Isolated

Chapter 3

Surely it's illegal to lock a child in there bedroom for more than a week. Today though, I am allowed to come out. The reason is because I have to do my shift delivering letters around the city. It's basically just for the elderly that can't deliver the letters themselves. My mother and father have instructed me firmly to come back home straight after I've finished the shift. And I quote them directly, "If you do not come back straight away then you won't have a home anymore to come back to". Obviously they won't actually throw me off into the streets to stave. They are too protective. So instead of coming back straight away I'm going to go to the city's library and find out what the symbols on the key I found mean.
...
My legs are aching and my feet are sore. I've delivered the last letter and am now in the library. It took me long enough, that's for sure!Three hours and 21 minutes to be exact.Considering I'm far from the fittest person in this city the time was reasonable. I knew my parents would be expecting my return in nine minutes. I had ran the last few blocks quicker than normal and spared myself those precious nine minutes for the library.

Brushing my fingers over the hard dusty spines of books, I inhale their musty scent. I love libraries. They were so calming and quiet. It was a place where you could bury
your nose in a book and escape to another world. The worlds that told of unthinkable things like Wi-Fi and electricity.

I scan the endless books hopelessly. I had no idea what to look for. Maybe something to do with keys and weird signs?... No this was getting me nowhere so instead I tip toe through the aisle and to the counter.

"Excuse me?" I say nervously to the stern receptionist behind the desk.
"What?" She replies sharply as she looks at me with distaste.
I gulp. " Do you know of any books about these signs?" I say showing her the gold key.
She slowly entrapped the key in her shaky hand before putting her big round reading glasses on. Once she had the key in focus her face erupted into an expression of shock. Her lower jaw disconnected from her face as she stared endlessly at the key.
"Um, so do you know of any books about these signs?" I repeat, drawing her attention away from the key.
"Where did you find this?" The receptionist asks, ignoring my previous question.
"Well..." I trail off. I couldn't tell her where I had actually found it.
"I found it outside here." Yeah that would do. "So now can you tell me if there are any books about this key or it's signs?" I ask eagerly.
"No, there are no books relating to this key." She replies fiercely shaking her head.
She's lying. I can tell by the way her eyes turn down in shame at her last words. Even though they only do it for a millisecond.
"I know your lying." I state firmly, receiving the widening of her eyes. "So," I lean in closer," tell me the truth."
"No." She snarls, standing up from her sitting position. She gave me one last glare before taking the key with her to the room behind the reception. She returned a few minutes later empty handed.
"What did you do with MY key?" I demand.
"It's technically the libraries key." She replies curtly.
"How is it TECHNICALLY the libraries key?!" I shout. A few people milling around all whisper in unison, "sshh".
"Well, you found it outside the library and the library owns everything in a 500 m radius." The receptionist replies carefully.
"Wh..What?!" I splutter, "That idea's loony. You don't own everything in a 500 m radius. Are you saying you own me?! Because I'm quite sure that you DON'T."
"Of course we don't own you." the receptionist laughs lightly, a fake laugh, " Your a living person. What I meant to say is that the library owns every object in a 500 m radius."
"How can that be true," I riposte,"You don't own everything people carry or have on them in a 500m radius." I probably sounded like a smart alec but I didn't care. She couldn't just take my things.
"You know precisely what I mean." She said in a low tone so low that I could hardly hear her. I didn't know what to say to that, as I did know exactly what she meant.
"Well.... I actually found the key 852 meters outside the library." I reply smartly.
The receptionist narrows her beady brown eyes, looking directly into my own green ones. "The end result is the same. I am not giving the key back." With that she stalked off to the back room. I waited and waited but she didn't return. Now what will I do?
I shifted my gaze to the white clock on the wall self consciously. I gasped when I saw the time. It was 11:00, I had used up my nine minutes. I needed to get home.