The white sheet had a black and white scene of Santa Monica pier playing from the projector a few metres away. At least fifty people were sitting in front of the scene watching intently.

Turning my head away from the mini cinema to the awfully quiet Lurch, I asked "What is going on here? Why is the library even open at this time?"

He was about to reply but stopped when the film everyone was watching started playing on the speakers.

The first words I heard were familiar from the film were "It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know—"

"By the name of Annabel Lee." I finished the line and looked to Stone while tilting my head.

Stone did not meet my eye when explaining "In the thirties, some actors from a theatre in Los Angeles came to Santa Monica to practice film making. They filmed themselves acting out Edgar Allan Poe poems. This library has the only copy on film, and they show it every year."

I was lost for words. Completely and utterly stunned into silence.

He picked up on my silence and quickly added as he rubbed his jaw "I thought you would like it but if you want to go somewhere else then—"

My excitement could not be contained any longer. I let out a high-pitched squeal that surprised Stone and myself.

Thinking about how much I did not want to miss a single poem, I grabbed his hand without thinking and pulled him to where everyone was sitting.

Once we were sat in the crowd of people, the warmth in my fingers travelled to my face as I realised that I had grabbed his hand.

I tried to pull away, but he did not let me.

I did not try to untangle our fingers again, but I raised an eyebrow at him.

While squeezing my hand, he nonchalantly told me "It is mine now."

To hide my smile, I focused on the screen where a man sat on a cliff's edge and looked to the sky. My eyes stayed glued to the screen as a few more poems were acted out.

I did not understand why the films were never shown in the theatre. They were amazing and beautiful. I did not watch a lot of black and white movies but this one I could not imagine in colour.

It was perfect in monochrome. It was perfect the way it was.

Kind of like the guy who was beside me who laughed at my quoting of every line from memory.

"I feel bad." I whispered from beside me.

He was already watching me when I turned to face him.

Stone frowned and asked, "Why?"