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Back The Library Save as PDF
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

‘Right.’ Dad checked his watch. He needed to leave for work. ‘You going out?’ He always asked me this and I always shook my head. I never go anywhere in the evenings. I have a couple of mates but we play FIFA on the Xbox. We can do it from the comfort of our beds so why would we go out? Playing Xbox with my mates makes me feel less of a sad case stuck here on my own. ‘Okay, then. I need to be making tracks. Lock up and I’ll see you in the morning.’ He gave my shoulder a squeeze as he passed and took my dinner plate out. I’ll do the washing up before I go to bed. It’s how we do things: Dad gets tea; I wash up. I put the washing on; Dad does the ironing.

My mates moan about their parents all the time. How they want to control their lives, never let them out of their sight and get on their case. I always agree and say my dad’s the same but he’s not. He is annoying when he goes on about bills, politics and the state of the roads but I guess I do stuff that annoys him too. I could go out tonight and he’d not know where I was or what I was doing and he’d be okay with that. But I’ve no reason to go out. I’m invisible.

*

I was woken by the toilet flush. Dad was home from work. I cast a blurry eye at my alarm clock: 6.37am. I pulled the covers over my head. It was Saturday so I went back to sleep. Dad would go to bed soon. It must be well weird to have to work at night and try to sleep in the day, like being forced to be nocturnal. Although I’m getting a taste of it thanks to some bloke in America challenging me on Call of Duty and keeping me up until 3am. I settled back down and tried to go back to my dream about Ariana Grande.

I rolled over and checked the clock again: 11.58am. That’s more like it. Dad’s alarm would go off in two minutes. He only grabs a few hours on a Saturday morning so that he can sleep on a Saturday night. I heard his alarm start. That was my cue to get in the shower before he did.

Dad was getting coffee when I came into the kitchen. ‘Afternoon, son.’ He tried to mess up my hair but I dodged out of the way. I finished off the half bottle of apple juice from the fridge and dropped the bottle in the recycling. ‘I’m walking into the village. Do we need anything?’ I asked.

‘Magic beans,’ said Dad, looking at a bank statement.