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Back The Library
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. THE LIBRARY
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. Questions for your Book Club
  55. Acknowledgements
  56. About the Author
  57. Become an Aria Addict

I went to have another look out of the window but Dad was long gone. ‘I dunno. Maybe. He’s sneaking about and I can’t think what else it could be.’

‘Then you need to challenge him,’ she said, forcefully.

I spun away from the window, the thought of calling Dad out on this was almost worse than the thought of seeing him mauled by booze again. ‘I can’t. What would I say?’

‘That doesn’t matter, Tom. You just need to stop him from relapsing.’

Easy for her to say. An image of Dad lying unconscious pierced my mind. She was right. I swallowed hard. ‘Right I’m going after him.’ I grasped my keys as I spoke.

‘Do you want me to come too?’

‘Yeah, that’d be good.’

‘Meet you on the corner of my road in two minutes.’

*

I looked down the side of the house – he’d not taken my bike. Maybe there was a chance I could catch him up. I tried to run but my leg quickly reminded me that I couldn’t. I hobbled as fast as I could, the whole time scanning up and down the roads I passed in case Dad was there. By the time I reached Farah’s road my leg was throbbing and it had dawned on me what a total waste of time this was.

Within about a minute Farah appeared. ‘Where is he?’ she asked her eyes darting in all directions.

I scratched my ear. ‘I don’t know.’

She looked disappointed. ‘What’s the plan now?’

‘I dunno.’ I was hoping she was going to suggest we hang out. We stood in silence for a while, which was awful. The longer it went on the worse it was. I felt I had to say something. Anything. ‘How’s things with you and…’ She glared at me. I shut up.

‘I need to go over some revision notes,’ she said pointing back at her house.

‘Yeah. Of course. Me too.’ I pointed in the direction of my house like a total idiot.

‘See you at Friday’s demo if I don’t see you at school,’ she said.

‘Totally.’

She walked away. We were talking… kind of. That was progress. At least it hadn’t been a complete waste of time. I limped home to do some cramming and worry about where the hell Dad had sneaked off to.

44

MAGGIE