping those sheets around her with a  book in hand , chamomile tea on her side table. But first she would have to get to her room & stop wandering  the dusty and old halls.