9. Back Home
Trevor wasn't that surprised when he noticed miss Vera in the bookstore above, after finally getting out of 'The Grand Library'. She was busy with paperwork, working behind the desk illuminated by the light coming through the windows of the shop. It suggested strongly that there was a nice day outside. She ignored him, not raising her head at all, too focused on the work.
He left the shop without a word, causing the doorbell to ring, and stopped on top of the stairs to look at the sky. There were few puffy clouds there, slowly drifting deeper into the city. Considering the position of the sun it had to be around the same time he entered the bookstore, running from Joe, but he wasn't sure how much time passed.
He took off his backpack, and after rummaging through it for a moment, he found his phone. He wanted to check the hour, but the battery was dead.
- Shit.
It looked like not much time passed, but he also was sure that he spent at least quite a few hours in 'The Grand Library', could be even days. His stomach growled at him, and thoughts of his parents being worried out of their minds invaded his brain, making him ignore the hunger. He turned around and went back to the bookstore.
Miss Vera was already in a different place, standing next to the tall bookstand, and pulling some positions out of the shelves. She looked over her shoulder at him but didn't say a thing.
- E-excuse me… Can you tell me what day is it, and what hour?
- If you are worried about how much time you were gone, rest assured – she responded and turned back to continue her interrupted work. - It's been only an hour. The boy who tried to get you is long gone.
- An hour? But…
- It's a magical library after all, isn't it? Time works differently there. You spent three days in that place, but here it was only an hour. Now leave, I have work to do.
The words of Falafel Windsbaum again emerged from his memories: "You see... The gravity, space, and time have no sense the deeper you go".
- Y-yes – he said, and a smile crawled on his face.
Not only he wasn't in trouble with his family, but also the bully Joe was gone. He almost ran out of the store, causing the poor doorbell to ring yet again. He jumped off the stairs, and almost immediately regretted that action, as his legs just gave up under the weight of his body, and he collapsed on the sidewalk, making some random woman stop as she was coming his way.
- Are you ok? - she asked.
- I'm fine, I'm fine - he said raising his hand, and then quickly picked himself up.
Now, with the strange system, he had so much to experiment with, but first, he had to explain to his parents why the heck did he run away from the school. They definitely got a call, considering that it has been an hour, and he was completely missing from school.
He took a deep breath and started marching back to the house trying to prepare some excuses.
It took him quite a moment, considering the fact that he didn't have his skateboard, and also couldn't even walk at his normal pace, since his legs were shaking out of hunger. Despite that, he still kept pressing on, taking only small breaks whenever it was necessary to regain strength in his legs. Soon he was able to see the home from a distance.
He noticed his mother's car parked on the sidewalk, which meant she had to be home. After closing the distance a bit more, the door leading to his house opened, and a fragile blonde with hair reaching to the middle of her neck and porcelain white skin came out running towards him. She had her work clothes still on.
The grey stretchy pants, and the sports bra with a loose white tank top over it.
- Trevor! - she shouted from afar.
He didn't respond, just kept walking, bracing himself for an uncomfortable conversation.
- Where have you been?! They called from the school and told me that you ran away, and they can't find you – she said with an expression full of concern. - Are you ok? What happened?
As she got closer, her voice got quieter and quieter, since she didn't have to yell anymore, and when she finally reached him, she immediately gave him a hug.
- I'm fine, mum. It's just…
He quickly found out that with the thick and sticky saliva, caused by the long march in his state, it was quite hard to speak. His voice also changed because of that.
- The bullies. It's their fault, isn't it? I told you that we can move you to a different school.
- No – he said, freeing himself from her grasp. - It was Joe, but I can deal with him.
- By running away from school? No, Trev. Not like this.
- It's fine. They've been bulling me, but I got my revenge on them, and they just overreacted, so I had to escape – he explained. - Nothing bad happened, but I just needed to stay away for an hour, because Joe was looking for me.
The mother just shook her head slowly, then she smiled a little bit.
- At least you got back on them. Come home, I need to call your school.
Together, they want straight home, crossing the street. The building was small with only one floor and a single garage for a car. The roof was black and the outer walls were painted blue.
They entered the small room, filled with shoes placed on special racks, and coats hanging on the walls. There was also a mirror on the right, fixed to the wall. Straight ahead was a door, leading to a corridor, ending with his parent's bedroom. His was right next to theirs, on the left, also adjoint to the living room, closer to the entrance. On the right side was a bathroom, across his room, and the rest of the space on that side was taken mostly by the kitchen, connected to a dining area. Overall quite a small place, perfect just for the three of them.
- Are you hungry? - mother asked as they stopped next to the entrance to the kitchen. - You look like you are.
- Yes. I lost my breakfast.
- Ok. I'll make you something. Are waffles good?
- Yeah – Trevor agreed with a smile.
Then they split. He went straight to his room. It wasn't big by any measures, slightly illuminated by the dim light making it past the curtains covering the window on the other side from the entrance. The walls were painted blue, with some posters covering them. Mostly cartoon characters from his childhood. The bed was placed right behind the door, parallel to the wall, with blue sheets covering it. Under the window was a desk, mostly occupied by a computer.
There was also a single wardrobe, and a smaller cabinet placed next to the bed.
He took out his phone from the backpack, dropped the bag on the floor, immediately went to connect his phone to a charger, and sat on the chair by the desk. He turned on the device and saw over fifty missed calls. Mostly from his mother, but there were also a few from Liv. For a moment he was thinking about calling her back, but then he simply texted her: "I'm alright".
She didn't respond. He gave her five minutes, but after that just left the phone to charge on the desktop, and returned to the bed, to lie down. His back was still hurting, but much less than before. He was very hungry, but also didn't want to throw himself on the food in front of his mother.
Mother…
He instinctively peaked at the desk, at a single photo in a wooden frame. Man and a woman, both black. His real parents, now dead. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of people they were. He heard the stories his new parents were telling him, but it wasn't the same. It would never be the same…
- Open status – he whispered, and a semitranslucent window appeared in front of his eyes.
He spent quite a moment staring at the numbers, wondering how to increase them.
- Open missions – he said when he finally got bored of looking at the zeros.
The windows switched. The fulfilled quest was marked as a 'success', but except that there were no entries.
- How do I get a new mission? - he asked himself, but he had no answers.
He spent some more time just staring at the display, but no answers came to him, and then somebody rang the doorbell. Trevor ignored it, knowing that his mother is going to answer. He could hear her through the door walking to check who is it. Then he caught muffled voices but didn't pay too much attention to all of that until knocking on his own door made him finally get up and check who was behind it.
It was Liv, with a slight hint of anger on her face.