In a small town in Northern Carolina, there weren’t exactly a lot of job opportunities for fresh high school graduates, you would be lucky enough to earn a job at a music shop or something, and to be paid at least 15 dollars a day for 5 days. Jennie unfortunately didn’t land a job at a music shop where music from the 80s and from today would be booming through the stereo around the shop, instead she landed a job at the local library that was located just a few blocks away from her house.

She had just graduated high school a month ago and she was lucky enough to get a job to earn a little extra cash before she heads off to the town’s local university. It was basically an easy job; she had agreed to work the graveyard shift since the old ladies who worked in the morning didn’t want the hassle of working so late at night until midnight, so Jennie worked the night shift which was actually quite boring. She would spend nights just roaming around the place, looking at every single book at every single bookshelf, some nights there would be some college kids taking summer classes that would come in and browse for some books, none of them really stayed longer than an hour, most would just borrow books and then they’d return it sometime next week but in the morning which left Jennie with nothing to do.

Some nights Jennie likes to do some general cleaning, she had swept and mopped the floor, fixed the bathroom faucet, she organized each bookshelf according to genre, the ladies from the morning shift were quite surprised but they loved it anyway, just like how they love Jennie.

During nights when no one would dare go to a boring library, Jennie would blast some music whilst she ate some snacks her mom had packed for her, but most of the time Jennie would read books until her eyes hurt and her head pounded. There would be nights where Jennie would accidentally fall asleep and then the morning shift ladies would wake her up from her slumber.

It wasn’t the most exciting job in history but Jennie liked it. It was calming and nice. But the past 4 nights haven’t been very good to her. Only because there was this one girl who would now come to the library at around 10 in the evening only to lock herself up in the crying closet. Now it’s called the crying closet because college students usually lock themselves up in there to let out a breather then come out to go back to studying. But this girl had been spending an unhealthy amount of time inside the crying closet, it was honestly starting to annoy Jennie, because she usually locked up at quarter to 12 so she still had a few good minutes before midnight when she reaches home, but the girl stayed there ‘til 12:30 which wasn’t amusing at all.

This girl though, she was tall and skinny, her hair was dyed into this honey blonde color that actually suited her, she had big doe eyes like Bambi, her nose was…this is gonna be embarrassing but Jennie thought her nose was as cute as a button, her lips resembled Angelina Jolie’s at some point, she had bangs to cover her forehead and she had tears every damn time she’d come in the library and get out of the closet.

Tonight was no different, Jennie decided to play a little The 1975 so she wouldn’t fall asleep, she too decided to do a little light reading for college, and just as the clock struck 10 PM, the same girl barged inside the library again, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Tonight she was wearing a plain white shirt tucked in baggy pants and pairing it up with flip flops, she ran pass Jennie and straight into the crying closet.

Jennie sighed as she went back to reading.

…

Now this girl has been in that closet way too long, it was 1 in the morning and this has been the longest that the girl has been in there, Jennie was actually scared she might find a dead body inside there, she was sure the closet wasn’t a good space for fresh breathing and smooth breathing, but then again she could still hear sobbing coming from the closet, and as much as she wants the girl to take all the time she needs, she can’t because she was supposed to lock up an hour ago, she was extremely sleepy and her mom was already texting her about her whereabouts. Jennie has to do it; Jennie has to kick her out.

After sending her mother a quick text that she’d be home in a few, Jennie then approached the crying closet that was located behind the geography section. Jennie could still hear the girl’s sobs; she rolled her eyes as she knocked on the closet.

“Miss? I’m sorry but it’s already 1 in the morning and I really have to lock up” Jennie spoke loud enough for the girl to hear her, and true enough the girl did hear her, she had stopped sobbing and responded.

“I need a little more time please” the girl said

“The audacity” Jennie mumbled to herself

“Listen, Miss McSobber, I have successfully finished playing every single The 1975 album and yet you’re still not done crying in there? I’m sorry but I have a life too and I need sleep, so I’m gonna have to kick you out if you’re not getting out of there” Jennie threatened

“Please…one more minute” The girl pleaded

Jennie sighed as she sat down, her back leaning against the closet, her head bumping a bit into it but she ignored the quick pain.

“Look, normally I wouldn’t pry but…do you want to talk about it?” Jennie asked, her voice more calmer and softer

She heard a few sniffs from behind her.

“I-It’s nothing really” the girl said

“Well you’re not very good at lying” Jennie said “This is your 5^th night there in the crying closet, you spend a good hour or two in there and you cry quite a lot. Honestly I’m concerned if you hydrate yourself enough, but other than that, I’m actually concerned of what you’re going through”

The girl didn’t respond.

“Look, I know we don’t know each other at all, and you might be scared to open up to a stranger, but look at it in a different perspective. We’re strangers and we don’t know anything about each other, and opening up to a stranger is actually the easiest thing to do” Jennie said

After still not hearing anything from the girl, Jennie spoke again.

“I may not be good at giving advice…but I can listen to you. If you don’t want me to talk then that’s okay, if you just want someone to listen then I’m right here, I’m all ears, and if I have something to say, I promise it won’t be something judgmental” Jennie said

Jennie heard the girl sigh.

“It’s stupid” the girl said “I think I’m just over reacting—“

“If it hurts you then it hurts you” Jennie said, interrupting the girl

“What?” she asked

“I said…if it hurts you then it hurts you. Every person has their very own definition of pain, and every person has different kinds of pain. My pain may seem petty to others but to me it freaking hurts so bad, your pain might be stupid to others but it’s been doing nothing but messing with your head and making you hurt” Jennie explained

 The girl was silent for a bit, but she then spoke after a few more seconds.

“I have a great life actually, my parents are together and they’re happy, they have jobs, we have our own house, I just graduated high school, I’m going to college and I’m gonna take up something I actually like, I have great friends, and I have 2 cats that I love so much but somehow…my mind’s ed up, I feel as though the weight of the world is on my shoulders” she said

“It’s stupid because I don’t know where all of this is coming from, I don’t understand why I feel this way when everything I’ve ever wanted is right before my eyes and yet I still feel empty. I want to live but I also want all of this to end. I’m happy because I think I have the solution to this but I’m scared that most people will never agree to it” she stopped to let out a loud cry

Jennie stayed in the same position and waited for the girl to continue.

“I don’t want my parents to think it’s their fault because it isn’t, I don’t want to tell this to my friends because I don’t want to be a burden, I can’t tell this to anyone because I don’t think it’s a valid reason to feel so down, so lost, so…” the girl paused, not knowing what to say next

“Insignificant?” Jennie spoke, the girl remained quiet

“Your feelings aren’t something that should be invalidated. These are your feelings, and you have every right to feel every single emotion possible to man. You may not know where all of that is coming from and that’s okay, you can’t exactly solve everything in a day. The solutions to your problems aren’t going to come to you like a dog handing you the stick you told him to fetch. It’s never that easy.” Jennie said

“I know someone who had gone through the same thing, she had to go through difficult solutions in able to find a solution to her own self, and that included having to distance herself from the people she loved" Jennie said

“Now I’m not telling you that you should distance yourself from people as well, every individual has their own way of coping with whatever they’re going through. I guess you should try to find your inner peace first, do what makes you happy” Jennie said

“Inner peace?” the girl asked

“Yeah, it could be anything. The night sky, the stars, the moon, the sun, the beach, or reading, it could be your favorite TV series or your flipping mailbox, as long as it brings you peace then so be it” Jennie said

The girl remained silent for a few more minutes; Jennie no longer minded the time because she was actually glad she took the time to listen to this girl’s problems, because maybe she could actually do something good for someone else who needed it.

Jennie then heard three knocks, so she moved away from the closet and sat across it, waiting for the girl to open it, and so she did. The girl looked scared, her knees were pressed up to her heaving chest, her eyes were red and puffy, her nose was red too and her lips were trembling a bit, but Jennie was surprised to see the girl hand her a bottle of pills.

“T-Thank you…for saving me” the girl said

Jennie took the bottle from her and immediately she knew what the girl had wanted to do. She sighed in relief, if she hadn’t come to talk to this girl; the morning shift might’ve ended up finding a dead body inside a closet, but not tonight, nope, because tonight Jennie had unexpectedly saved a life.

“I’m Lisa Manoban” the girl said, she then crawled out of the closet and sat beside Jennie

Jennie couldn’t help but stare at the girl’s side profile, she definitely looked beautiful.

“Jennie Kim, I work the night shift here” Jennie said

Jennie saw Lisa smile for the first time since she had seen her. And maybe…just maybe, Jennie didn’t just find a crying girl inside the crying closet, she might’ve even found a friend, and maybe soon enough…something more.