The sour odor of bleached, tiled floor greeted the visitors as the glass doors of the public library swung and clicked shut behind them. As they strode further in, the aroma of leather books and printed paper welcomed them.

The duo climbed the stairs towards the second floor, both pairs of eyes processing just how many aisles just a community library could hold. While Klaus glowed at the sight and smell of it all, Skye ignored the books, instead she focused on the people.

She spotted a middle aged, stocky-built man cradling a stack of papers as thick as his hands. She guessed if someone bumped into him, or if he dropped any of it, the thin rubber bands would be helpless to stop it all from exploding. Her eyes glued themselves to a group of middle school children; just seeing heavier book bags bigger than their small frames made her own shoulders scream when that reminded her of the engine swap.

As for Klaus, he remained preoccupied by the variety of book genres; nonfiction, instruction books geared towards mechanics, and general manuals were to his right. To his left was the more usual fare for a library; fiction. He kept his gaze to the left each time she looked back to him. “So your favorite pastime is reading?” Skye inquired, breaking his trance.

Klaus simply shrugged and replied, “you read plenty of things in your amateur days, didn’t you?”

Skye could only roll her eyes as it dawned on her that he was simply a bookworm. Perhaps she had expected him to take her for a drive to get lost in the latest popular variety of activities for others her age, such as beachgoing or making her sit through window shopping for video games. She didn't even mind checking out an unfamiliar parts shop downtown. Anything but the library.

The only things she thought to ever read were textbooks simply in due part of being required for her schoolwork. Since community college, the textbooks never left her studies, but if she chose something to read on her own time, instructional guides were it.

"No matter. We’re not here to read,” he clarified. “Follow me.” Klaus proceeded to walk briskly into a sea of bookshelves where the lighting was dimmer than anywhere else. Halfway in, he beckoned her by waving his hand. “Come on!”

She sighed, taking slow, careful strides to follow him into the tunnel of bookshelves. As she followed him, the aroma of books began to overpower them, but at least they could see ahead in the dim lighting.

At the end of their short journey was a tall, wide, wooden door adorned with a metal handle and a keypad. As he began typing in a code, Skye scoffed and leaned against the wall. “Breaking and entering isn’t my thing.” She looked up to see a tiny, black half-sphere in the ceiling. She gave it a shy, subtle wave. “I’m not with him, I swear.”

Out of the blue, she felt a pressure wrapping her forearm as her body was yanked into darkness; what remained of the light from outside turned into a sliver as the door clicked shut. “What’s the big idea?! If you try anything funny, I’ll-!”

Bright lights suddenly filled her vision, making her wince as she closed her eyes. She slowly opened them to find what was once swallowed in darkness was a room akin to a Lost & Found in the light. Klaus stayed silent as she toured the world around her.

Lining the walls were tall, metal shelves holding hard covered school textbooks ranging from sociology to mathematics, from paperback foreign language workbooks to the generic black and white notebooks Skye was all too familiar with.

Joining these lost school supplies was a shoe box outwardly labeled to hold a pair of size ten sneakers, yet contained discarded smartphones. The cases varied between clear and colorful, plain colored and uniquely designed. Skye counted three of them she could see on the surface with charms hanging off of them, which told very little about their previous owners aside from what TV show or animals they liked.

From another shelf holding dust blanketed stuffed animals to a rainbow of umbrellas folded and packed into a cardboard box ripping at the seams in the corner of the room. From clothing racks whose metal and plastic hangers presented jackets and coats big and small, to the T-shirts that joined them. Most of them were written with modern slang terms in the same space as business casual cardigans.

Footwear of various brands and conditions lined up beneath the hanging tops. There were baby shoes smaller than Skye’s hands, and children’s shoes with frayed and torn shoelaces covered in hardened mud. The same mud caked the soles and sides of these shoes, but they might still light up happily with each step.

She spied loafers that would suit an old man nicely for a calm afternoon, and a pair of well kept steel-toed boots sat adjacent to these laid back shoes. She entertained the thought of claiming them if she hadn’t already bought a pair just last week.

Lying next to the shoes was a small cardboard box holding accessories such as bracelets made of various metals, rubber bands shaped like animals and fruit, and scrunchies. Various pieces of jewelry swam about the accessories; sapphires, emeralds, and rubies were devoted to their own rings and strings.

Scarves were snaked around each other and anything else they could entangle, as if claiming each other and everything else inside their grasps their prey. Jewelry, hair ties, nor any pairs of sunglasses were safe from being constricted by silk or cotton.

Welcome to my humble abode.” Klaus greeted, arms outstretched as though beholding this room to himself. Skye managed to catch the gleam in his eye; a childlike and wondrous glimmer similar to the one she felt in her own mind as she explored this room for the first time.

Skye didn’t respond; she couldn’t respond. What could she say? She didn’t know. The mechanic watched him plop down on a beat up, stained mattress that squeaked in protest of his weight. Empty snack backs littered the ground close to the mattress, and among the mess was a small table lamp plugged into an outlet. Upon second glance, she noticed the lamp was perched atop a hard covered book for entry level psychology.

"Sorry it's such a mess. I wasn't expecting any visitors," he said shyly, even making himself chuckle to himself quietly. He hugged his knees. He couldn't look at his mentor. He dared not to. "How do you feel about me now?"

previous friends who saw him leave the library, or the fact that this was his living situation at all. "Why?" She asked quietly, but the quiet room made it seem like she spoke with a normal tone. "Why here? And how? Why bring me here?"

"I thought that..'' his words got caught in his throat. Though it was too late to turn back, his mind still stopped to try to find an escape. “Since we're working together, and because of the circumstances that led us to meet each other, you deserve to know everything."

- - -

It all started two years ago. It was just a normal night but I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Maybe if you didn’t drink so much, you’d see we’re behind on the bills! Our lights are going to be cut off if you don’t get off your ass and help!” Klaus came in the door immediately covering his ear where the scolding, raspy voice of a man came from.

“I work my ass off for you and our son! Why can’t I just drink every once in a while!?” She screeched back, causing Klaus to duck into the kitchen to get as far away from the living area as possible. “I skip lunch more times than I could count just to make you happy and you’re still screaming at me! It’s not my fault the bills are high!”

He heard a scream and glass breaking, looking up to catch his father’s arm stretched in front of him, hateful eyes riding behind his fist. Klaus nearly motioned to protect his mother, but his forearm screamed in protest, as if reminding him of the last time he tried to protect anyone.

And so his feet froze, his throat choked up from seeing this man overpower the one closest to him, wailing on her as she sobbed her pleas at him to stop, her undeserved apologies screaming at him, anything to make him stop. Klaus eyed a floral vase beside him, perched on a tall wooden stand holding lively, pink roses with a gift tag still on it. “For my honey,” in his old man’s handwriting.

“You’re nothing without me! You’d be living on the streets if it weren’t for the help of my income you pothead!” Klaus watched him land another punch to her face. “You alcoholic slut!” He punched her chest, leading her to scream. “You’ve disappointed me for the last time!”

All of a sudden, his head was light and fuzzy, his ears producing a high pitched squeal as ceramic shattered from his head, purple shards raining around the family, splintering onto the floor, on everyone’s skin. Scarlet splashed from the man’s black hair and onto the bodies of his wife and son.

The vase was nothing more than bloodied shards of ceramic. Pink rose blooms splotched in a deep scarlet hue the water that rained down on the scene did little to wash away. The man dropped to his knees, collapsing on his side as his wife screamed in horror, crawling to cradle his head in his lap.

“Honey! Wake up! Please!” She pleaded. She gazed at the warm scarlet fluid streaking down her arm from the splintered vase biting her skin just moments ago, pupils retracted as she looked up at her son gazing at his own similar injuries. “You did this.’

Their eyes met. He wanted to hug her, tell her that she was free, but her eyes were full of horror, retracted by her son’s capabilities. “Y-you- you monster! How could you do this?” She questioned, rising to her feet, stumbling as she did so.

“M-Mom, I-” his words got lost in his throat again. All he could do was watch as she unbuckled her dress’s belt slowly, his own pupils shrinking as he watched the one he was meant to protect betray him.

“You took everything from me!” She whipped at him with her belt, screaming in unbridled rage as she missed him and shattered a framed photo of the trio when he evaded her attack. “Do you know how much trouble it was to raise you? I thought when you got to college, things would’ve been different!”

She watched her son sprint into the kitchen, stretching her thick belt, readying it as her heels clicked slowly across the floorboards, heralding her gradual entrance into the kitchen. Though she could not see him, she hummed as she looked around. “I used to think you were a sweet little boy. I protected you from being given up for adoption when we realized you had that disgusting white forelock.”

She giggled, her feet stopping next to the closed cabinet door leading to his hiding place. He softened his breathing in an attempt to stay hidden from his assailant. “I gave you everything,” to his horror, the darkness of his hiding place was lit up by the cabinet door opening to reveal her furrowed eyes. “Is this how you will repay your protector?”

As the collar of his shirt was grabbed, he grabbed a sticky spray bottle. He closed his eyes, aimed it, and sprayed it in her eyes all in one quick movement. She screamed and let go of him, rubbing her eyes of the bleach that was sprayed in them. “I’m sorry!” He yelped as he gathered anything he could; his phone, a box of snack bars, his school binders all in one backpack he slung across his shoulders.

Her screaming was only background noise as he lunged out of the door, letting it swing open as he sprinted down the street into the night, his only focus being survival.

~ ~ ~

Skye eyed the mattress and other evidence of residence with new perspective. "So this is why it always looked like someone has lived here. That was really you? There isn't anyone else with you?" He shook his head. She couldn't believe her ears; despite the rough first meeting, she was able to put herself in his shoes without much effort.

He sighed. "I know we've only been roommates for a few months, but I wanted to share this room with you. After seeing Jade put you down like that back there, it took me back to a place that I never want to go back to, and I vowed to myself that I'd never come back here." He stood up and looked around as though he couldn't help but to be just a little nostalgic about this living arrangement.

He approached her and locked eyes with her. "I know what it's like to feel like you have nowhere to go after you've taken some punches and need to process whatever someone has said before. If I have to be honest with you, I support your hobby as an auto enthusiast and mechanic."

Skye couldn't remember the last time anyone said that to her so sincerely. Between her skeptical parents, judgmental peers, and bullies she acquired over the years, Klaus was the very first to say something like that so sincerely. His smile and warm eyes would forever be burned into her head. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Skye scoffed and looked away. "You do? Thanks, but I'm sure you'd change your mind about it eventually." At least that was how she saw it. In recent years it often seemed like the ocassional supporter would start speaking out against her if they knew just how much time she dedicated to her interests. She knew one, at least.

"Now that's silly! We're not so different with how we spend our time. I feel like we have some common ground, y'know? I spend my time reading, you spend your time working on cars. Different interests, but we both dislike the outside world."

He continued, walking past her as if to behold the room to her now. "So from now on, if you find that you need some alone time to think or just want to relax, you're always free to come here whether I'm in here or not." He gave her a warm smile.

She started to beam at him. This place was homely enough, after all; it was definitely a place to reflect in hard times. "Besides, you let me crash at your place when I needed a more comfortable place to sleep." Her expression dulled and nearly sharpened. Of course he'd joke about that.

She could hardly call that a favor, being awakened in the middle of the night with a stranger in her bed having eaten all of her food that she paid so much for. One of her hardest decisions in life was choosing between listening to a groveling stranger kneeling before her, or letting the call to the authorities go through so she'd never have to see him again.

She shook it off and let her expression soften as she let out a small laugh. The whole ordeal came with providing him a proper place to stay so he could move on with his life in exchange for an extra pair of hands to help around the house and with her work.

"I wish I could stay here, but it's so lonely now. You spoiled me with company, Skye."

Skye looked around. Even with reading material and finding solace in snacks and lost belongings, loneliness was an inevitability. There was a rope coiled up like a defensive snake in the corner next to the mattress next to a tiny plastic stool meant for a young child. They weren't blanketed in dust like everything else.

She shook it off. Maybe he bought extra rope for the engine swap and just so happened to not be able to store it anywhere else. Maybe he borrowed a small foot stool to get objects out of his reach.

"Well, you're free to take anything you want from this room."

"Anything?" Skye found herself taken by surprise by this offer. Was he really so comfortable to give up something from his sacred spot? Sure, it is a Lost & Found and old owners might come back here to look for their possessions, otherwise this was all his to use at his discretion within reason.

"If we're going to work together, we may as well build a level of trust. I trust you, so you get to have anything you want in here." Klaus smiled warmly at her.

She didn't know exactly where to start, so she let her eyes wander to the rope and the stool, but she wasn't quite sure why, so she lost interest almost immediately. Maybe they reminded her of the engine swap and a need for a proper stool to reach upper shelves in her garage, but a flimsy plastic stool wasn't going to allow her to perform the latter safely.

Skye looked around the room for something she might need or want in the long run. She was stocked up on coats for wintry repairs and had her own pair of steel toed boots. Some of the jewelry caught her eye again; however, she quickly realized that she'd have to keep taking it off or else risk losing it in a car's engine compartment.

She took another look at one of the boxes of small clothing articles and bent forward to reach into it. She fished out a long piece of cloth that was entangled by bracelets and necklaces. One of her hands rubbed down the cloth, freeing the attachments into a descent back into their box.

The cloth was soft and silky against her skin; she held it between her two hands, entranced by its texture and cleanliness. Finally something that wasn't covered in car grease, and for free too. "Oh, that's a good one. I've tried on that scarf plenty of times, but it didn't really suit me. Maybe it'll look good on you?"

Without giving Skye a chance to respond, he led her to a mirror on the wall.

She watched her roommate fold the scarf from behind her and gently loop it around her neck. Her shoulders tensed up with him being back there, but as quick as he started, he was done and thus she let herself relax.

She found that it was more of a neckerchief tie scarf than a traditional one that someone would wear on a chilly day. She adjusted the scarf herself to get a better look at its design. The tied ends on the back of her neck were outlined in hot pink that contained thick lines of blue and forest green while the empty space was gray. The colored streaks never stayed in one place and never conformed to a consistent pattern.

"Wow. You look stunning." complimented Klaus, unable to take his eyes off of her.

She glanced at the scarf's patterns, mesmerized. It felt like something new stirred within, like an essence of confidence just waiting to be awakened. It was definitely a colorful addition, one that'd earn many glances from passersby. She motioned to remove it, but when she thought about it, it would be like turning down a gift. She couldn't do that. Maybe she'll wear it just once.

"Thanks, Klaus." she smiled. "Now then, we should probably get the customer's car back to their house today."

~ ~ ~

"Fifty, one hundred, two hundred.." mumbled an old man as he gave Skye bills. As for Klaus, he was preoccupied with admiring the porch and its homeliness conveyed by a hanging lamp and a wooden bench swing hanging from the ceiling with chains on either side.

He looked around at the sedan sitting in the driveway; he had to admit that despite the minimal rust near the wheel-wells, the sunlight still managed to direct his attention to the deep blue paint, not to mention that the starry badge made it even more impressive.

"Keep the change."

The mechanic looked down and counted the money she was given. "Sir, this is a hundred more than I asked for."

"Consider it a token of my gratitude for replacing my baby's engine. I don't know what I'd do without her." the elder wiped a tear from his eye.

"Well, she's got a new engine and we changed the oil just as you asked. Good luck winning the rally next week, Mr. Connors!" Skye said as she walked away with Klaus.

"Thanks, young lady! I'll win just for you!" He called out as he waved to her, looked at his car longingly, and smiled before closing his door.

After an hour of walking through intersections and past storefronts, the two roommates finally found themselves at a staircase descending into the ground. They strolled through the gates via scanning their passes in the form of cards and waited next to the tracks for the train. "You never told me why you don't have a car of your own."

She sighed, but she knew to be prepared for such a question. They had been working together for three months now; she couldn’t believe how long it took for Klaus to realize he hadn’t seen a car that didn’t belong to a customer under their roof.

“I don’t have the money to buy a car. Between bills, food, buying parts, and paying for college classes, there’s nothing left for a hefty car purchase.” The heftier purchases were often reserved for the modern cars. She could find older cars for sale for just less than $1,000, but in the end they’d probably own their cheap nature to defective parts, which might cost a lot more than the purchase price. In the end, she resigned to a pedestrian’s life.

Skye looked around and took a deep breath as the duo got to the bottom of the subway stairs. “Besides, I don't really mind it since this is my way of feeling like I have something close to a social life, but without the socializing."

He looked around at the passersby doing nothing but minding their own business. The young man frowned at the sight. "Not much of a social life."

"What I’m saying is if I spend my time outside, I’ll feel better about myself.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “You're the only person I can talk to without you being on your phone all the time. Just look at these people."

Klaus watched closely at the passersby as they typed on their devices and held them to their ears. Others had wired or wireless ear pods and headphones connected to their phones, and there were those who decided to video chat or watch videos.

"If only others understood that it's because of others' unwillingness to socialize that I feel like I can't even if I really wanted to." Skye lamented, earning an albeit hesitant back pat from her apprentice. She glared at him like a lioness ready to make a meal out of his arm; he brought it back to his side slowly.

They sat there quietly in waiting for their train to arrive.

"You know what makes me feel better when I feel like others don't notice me?" She didn't answer, but her eye contact was enough of a cue to let him continue. "I pull out my phone and take a selfie." Mid sentence, he produced a small device almost as big as his hand. "How about we take one together and post it?"

Skye laughed at his proposal. "C'mon, Klaus, you know I'm not selfie material. Who'd appreciate someone with a body like mine gracing their social feed? I'm not the skinniest girl in the world," one of her palms grasped an area that was pudgier than anywhere else on her gut. "nor do I have the best hair," she brushed her hand through her locks that threatened to entrap her fingers in their deathly, curly vengeance.

"It doesn't really help that I can't see without my glasses, either." she pushed her frames back onto the bridge of her nose with an index finger.

"Look at everyone else here around you." Klaus elbowed her with a serene rage in his soul. Skye did as she was told and saw others walking by. "Look at 'em, Skye. Tall and short, fat and skinny, well kept and 'mom' hair - all mingling together in a hodgepodge of every day life. You need more self confidence. Besides, I think I've got more of an excuse to be embarrassed."

He didn't have to explicitly tell her what bothered him to know that he was referring to his glaring, white patch of hair floating amidst all of the black. She playfully ran a hand through his messy locks. “And yet you don't even bother to hide it with hair coloring or a hat?"

The two roommates laughed at the very depth of the conversation before Klaus finally asked, "well, what about that selfie?"

"Oh, come on, I'm not photogenic."

"You don't have to be! C'mon, it'll be fun. Don't you want to show off that neat scarf of yours? Aside from jabs at your appearance, what's the harm?"

She shrugged off the backhanded compliment with a giggle. "Okay."

"That's the spirit!"

Klaus rose his phone above them as the woman beside him scooted closer to his form. A few moments after he had a clear shot of the both of them, he lowered it and proceeded to post it.

"It's kind of sad how attention is measured in likes and followers." Skye fell back into lament.

"Well, if it's any consolation, I care about you." Klaus was about to give her another back pat, but resisted the urge.

Skye smiled at him. “Thanks. After Spring Break is over, we can finally get back to the way life should be. Working on cars without the likes of Jade being on our cases."