Quid looks like she doesn’t get a lot of sun. She’s naturally pale, but it’s not just her genetics. Too many hours spent inside behind computers and books makes her look sun-starved. She rapidly blinks whenever she emerges from a building even on a cloudy day. It’s as if her body can’t understand natural light and doesn’t know how to process it. She can remember her mother shoving her out of the trailer and telling her to play, the lock snicking into place behind her, the sun blinding. No matter how much sun she got, she never tanned. Quid burned, she went from lobster red, to pink, and back to white.

It took her some time before she realized she would walk the five miles into town and to the cool, dark library. From that day forward, her mother no longer had to shove her – Quid ran out the door, down the crumbling concrete steps, and along the hot pavement. She ran as fast as she could until her body gave up, until she could run all give miles without pause. She always ran to the library, but walked home.