She blushed, “Yeah, can you? I was about to climb the shelves, but I can’t really do that cause…” She grabbed the hem of her dress and gave it a little twirl. Little peeled bananas polka-dotted the pearly white sundress.

Walker strolled toward her and casually grabbed the book she pointed out and handed it to her. When she swung her backpack to deposit the book, the smell of sweet strawberries enveloped him. Now that he was closer, he noticed her hair was damp. She must’ve just taken a shower like him.

“You like psychology?” Walker asked.

She tilted her head to the side, “Mhm. Though my parents would probably use the word ‘obsessed’ or something.”

He grinned, “What kind of psychology though? The armchair one or the serial killers one?”

She hugged the binder to her chest and rocked on her toes, “What do you think?”

The sleeve on the back of her binder was stuffed with printed newspaper cutouts. Titles ranged from The Hunt for Citizen XY to Uncle Sleeveless: CAUGHT.

“I think… serial killers beware.”

She giggled, “Yup, ever since I walk I thought they were interesting. Particularly why they do what they do, ya know?” She asked.

“I mean. When I was a kid I kind of just rolled around in the dirt and played with mud.” Walker responded. “Though, every once and a while someone will come around and murder a few people. Really jostles my jimmies.”

She leaned against the shelf, her dress crumpled on the wood, “See you get it. Something about how people think really gets me going.”

“Should I be worried?” Walker said.

She reached behind her and brought out a finger gun and pointed it at him, “I don’t know…” She raised an eyebrow, “Have you murdered at least two separate people in separate events?”

Walker raised his hands in surrender, “Of course not,” He closed all his fingers except his pointer finger, “Just one person. Some guy slapped my ass on Fictus today. He’s twelve feet under now.”

He inwardly cringed, he didn’t mean to let it get that far. Hopefully, she only thought he was a weirdo, not a cree-

She laughed. He noticed that her nose crinkled while she did so. “Only one? That’s okay then,” She holstered her finger gun to lean back on the shelf. Relief trickled out of Walker like a bucket punctured with a knife.

“So, what about you? You mentioned you played with mud. Is that still an interest of yours?” She teased.

“Now it’s just a hobby. But no, I think you could say that I’m more of a science guy.” Walker shifted his weight to also lean on the wooden shelf.

“Oh cool, what’s your major?

Walker froze. Before him lay two options, tell the truth, or lie. Obviously, one was more favorable than the other. “Bio,” he said.

“Oh, I guess mine’s pretty obvious. Anyways, I’m-” She said.

Though Walker was lost in thought. He honestly believed he was going to go the whole day without having a conversation that didn’t consist of pleasantries and questions about the school. The question of whether he should’ve told the truth penetrated his thoughts.

Walker blinked away the thoughts to reveal the short girl staring at him expectedly.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She tilted her head again and raised her eyebrows “You weren’t listening were you.”

Walker sheepishly met her gaze, “I heard some of it.”

“Okay, what’s my name then?” She placed one hand on her hip and the other held the binder to the side to display its front.

He peeked at the binder and blurted out the name written out in marker at the top. Bewildered she surveyed the area around her until she saw her binder.

“Mowgli?” She busted out in laughter.

“I’m guessing that isn’t your name,” Walker responded matter-of-factly.

Her freckles disappeared behind two dimples that formed at the ends of a radiant smile. “Of course not,” She revealed the rest of the front of her binder to reveal a crudely drawn small child in orange shorts. She pointed to the binder, “That’s Mowgli, I’m Mary.”

“What’d I say?” He said in a fake sincere voice.

“Mhm…”

He dropped the guise to introduce himself, “I’m Adam Walker. People call me Walker though.”

She placed the binder behind her back and rolled on the ball of her feet. With a mischievous smile that would be more suited to a fox, she replied, “Sounds good Adam.”

“Hey-”

She waggled her finger at him, “Nuh-uh, you called me Mowgli, I call you Adam.”

The right corner of Walker’s mouth tugged upward, “Sounds fair.”

Silence elapsed for the first time in the conversation. Noticing this, Mowgli hugged her binder to her chest.

“So, since I helped you, you mind helping me find a book of my own?” Walker asked.

Her smile returned, “Sure, is it something specific?”

“Anything on stardust really.”

“Okay, I think I know where that is.” She stomped past him and veered left, where he came from. Again, the scent of strawberries tickled his olfactory senses.

After navigating the labyrinth of paper, she eventually stopped to stoop to the bottom row of a shelf in the Physical Geology section. “Here ya go, Stardust galore.” Walker kneeled down to peruse the shelf. He grabbed one titled Stardust: For the Layman before standing back up.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

She gave him a thumbs up.

“I’m about to find a chair and read for a bit, want to join me?” Walker asked, hopefully sounding casual.

She pulled out her phone and turned it on. She twisted her mouth to the side, “Can’t, I only came to grab some books.”

Walker tried not to look crestfallen, “No problem.”

As he turned to leave, she grabbed his shoulder to stop him. He turned to see her biting her lip, “Though… maybe you can help me grab a few more books? I think they are on that same shelf.”

With a smile, he agreed. As he retrieved her books they talked more about their major and how excited she was to be taking “Abnormal Psychology” and “Psychology of Criminal Behavior” but not so much “Organic Chemistry”. After he grabbed the third and final book she pointed out that she asked one of the questions he’d been dreading.

“So what classes are you taking?” Mowgli asked.

As he opened his mouth to respond, his throat spasmed, throwing him into a hacking fit. Mowgli said something but Walker was a million miles away. He struggled for air and tried to remain calm and let it pass. After what felt like minutes, his throat opened up and he gulped down air.

Mowgli stared at him, “You okay? Sounds like you have a frog in your throat.”

“Something like that,” Walker croaked.

“You sure?”

He waved her off, “Yeah, tip-top form. About the classes though, I’d have to check but…” His mind raced. He was solid at biology and chemistry in high school, and since he was twenty that would mean he’d be entering as a junior most likely. As such, he couldn’t say a class was too basic or too advanced or it would be suspicious. Since she mentioned she was also a junior Walker went with one of hers.

“Organic chem was one of them, I think. I’d have to check for the rest though.”

“You’re taking orgo too?”

He slowly nodded. Before he could lose his nerve he briefly inhaled and asked: “If you want, I can give you my number and we could get together to study.”

He held his breath.

She bit her lip and smiled, “Sure.” They exchanged numbers. After Walker returned her phone, her eyes went wide and she stuffed her phone back into her pocket. “Okay, I really have to go now. Nice meeting you Adam.”

He waved bye and watched her leave. As she turned the corner, he threw off his backpack and ripped it open. Walker pulled out the translucent-yellow pill bottle, opened it, and threw a couple in his mouth. Focusing, he was able to hold off on coughing for a few seconds before swallowing before he descended into coughs again.

After calming down again Walker pulled out his phone to look at the contact she left in his phone. All ten numbers with the name: Mowgli. Moving with surprising agility he navigated the library to find a discrete sofa chair to sink into. He pulled out the Stardust book and opened to page one. It would be another twenty minutes before he would stop rereading the same sentence and be able to refocus on the book itself.