Chapter Text
“A new shipment came in. There are a couple you might like.” The librarian said as she checked in Tommy’s books, “fiction, fantasy, even a couple new non fiction books.”
“Are they on the shelves yet Ms. Puffy?” He asked. She smiled kindly and pointed to his favorite section, fiction.
“Sure are kiddo. Have fun.”
He grinned and walked off, looking for the new titles.
Puffy, the librarian, was the singular best person in this new town. She had decided to take care of Tommy ever since he had walked into her library, seeing as his actual foster parents didn't give a shit.
He found the desired section and quickly ruled out the ones he had already read. Which happened to be a lot and he needed a sticky note to keep track of all the ones he had read already.
His eyes widened in excitement as he spotted one of the new books.
It was titled: “Evil’s Heart”.
He flipped it over to read the back.
Peaceful places never stay peaceful for very long. An evil is slowly seeping into the city of Logsted and it’s up to the top three heroes to stop it.
The heroes are meant to be the first and last lines of defense against anything that tries to threaten the city, but it seems only the best of the best could go head to head with this new villain and make it out alive.
The evil continues to consume the city and in the center of it all… a lonely heart that had been denied everything it needed.
The heroes must do what they can to stop it. Kill the heart, kill the evil. But they might find that their job is a whole lot harder than they originally anticipated.
What happens when they find that the villain, that great evil, is really just like them?
Puffy was right. This is something he would be interested in reading.
He pulled the heavy book off the shelf and walked back to the desk.
“Just this one for today?” She asked. He nodded, “I have lots of deadlines and assignments coming up, so I can’t spend too much time in another world.”
She laughed.
“Understandable. Enjoy kiddo!”
He waved as he walked out of the library, the book clutched tight to his chest.
/{♥️}\
It was getting dark when Tommy finally opened the door to his foster home. He was greeted with the sound of a quiet house and he sighed.
That’s right. They decided to go on a cruise and leave me behind.
Tommy had half a mind to go to the cops or something. The only thing stopping him was the fact that he would have to be moved again and he didn’t want to leave the library and Puffy.
So he stayed and kept his mouth shut.
“I need to clean a bit before I sit to eat.” Tommy said allowed. He waited for any kind of confirmation before sighing again and walking to the closet.
Nobody was here. Why did he keep thinking somebody might answer him?
He pulled out the vacuum cleaner and used the loud noise as a distraction from his thoughts. Eventually he was done and he opened the fridge to find that it was completely empty.
Great. I’ve got no money and now I have no food. Thanks a lot shitty foster parents.
He sighed and looked through the pantry.
There were a couple stale granola bars and a box of cereal, also stale.
“This’ll have to do until I can get Puffy to go to the store with me.” He muttered as he pulled out one of the granola bars and took a bite of it.
He sighed as he sat at the table and pulled out his new book. Sure, he could work on some of those assignments, but it was the weekend! He could do it tomorrow night.
His phone rang and he groaned, pulling it out of his pocket.
“Hello? Thomas Innes on the phone.” He said tiredly.
‘Hi Tommy, it’s Puffy.’
“Hey Puffs!” Tommy cried, brightening a miniscule amount.
‘I need you to return that book. There’s something wrong with it. The author just sent me an email and-’
“You’re on speaking terms with an author?” Tommy asked, “Good for you!”
‘No, well, yes, but that is the only book of its kind. The author wrote it and then decided it was a mistake to give it to my library.’
“Can… I at least read it first?” Tommy asked sadly.
‘No, I’m sorry Tommy. they really want that book back.’ Puffy answered, just as sadly, ‘hold onto it for the evening and come in first thing tomorrow.’
“Alright. I’ll see you then.” Tommy sighed, hanging up the phone.
He stared at the book for a moment, looking over the cover.
“What is wrong with you? I mean… it can’t hurt to read you, right?” He muttered, working up the courage to open the book.
He flipped to the first page and started to read.
After a couple words he started to feel a little drowsy, which made sense… It was dark and he had had a long day.
He looked up from the book and yawned and the drowsiness faded. He frowned and looked back down at the book.
The words on the page looked like they were blending together and he thought he could see some color mixed in.
He blinked and yawned again, but this time didn’t look away.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep.