Remeber when I said I was going to bed early...

Her hand lantern cast a small glow over the shelves surrounding her, in the darkness the library seemed endlessly tall and the darkness seemed to swallow everything beyond the glow of her lantern. She shivered, anything could be beyond these shelves, waiting for her to round a corner, she had heard talk of the guardians who roamed the library at night. "I have to keep going." She told herself. She had went through far to much trouble to get here to turn back now.
Commoners weren't allowed in the Archives section of the Grand Capitol Library, commoners weren't allowed in many sections of the library at all but she had gotten the key to the Archives section for just the one night. She clutched it in her hand to make sure she had it at all times. She thought she heard a footstep behind her and turned around quickly, making the soft blue light from her lantern flicker and for a moment shrouding her in complete darkness. That small moment seemed to knock the wind out of her. She felt cold, paralyzing fear creep over her as she waited for her lantern to relight. Anything could be in that darkness, and it might be carrying its own lantern. She didn't dare call out to ask who was there for fear of an answer and only breathed again when her lantern returned to find nothing but empty darkness greeting her beyond its glow.
A few more twists and turns found her standing in front of what looked like a great prison cell, iron bars lined with bookshelves on the inside kept their knowledge prisoner in the otherwise empty chamber. It felt intimidating to even look at it, like somehow it was looking back and her hands shook as she turned the key in the lock of the heavy iron door. The hinges creaked far to loudly for her liking and she looked over her shoulder again to be sure nothing had heard her. It amazed her how loud everything seemed when she was trying to be quiet. As she shut the barred door behind her she thought she heard something. A slight thud and a rustling sound could be heard beyond the door and in the safety of the public sections of the library.
After a few moments of nothing happening she moved away from the door. A large clock on the western wall counted the seconds loudly while she stood i the middle of the archives section. The books seemed to whisper among themselves angrily, as if the had been woken by the intruder. The silence almost deafened her. She began searching by year through some of the younger volumes until she found the ones she was looking for. She pulled out the twenty six most recent books on the shelf and thumbed through the earliest ones' F section. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for. "Fan-Albert Daus Born 12-17, Residence 176 Horrors Street Apartment B-7" Right below his name as listed in alphabetical order, were the names of his parents and their address which was the very same 176 Horrors Street. An aptly named street considering the crime rate in the neighborhood was the worst in that section of it. "Found you." She whispered and smiled to herself. As this book stated he was born that very "Albert Daus Fan, twenty-six years old, born to one Alma Louise Fan and one George Daus Fan on December the seventeenth year one hundred and fifty-two PC, now all I have to do is find where you are now."
She took the most recent book off her stack, it was marked "Year 178 PC Randers' District Census" and flipped straight to the F section. she scrolled down until she found her own name, "Fan-Grace Seia, Aged 15 years, Residence 283 Horrors Street, Apartment D-6" Albert's name was not above hers. "What!" She gasped and went back fifteen years, the year she was born. "Fan-Albert Daus aged 11 years, Residence 176 Horrors Street, Apartment B-7. Fan Alma-Louise, deceased 2-13. Fan George Daus, aged 37, Residence 176 Horrors Street Apartment B-7. Fan Grace Seia born 2-11 Residence 176 Horrors Street Apartment B-7" That was the year she had been born. Her mother had held on for two days after an extremely difficult childbirth but in the end it had claimed her. Grace Flipped through the books looking for Albert's name, bracing herself to see the word "deceased" next to him with every year she opened. "Aged 13, Aged 16, Aged 20" With every year that his name appeared her pace quickened a little, she had to know. She reached year 177, he would be 24 for most of that year. She reached the F section to find her name under"Fan" . Her name, and no others. She flipped back through the book to find his name there the year before, "Aged 24".
"What!" Grace said, outraged, he couldn't have just dissapeared but the archives never made mention of his death. "What's going on?" She hissed. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, the only explanation would be that he had left the district, but no one left the district, it was strictly against the law and punishable by death. No one who left ever made it and their executions were always a public event, she would have known if he had been among the ranks of condemned men. A frighteningly loud boom shattered the silence and several others followed it. Grace dove under the table as the echoing chimes filled the Archive Room. Her heart raced as she looked around for the source of the noise and after twelve loud booms faded off into silence she breathed in relief. "Stupid clock." She muttered looking to the clock on the western wall of the room. It counted its seconds off loudly and Grace could swear it was almost laughing at her foolishness. She locked the door behind her and scurried out of the great building like a frightened rodent. At the doors to the great building she stopped next to the alley. "Tobias, are you there?" She asked quietly.
A man in a large hooded cloak stepped out of the shadows. "You're late." He said flatly. "You said you'd be out by midnight."
"I'm sorry." She meant it to, he had been very worried about her getting caught in there, then his head was on the line for providing her with the key. "I found what i was looking for though." She held up a slip of paper holding her brothers most recent address on it. "It's a start, thank you so much for letting me do this."
Tobias nodded, "Anything for one of George's" he turned and walked back down the alley and through a side door to the book keeper's chambers of the Library Building.
Tobias never much spoke of what his relationship with her father had been, nor did he even ever show her his face, always hiding under that hood. In fact, the only personal information he would ever tell her was that he was thirty-seven years old and that he was married to his cat, Josephine. She knew both of those were lies, but he always seemed to be looking out for her since her father had passed away two years ago and she knew she could trust him with her life if she needed him. For her, that was all that mattered.
She slipped quietly through the streets and back to her own apartment block on Horrors Street. The slums was a maze in it's own right, seemingly buried in the shadow of the greater parts on the city. Narrow passageways were filled with block after block of apartment buildings and trash, filth and the homeless lined the narrow streets. Grass didn't grow in the dirty paths as the buildings were to close together for the sun to ever touch the earth in between the gaps. The smog of the factories could be seen on the border after the rows and rows of streets. Working men, women and children filled the tight walkways every morning as the marched to their jobs like soldiers of industrialism. No one was ever awake this late at night as they were sleeping in preparation for the long hours of hard, repetitive work they faced in the morning.
Grace slipped quietly into her one room apartment and pulled her bed down from the wall before collapsing onto it. She held the slip of paper tightly in her hand. Tomorrow was Sunday, which meant no work. She could head to the address she had copied from the archives and start searching for more clues in the morning. "I'll find you Alfred." She whispered the promise as though he could hear her. "I'll find you no matter what it takes."

Sounds like a good start! A dystopian setting, I presume?

I always love a good Dystopia

Don't we all?