My Character

Shy

I was in Barnes and Noble, scanning shelves. She popped in and out. Reaching out for a book or just staring at the shelves before padding off. She was round, wearing a sweater and blue jeans with a worn color. Her sandy blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail but below the holder it was wild. The last time I saw her she dragged her mother up to a shelf to explain that they didn't have the right number in the book series she was looking at. Her mother didn't sound like she really cared about the books and didn't really understand her daughter. The mother asked, "Is this one of those zombie books?" The girl replied, "Not really, I mean it has zombies in it but it's more of an apocalypse story. I like those kinds of stories." And then she followed her mother out of the section.


Mary was quiet and withdrawn. Her shoulders were always hunched, trying to go unnoticed, hiding in her baggy clothes. Self conscious and a lack of confidence leading to seclusion. Being in high school didn't help, judgement around every corner. Her family was struggling financially and they weren't the most emotionally expressive people on the planet. She often felt invisible and so she turned to books. She loved them, buying new ones was always made her day. But she still struggled to feel like she fit in. She fell in with a group of friends who also felt left out and alone. They all loved The Walking Dead and anything to do with zombies or the apocalypse. She started reading those books to fit in. She liked them well enough but still felt like she didn't fit in. She wasn't confident in her declaration of appreciation. She wasn't confident in anything.