In a suburb in Uplands Forest, Illinois there is a library that was still opened late on a Saturday night, and it holds only a Librarian and a young volunteer. This young sophomore has some very good friends at Uplands Forest North High School. She has two younger sisters and one older one. She lives with her mom, and in the United States that girl does not know that all her life she has been waiting to be taken away and experience life in the greatest ways she could ever possibly imagine.
"I have to skive off now, would you mind closing up in a tad dearie?" Miss Gail, the librarian, called over the shelves of books to the young sophomore, Lily Bennet. "I have to get home before my fit chap gives me a bell." The stout woman giggled, her eyes were painted bright blue with dark black eyeliner. She had curly, colored, brown hair and she was wearing a dress that had a long skirt and no waist. Lily looked up at Miss Gail.
"What?" She asked giving the librarian the most bemused face; she was wearing a blue t-shirt with her school's name, Uplands Forest North, printed on the front of it and dark blue jeans. Her black hair was tied back and her height gave the impression that the kids' book section was shorter than it really was.
"I have to avoid closing the library because a hot male friend is going to call me, could you close up in a little bit?" Miss Gail translated, Lily still looked confused at her, and Miss Gail smiled and explained further. "The guy I am dating is British and he has been teaching me to speak like a real Brit!" Lily laughed at Miss Gail. She seemed like a typical high school girl, who just got asked out by the star quarterback, and Lily wondered if she would ever feel that way too.
"Miss Gail, I am only a volunteer. I am not aloud to lock up." Lily said with a face of complete innocence, but her words were covered in sarcasm.
"Oi!" Miss Gail exclaimed wagging a finger in Lily's direction, "Don't give me that rubbish, you've done it before." The two smiled at each other; Lily walked over and took the keys from Miss Gail. "Dog's bollocks! Remember to lock up the door by turning the key anti-clockwise."
"What?" Miss Gail's 'hip lingo' once again confused Lily.
"Awesome, remember to lock up you turn the key counter clockwise." Miss Gail said rolling her eyes up to the ceiling.
"Your a nutter." Lily said grinning; the two looking at each other and busted into uncontrollable laughter. Miss Gail slipped on her jacket and made her way to the door. "Now get out of here," Lily continued, "I'll close up the library after I clean up a little more." Miss Gail pulled the door wide open. "Have fun!" Lily called after her.
"Absobloodylootely!" Mrs. Gail replied smiling from ear to ear.
"What?" Lily asked again.
"YES!" Miss Gail yelled back over her shoulder. Lily stood there laughing, alone in the library, just the way she liked it.
Lily wandered the library picking books up off the tables and finding their places. The Library had two floors, with an Adult, Media, Teens, and Children sections. The library was silent and only half of the lights were on, Lily would manually turn the rest off before she left. She was on the second floor in the Teens section picking up books from the tables and dropping them onto a cart; she walked over to a table where Miss Gail had been working at earlier. Lily picked up the book and laughed. She was holding the book that was sitting on the table, 'Oi! Dummy I am Speaking British'. Lily took the book and sat down in one of the beanbag chairs that were inside the Teen section. Lily opened it up and started to read.
Lily had been completely wrapped up in the book and had gotten to 'Bog Roll' when her cellphone rang. She pulled the phone out of her back pocket, "Hello?" Lily answered still looking at the definition of 'Bog Roll'.
"Where are you?" It was Lily's mother, Rachel Bennet.
"I am at the library." Lily responded moving onto the next word 'Bogie'.
"Well, it is 11:30 were you planning on coming home tonight?" Lily spun her head round and looked at the clock on the wall.
"Blimey! I'm a bloody tosser!" She exclaimed in surprise shutting the book shut and holding it close to her chest, so she wouldn't drop it.
"What! Are you hurt?" Miss Bennet panicked at the sound of blood.
Even though she knew her mom couldn't see her Delilah shook her head, "No mom I am learning how to be British." Lily informed her mother calmly.
"Don't you be sarcastic with me young lady!" Miss Bennet exclaimed at her daughter. "Should I call you an ambulance?"
"No, mom, I really am learning how to be British, I have been reading a book with a bunch of British slang." Lily explained, and her mother let out a sigh of relief.
"Well get home right now, you go back tomorrow, and you're going to have to heat up your dinner when you get home tonight." Mrs. Bennet informed her daughter.
"I am going to turn off the lights and get in the car right now mom." Lily said getting up from the beanbag. "I will see you when I get home."
"Bye Lily." Her mother said through the phone.
"Bye." Lily hung up and went to the fuse box and flicked all the switches down, and with that the entire library went dark. She used her phone to light the way to the exit, and locked the doors behind her. Lily walked out to the only car left in the lot, a beaten up and old blue bug, not a black Impala but hers at least. When she got in the car she realized she was still carrying the British slang book.
"I will bring it back tomorrow morning." Lily told herself not wanting to go back, unlock the doors, go inside the library, turn on all the lights, put the book back on the table, turn the lights off and lock the doors again. Lily turned the key in the ignition and started the car. "No point going back for one little book." She backed out of the spot and drove on home.
When Lily had woken up in bed the next morning, she could smell pancakes downstairs. She got out of bed wearing her sweatpants and t-shirt and walked across the hall to the bathroom to put in her contact lenses. When she went downstairs to the kitchen she grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet.
"Good morning mom." Lily said as she brought the glasses and milk to the table and filled them, then went back to the cabinets to collect plates for the table.
"Good morning Lily." Her mother was working at the skillet, while Lily was grabbing peanut butter, butter and syrup. "How was your night at the library?" she asked looking over her shoulder at the table where Lily had found the British slang book.
"Brilliant!" Lily said holding up the book. Her mom smiled.
"You going back to the library this morning?" Lily's mother asked as Lily held a plate for her to drop pancakes onto.
"Yes I am." Lily said sitting down at the table and dropping some pancakes onto her own plate.
"Do you think you could get me a cook book while you are there?" Lily's mom sat down in her own seat, and forked some pancakes onto her plate.
"Sure. Any thing specific?" Lily asked as she popped some of the warm fluffy pancake into her mouth.
"No not really." Lily's mom said shrugging as she poured syrup over her pancakes. "I just want some inspiration, maybe something Chinese or Korean." Lily got up and looked at the clock, 7:35.
"I'll see what I can find." Lily put her plate and cup in the sink and went back up stairs to change. "Hi Kit. Hi Cat." She greeted her two cats that were sitting on the stairs. Lily brushed her teeth and put on her jeans and a different Uplands Forest North High School t-shirt, and then slipped on her black Converse.
Walking out to her car Lily waved to her neighbor Mrs. Olson who was collecting her newspaper. "You going to the library sweetie?" Mrs. Olson called out to Lily.
"Yes ma'am, do you need a ride?" Lily offered pulling her keys out of her pocket.
"No thank you, I am not driving in until later." Miss Olson waved her hand dismissively. "Steven is sick so it will take me a while to get to the library. Do you mind telling Miss Gail?" Mrs. Olson asked Lily.
"I will." Lily answered. "See you later Mrs. Olson."
Lily got to the library where she found Miss Gail standing at the entrance, frantically searching through her purse. Lily exited her car and walked up to her.
"Are you okay Miss Gail?" Lily asked her as she got leveled with her. The librarian turned around to face Lily.
"No, I can't find my bloody keys!" Lily dug her arms into her pockets as Miss Gail waved her hands in frustration, "And we open in 10 minutes and that is barely enough time to get every thing set up and running!" Miss Gail sounded furious and seemed like she might just get violent when Lily pulled out the keys from her pocket, she held them out to Miss Gail. "Oi! Where did you find them?"
"You had me lock up last night." Lily reminded her calmly.
"Why would I do that? You are only a volunteer, you are not aloud to lock up!" Miss Gail exclaimed angrily.
"You gave me the keys to lock up so you could go out with your boyfriend. Don't you remember?" Lily asked still trying to keep her voice calm.
"My what?" Miss Gail said furiously. "What kind of story is this? Did you nick my keys?"
"No! You were going out with your fit chap so you asked me to lock up for you, and I did not nick your keys!" Lily held her hands up defensively and looked at Miss Gail with great concern.
"Oh, I remember now," Miss Gail's expression softened, Lily tried to relax but as Miss Gail continued she grew more worried. "I must apologize, my brain must need an upgrade." She took the keys from Lily and opened the door for her.
"It is okay Miss Gail, everyone forgets things every once in a while." Lily started unlocking the other doors from the inside and turned back to Miss Gail. "By the way, Mrs. Olson is coming in late her son, Steven, is sick." Miss Gail became stiff and strict all in a second. She was no longer soft and sweet but full of rage and anger.
"Her feelings for this boy, Steven, are blocking her ability to perform her task. She must be upgraded or deleted." Lily looked sharply at her.
"Her son is sick! You can't fire her! She'll get here soon it is only going to be a little while!" Miss Gail looked at Lily with a blank expression before she pitched forward, fainting. Lily moved quickly barely catching her in time.
"Miss Gail!" Lily struggled to hold her up. Lily unsure of what to do pushed and held the door open with her foot as she dragged Miss Gail into the back office. Lily put her down in the chair and then taking out her phone she called Mrs. Olson.
"Hello?" Mrs. Olson answered.
"Mrs. Olson, this is Lily, I know you said you weren't going to come in until later, but this is an emergency!" Lily tried her hardest not to sound too worried. A strong smell of metal had wafted into the room and was making her feel nauseous.
"Is something wrong sweetie?" Mrs. Olson asked sounding concerned.
"Miss Gail just passed out and the Library is opening soon." Lily glanced over at Miss Gail unconscious in the chair. "Can you please come and help?" She begged through the phone.
"I will be there in 3 minutes, do I need to call paramedics?" Lily checked that Miss Gail had a pulse and that she was still breathing.
"No, she is fine, she almost seems to be asleep." Lily said into the phone. "She went out with a guy last night, she might just be fighting a hangover."
"Well I am right outside the library, see you in a sec." They hung up, and a minute later Mrs. Olson came into the back office where Lily and Miss Gail were. "Was she okay when you came in?" Mrs. Olson asked immediately crouching down next to Miss Gail.
"She sounded out of her mind, she kept talking as if she came from Great Britain or something." They both looked at the sleeping librarian lying in the chair. "Is she all right?" Lily asked with great concern.
"She should be fine." Miss Olson said getting up from the ground beside Miss Gail, then she handed Lily a pen and paper. "Write her a note." "Okay." There was still a faint metallic smell hanging in the air. Mrs. Olson left the room leaving Lily with the sleeping Miss Gail. Lily looked down at her and then moved to the desk with the pen and paper.
"Hello Lily." Miss Gail had woken and found Lily stacking the teen sci-fi books away. "Thank you for helping me." She was smiling at the young volunteer hard at work.
"No problem Miss Gail," Lily said smiling back weakly. "Are you feeling any better?" Lily asked.
"Yes I am feeling much better," Miss Gail said nodding stiffly. "Nothing was making sense earlier, I just needed to reboot." Lily looked at her confused. "I needed a tad of a kip?" but Lily just continued to look at Miss Gail confused even more by her words. "Argh!" Miss Gail exclaimed in annoyance. "You Americans, I needed a little bit of sleep." Lily continued to look at her but smiled hoping it might calm her down.
"Okay, Miss British Royalty." Lily said trying not to sound too sarcastic, and slowly backing away with her stack of books.
"That would be Miss Toff." Miss Gail said correcting Lily and taking three steps closer to her.
"What?" Lily asked really starting to worry about Miss Gail's behavior and attitude.
"Toff, it means to be upper class." Miss Gail said rolling her eyes obviously on the brink of annoyance and anger. "Know your onions, girl." Lily tried not to show her confusion but Miss Gail could see that she still didn't understand. Lily was still slowly backing away from the agitated Miss Gail.
"Never mind just get back to work. I need you to read with the children in 5 minutes." Miss Gail started to walk away from Lily.
"Christina usually does that though." Lily said thinking Miss Gail might still be confused after she had fainted.
"Christina has been deleted! Now obey! Go!" Miss
Gail walked away, and Lily stood there noticing for the first time that Miss Gail was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the day before.
Lily decided to avoid Miss Gail for the rest of the day, as to not test her patience and when she left she was in such a rush, such a hurry to get away from the library that while she was leaving she just dismissed the strange sound that filled the night air.