Scattered: Prologue

 She turned the knob. A rush of cold air blew through her hair. Beyond the door, a staircase into a dark, lifeless room: The Archives. She carefully traversed the staircase into the empty room, attentively surveying her surroundings through the circle of light created by the lantern. Her hands were shaking and she felt like she was going to be sick, but she pushed on. She needed answers and this was the only place she was going to find them. In the time of The Centre, the archives had long been demolished. That was why she was here. In this room. In this time. She simply had to find her family ledger. 

The books were sorted by title. She searched, carefully brushing the dust from their spines so she could read the titles, for the Ingrams. She knew these names. They were respected names in the Centre. Vance, Smith, McClaren. 

Where is it? She thought. It has to be here. She couldn't find it. Ingram was missing from the archives. 

But why? The Ingrams were a family associated with the Centre. Surely their records should have been there. She had come so far. Been through so much. It all seemed for nothing. All she had managed to find was an old archive with missing information.