The Brightlings

16. Are 'friends' Electrik?

As the heavy sprung door gently squeezes itself back into its frame behind him, the sounds from the street fade into silence. The large reading area is more tranquil today, with only a few people dotted around the large wooden tables, and not a single web surfing pensioner in sight. 

Despite the concern of being in even deeper trouble, Felix is beginning to succumb to a strange sensation of relief. Micky Hopper probably doesn't realise, but in return for a bruised cheek, he has unwittingly given him a gift far more important than he could possibly imagine. The suspension couldn't have happened at a better time. He now has two whole weeks to try and unravel the mystery of his father's disappearance, and he is certainly more than happy to not be in school, or at home for now. Lucy was very likely to still be on hold to Battle Police Station, listening to a recorded voice on a crackly loop, as she was when he slipped out the front door.

Luckily, the librarian doesn't acknowledge his presence as he passes by her reception desk. He is a little anxious about being collared for his previous unauthorised use of the photocopier, but she is sitting perfectly still, and it strikes him that if she were a waxwork or cardboard cut-out, she might be more animated. 

Enid has positioned herself in the same spot, with her crash helmet once again beside her. She is engrossed in a book as he dumps his scruffy rucksack onto the table, and she exudes an air of annoyance towards his interruption.

"You worked it out then?"–she mumbles, clapping her hands together slowly–"I guess you're not as dumb as you look after all, although it is ten twenty-seven now." She gestures with her thumb towards the clock on the wall above the door, and then her line of sight finally connects with his own. "You do know that you're late, right?"

Felix shrugs his shoulders, and drags a chair away from the table to sit down, causing it to emit a loud groan as wooden legs scrape against the scuffed parquet flooring. The librarian peers up over her reading glasses, firing a frosty glare in their general direction, before settling back into her work. He lowers his head, slides into his seat, and rubs his eyes with the first knuckle of his left index finger.

"Sorry," is all he can muster, although he isn't. The bus took forever, and he did his best to make it on time.

Enid leans back in her chair to fully take in his dishevelled appearance. "Wow! Those bags under yer eyes make you look like a panda. Did you not sleep at all?"

"I tried." He pauses to find the right words to explain himself, but he's so ridiculously tired that he can't be bothered to hold back for her benefit, and he blurts out the truth in one long breath. "You might think that it is crazy, and it probably actually is crazy, but I am somehow dreaming in the past, and I think I have actually visited the past, and not only that, but I talk to my dead Grandmother, but it is like she is alive. I mean, she is definitely dead when I'm awake, but she's still alive and living inside my dreams as a younger woman."

He catches himself sounding like he has lost his mind, and is acutely aware of Enid's furrowed brow.

"Not dreaming about me then?" she snorts.

"Well, you're in the present, so... erm..." 

Why on earth has she made this about her? 

"No boys ever dream about me. Not unless they've got shit for brains, at least..." She raises her hand in front of her face to inspect her bitten fingernails, and Felix really can't work out if she is genuinely being self deprecating, or making a truthful statement. He chooses to ignore her and continue.

"I'm being serious. These dreams... they are more real than anything I have ever experienced before, and believe me, I've had a lot of nightmares. I'm falling asleep all the time, and often at the worst possible time. Every time I drift off, I'm in the past."