The Walking Library {Open}

A small boy lay dace down on the roof top, his face hidden beneath the mess of his hair. His arms and legs sprawled out like a star fish. It was needless to day he was bored. Chip had once been facing upwards, holding out his book in front of his face and reading. All the while ignoring the white puffy clouds the rolled on by. It hadn't taken long for the boy to throw the book across the roof. Unknowing that it landed in front of the stairs back down. So here lay Chip. Face buried into the roof ground.  

He hated his power so much. Every book since the Victorian era he knew. And every book being written then was being updated. However, he never wanted to touch the developing books. So, very slowly new books are being published. And Chip would be excited, until he remembered his power would immediately tell him everything about the book. Thus ruining the entire experience of reading it. His enjoyment was gone, and he only had school work to satisfy his interests. Even then, it was work.

Madison hated her power so much. She didn't know what it gave her yet, what it did to actually power her. Through much of her life she fought to survive, having to identify her mom through codewords. It was 'sandwich' until an illusion picked up on that which nestled in the niche of her bedroom corner. It touched her. She beat it with a book.

Madison hated her power so much, but she had ways around it. It was on one of her first days in the school that she made her way for the rooftop, a place where the sky was bright and where the shadows were nowhere. She through open the heavy doors in invitation to the cool newsummer's breeze, only to find it...taken.

"Oh! Sorry." The disappointment she felt was substituted by a blushed surprise. She did not expect anyone to be up there.

'Oh sorry'

"Eh?" The boy looked up from his face plant on the ground to look up at a new comer. Blue eyes were narrowed in confusion at the girl's apology. Why was she sorry? Did he miss something? Chip rolled back over onto his back, blue eyes turning back up to face the bright blue sky, small puffs of white clouds floated lazily on by. His rolled to the side, to see the girl. "Why are you apologizing?" Was it to someone else? No. There wasn't anyone up there as far as he could tell.

"I, um..." She gave a nervous laugh. "I don't know, really. I thought you may have wanted to be alone or something. This is a pretty out-of-the-way place."
She stepped out of the doorway and onto the rooftop, the heavy door sealing her out with a concrete thud. She held her lunch in front of her on its Styrofoam tray, and after swallowing emptily, she stepped forward and sat on one of the benches.

The blond gave her a bit of a shrug, obviously unaware of her nervousness. "I didn't think it is too out-of-the-way. I mean you're here." It still could be considered out-of-the-way. However, Chip didn't think much of it. The boy sat up and stretched. His hands balled up in fists as he did so. "I was just trying to read a book, but I already know what happens." His blue eyes trailed over to where the book lay. Open, and upside down on the ground. Lips pressed together, he turned back to the girl with her lunch in her lap. "Cafiteria food?" Chip questioned carefully. Did this student want to get sick?

Madison looked up. "Is that bad...? She inspected the macaroni with her spork, the gooey squelch it made sounding unappetizing. Nevertheless, she was hungry. Her stomach made noiseless moans, and she was reluctant to give it up.

The other student lazily got to his feet, and walked over to the girl and her lunch. "You must be new." Chip decided. Mostly to himself, but Madison may take it as it was said to her. With a tilt of the head, and a pointed finger at the food. "There is a rumor that a girl threw up after eating cafeteria food." The blond gave the darker haired student a helpful look, a smile put on his face. "Most students get groceries for their dorm, or they go out into Rosebury to the Cafe or Bakery." Or even the restaurant. However that was pretty fancy and no one really went there for a casual lunch. Well. As far as Chip knew.

Madison gave a begrudged glare to the stairway she came from. "Well," she interjected, "There must be a lot of rumors in this school! It isn't healthy to believe them all!" To convey her point, her curt rebuttal of independence, she took a sporkful of macaroni, pronounced and sharply into her mouth. It was at that moment that she paused, chewing awkwardly, and immediately put the food down, spork clanking to the Styrofoam plate as she dropped it. Jeez, that was awful. She wasn't even sure that was cheese.

Chip watched silently to the point where she put down her lunch to the side. His smile turned into a rather amused one. Making a thoughtful face, he spoke again. "You're right, ya' know." Chip told the girl, looking off into the distance to emphasize his joking posture. "There are a lot of rumors in the school. However, that was one of the more believable ones." He looked back down, dropping his mock thoughtful pose, and shoved his hands into his pockets. He supposed every student had to try the lunch at one point. Chip's was lasagna. The noodles and cheese were stale. How could someone get cheese stale?

Madison looked down at the food beside her with distaste, before gleaming back to the sky. Her eyes were mirrors. There had to be many rumors. It was an archaic school.
"What kind of stories do you think this school holds?" She stood, walking with an emphasized grace As she made her way to a door, an old door with a yellow faded sign, decal worn to an unreadable shadow. "Like when," she persisted, ", do you think someone was last in here? What do you think lies behind a...strange...roof door?"

Stories the school holds? Well. There certainly weren't written in books. Otherwise Chip would know them. The blond watched in a bit of confusion as the girl gracefully made her way to a random door on the roof. On said door looked like something that held electric measurements or water heaters. A closet most likely. Chip gave the girl a look with a raised eyebrow. "Most likely not too long ago." He paused before deciding what could be behind it. "Probably air conditioning controls or some kid of electric generator." The Winter responded honestly. What else could have happened in there? If it was normal, nothing should have happened in there.

Madison looked it up and down, and back at him with disappointment. "Well, I suppose you're right," she said. "It's probably dark in there anyway."
She began to walk back to the bench, a little slower, legs high with each step as she give an overly-casual stare out to the campus below. "By the way," she said while not looking at him. "I'm Madison."

Just then, once again, the door to the roof access opened slightly as another boy appeared through it. He wasn't exactly feeling so great today since he had forgotten to go shopping that past weekend and had run out of food the night before. Now he had no lunch... and with how long he'd been at the school, there was no way he was touching school food. Not now, at least. He wasn't that desperate. But because he didn't have a whole lot of energy, the door only opened halfway, but Richard continued walking forward to where half of his body just phased right through the door as it closed through/behind him. With a heavy sigh, he looked up from the ground to see two people already up here. Well... This was awkward. "Oh, uh... Sorry. I didn't realize this was occupied," he said, a little embarrassed yet too hungry and tired to show it, especially since he was using most of his energy to keep himself together. Literally.

That was the worst part about his power. It finally kicked in when he was about 10 years old and when it did, it sucked because it was like none of his atoms wanted to stay together. His problem was and still is about controlling the phasing, but it's more of using energy to keep himself held in one solid mass rather than using energy to pull himself apart. Over time, it had gotten much easier so he didn't phase through anything and everything if he got too tired, but there were still some times when it was a little difficult to keep from sinking right through the floor.

"I can go if I need to..." he told them, already partially turning towards the door.

Chip watched the girl sit back down on the bench, he gave her a bit of a smile before answering calmly. "My name is Chip." Just a moment later, another boy appeared, torso partially through the door leading to the stairs. Chip paled considerably, 'Ghost..?!' he thought fearfuly. But that thought quickly went away when the Winter considered things. First. It was day time. Second. The person just spoke. Listening to the reasoning he gave himself, the boy spoke up to the newcomer. "No, It's not taken, you can come right out." The boy casually strolled over the the door and picked up the book he had thrown there earlier, and forced it to fly off of the ground and into his hands. Maybe he wanted to show off. Or maybe he found himself being too lazy to bend down and pick it up. Who knows?

Madison stuck out her hand, until Chip turned. Awkwardly continuing the movement of her hand, she ducked it into her pocket and turned to what he was looking at. Oh God, why was that guy moving through the door!? It couldn't be a hallucination, it was bright and sunny out!
"Y-you can see that boy...," she whispered into Chip's ear, ",...right?" She seemed ready to bolt.