C2

Mat woke up the next morning with ultimate clarity. He had a very restful sleep in which he fully recovered and let him completely organise his mind. His parents told him that he had the next two weeks off school, so he decided to gather as much knowledge as possible to see what this world had to offer. As was ritual, he was drawn to the shower and did the usual morning business then went downstairs. He grabbed some cereal, sat, and started to munch on them. He did not realise that it was 7am, it always feels dark in December so it could have been 10am and not known the difference. His dad came downstairs "Mat, what you doing up at this time?"

With a spoon half way into his mouth he looked at dad and then at the clock and back "honestly, I didn't know what time it was." Then carried on eating as if nothing had happened. His dad just huffed, grabbed food and put the T.V. on. Both were not morning people, it seems that hasn't changed from his first reincarnation. For some reason Mat had the urge to run, he said so to his dad.

"Eh? Why? At this time? You mad? Its frosty out there." His dad said incredulously.

Mat grinned and shrugged "No idea, I have the urge to run, I don't know why."

"No, you're not going out at this time, you're 8 years old and the Dr Marshall said you need to have rest, running isn't rest now is it Mat?"

Utterly deflated but understanding the argument, he nodded. Suddenly he perked up "what about the library? I'm sure to not pass out from exertion in there am I?"

His just looked at him gone out, "you've never wanted to go to the library, you said it was the, and I quote 'most borningest place ever'"

Mat shrugged again, "yeah well I changed my mind. Can I then?"

"Yeah, well… That's not for me to decide, your mums looking after you today, ask her when she wakes up".

Mat nodded and sat downstairs waiting. His dad left to go to work. Mat decided to do some drawing to pass the time. For some reason T.V. didn't seem interesting anymore, there wasn't enough choice with only 4 channels in 1996. When his mum woke, Mat asked her the same question he did his dad and while shocked, she seemed happy to say yes. And so they went.

The library seemed smaller when he was older, Mat decided. Instead of beelining straight to the children's section, Mat navigated to the nonfiction. The small part that was dedicated to stuff that actually happened was tucked away and only had one section dedicated to it, but that was enough to have over 200 books placed within. Mat grinned and started pulling all sorts out and was hungry to devour the secrets within. Mat could barely carry the 7 books when he plonked them on the counter and asked for them. His mum looked at the selection, blinked and shook her head. They took them back home (his mum carrying half of them) and Mat instantly sat in the window and started devouring the information of first one he grabbed: The legacy of Chernobyl.

Mat realised while reading The legacy of Chernobyl that he was genuinely interested in this book, and understood the scientific aspects discussed within. Before, he was mainly interested in ancient to renaissance history. Well, he did have a Masters in Viking Archaeology, so he must have some interest in the area. From after the renaissance to modern day though, Mat had little to no interest apart from the enlightenment period as it ties in well with modern politics. One must be educated on modern politics, otherwise we are just another sheep, being told what to do or what not do, when to stand and when to walk. Regardless, Mat read the book with a zeal. Absorbing the contents within an hour and fully comprehending the material. Mat observed that this full understanding of a book within an hour was not normal. He pondered this for less than a minute. Pondering what to do with this information… this new… ability? Well there were many possibilities, but he couldn't decide just yet and so he did a mental shrug and grabbed the next one on the pile, Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics.

He realised that the subjects were extremely scattered, covering most spectrums of human learning but he didn't care. He finished off the other six books in just under 5 hours. He sat there contemplating this new-found skill. He didn't feel fatigued at all, in fact he had more energy than before. He put his football boots on, went outside, found the tattered USA World Cup of 96 ball and kicked around the garden in the lightly falling snow. He started running at full sprint, dribbling the ball, stopping the ball at a dead stop, kicked it and ran after it again. He repeated this over fifty times without tiring. He stopped and realised what he had done, looking at the clear line of the muddy grass line from one end of the garden to the other. Mat had a sinking feeling in his stomach that his mum was going to kill him. But the energy was still there. And so he started dribbling around the garden, around the washing line posts, plants, and around the random ornaments scattered around. He changed directions at a whim, pretending that the obstacles were all trying to tackle him. He didn't know how long he was going for until he heard someone shouting his name. He stopped dead and looked for the source of shouting. He saw his mums furious gaze and paled.

He locked eyes with his mum, she was angry, "look at the state of the garden! What have you been doing?"

Mat looked around and saw the damage, there was mud everywhere and the grass was completely ruined. Some of the plants were damaged also. Mum loved her garden, the first word Mat thought of was "shit".

His mum bored into his eyes with hers, "what did you just say?"

See, Mat was never really scared of his mum. She was always kind, never rose her voice and rarely got angry. But then again Mat had never done anything to truly anger her. Not that he was a good kid by any means, he just wasn't naughty enough to truly get told off. This was a look he had never seen before, it was something new. Mat did not know how to reply. He looked back at her, now truly feeling like an 8-year-old "errr, sorry?" he tried his best, most innocent smile. It didn't work.

Without shouting, she calmly and coldly told Mat to go inside, clean his boots, get cleaned up and go to bed. He did so without question. This was a new situation for him. Mat laid in bed and reflected what happened that day. It was 6pm, he'd been to the library, come back with 7 books, read them, ran around the garden enough to absolutely ruin the lawn and kill some plants. The strangest thing is, he did all this and did not even feel tired. He felt guilty for ruining the grass, certainly, but he needed to move. There was too much energy in his body, and he had to expel it. The past 7 hours had gone in a blur of knowledge and exercise and he felt sated. He laid back and started to organise his thoughts. Bring his scattered memories into some sort of system. Like a mind palace from Sherlock, or the art of Occlumency from Harry Potter. He had been trying to do this in hospital but couldn't focus enough. His theory was that he was still getting memories downloaded into his brain, but now the current theory was that he had to expel energy to organise his thoughts. And so he did.

30 minutes later he was shouted down for tea and could not help but smile at the chicken nuggets, smileys and baked beans presented before him. His intention was to apologise to his mum and explain that he needed to expel his energy. That he felt the need to do it and could not explain it. Mum was still angry, he could tell, "Sorry mum" Mat said quietly. He didn't look at her but was watching from the corner of his eye.

Mum's face fell and the anger floated away "It's okay Matthew, why did you do that? It's a good job its winter and most of the stuff is half dead anyway. But it doesn't mean I'm not angry at you though, you ruined the lawn!"

Mat's face burned and apologised again "I had to burn the energy off, I don't know why. I've been wanting to do it all day, in fact, since the hospital. Then after reading all those books the need to run was overwhelming. All I know is that I need to do it more, I still feel the need to do something now. But when I was laid in bed, before I came down here, I could organise my head. Like, I could sort my thoughts out and place them where I can find them." He finished speaking and finally locked eyes with his mum and saw an understanding. Dad was just sat shovelling food into his mouth, too tired from work to be bothered about the grass and knew his wife would handle the situation. She's good like that.

"Matthew" Mat's mum said with a sigh "the doctor said not to do anything for the next two weeks because your body is still recovering from whatever happened."

"But mum, I'm full of energy, I can tell you now it won't go away, I don't know how, I just do." Mat said pleadingly. His mum had a calculating look in her eyes which turned into a worried one. She did not want her garden destroyed even more and for some reason knew if she kept Mat from doing any exercise, she would never have any grass in the garden at all.

"Fine, I will take you to your taekwondo lesson tomorrow and see how you feel okay?"

Mat smiled and thanked her. They ate their dinner, Mat got sent to bed early and continued sorting out his mind palace. While laying there, memories he had long forgotten flashed in front of his eyes. Information about companies, technology, the future financial crash and unbelievable events happening around the world; they all seemed at the time to be random occurrences; it occurred to Mat that he could use this knowledge to his advantage. If he could convince his parents to invest in some companies that will become huge in the future, they would never worry about money ever again. And so Mat planned.

The next day Mat woke and did his usual business. He spoke to his dad in the morning, this will become a ritual in the future. His dad informed him that his mum had a collection of the Encyclopaedia Britannica stashed under the stairs. Immediately after eating his cereal, Mat dug though the cavern of coats, boots, scarves and other random clothing that they never threw away and found four boxes of books. He struggled but eventually succeeded in getting them out and opened them with a huge grin. "More stuff to learn" Mat thought. There were 40 books contained within, 10 in each box. He moved them and sat in his new learning spot in the window. It was still dark at 7 in the morning, luckily there was a lamp where he sat so he switched that on and started absorbing what was inside. Time flew past and he didn't even hear his mum come downstairs at 9 until she said good morning to him. He answered back and just kept on reading. He had his dinner without really noticing what he ate. Before he knew it, it was 5pm and his dad came in. Tea was made was made and they ate that in a peaceful silence. At 6:30 his dad took him to taekwondo, and this is where Mat learned that more physical aspects about his body had changed.

Mat knew he was physically fitter compared to the first time around. But he did not realise how much more enhanced he was until they started sparring at the local community centre, where the taekwondo lessons were being held. They did the usual laps around the hall, rolls, and warm ups then they split up into pairs. He teamed up with his one-time best friend, Craig. Craig was very competitive and hated to lose. He was a bit taller and had a wiry strength about him. He was a sore winner and always rubbed it in Mats face when he won. Back then, Mat was rather timid and did not like hurting people. Mat had changed and had the fighting spirit of his older self. And so they sparred. Mat and Craig were going for it. Craig had the skill, but Mat had the reflexes. He blocked, parried and dodged Craig's attacks and Craig did the same from Mat's assaults. They were both smiling at this, having fun with this new challenge. The smiles were suddenly wiped away when Mat saw an opening, took it, and Spartan kicked Craig in the chest which sent him flying across the room, and into their sparring neighbours. Craig and the other students were in a tangled mess on the floor when the teacher came storming over, shouting at Mat for taking it too far. Mat didn't listen, he was gaping at Craig in shock with what happened.

Mat realised that he was much stronger than he used to be and reckoned he could probably take his 40-year-old self out as well. The force physically lifted Craig off the floor with the kick. Mat's mind was working in hyperdrive trying to think of what this might mean. Why did he come back faster and stronger? Was there a reason behind this? He had to control himself in the future. Even though he was tired, Mat did not want to do any more exercise and so left early with a smiling father. His dad slapped him fondly on the shoulder "it's about time you put that kid in his place."

Mat gazed up as his dad and laughed "yeah thanks dad, I need to control myself in the future though, but no one will push me around."

He ruffled Mat's hair and said, "that's the spirit!" in a happy, proud voice. They went home chatting about random stuff, but Mat couldn't help but ponder what happened.

When they got home, Mat asked his parents if he could sign up to more classes, like boxing, Jiu jitsu and other combat sports. He would have mentioned doing Muay Thai or mixed martial arts but in the mid 90's these were seen as underground sports. He figured that an 8 year old would not know about something like that and would be hard pressed how to explain it to his parents. After a brief discussion they relented and agreed to take him to classes. So now, his weekly schedule was completely full. School on weekdays, martial arts after, then football practice on weekends. There were some comments made that he would be burned out, but Mat promised them both that he wouldn't. he felt that he wouldn't.

The rest of the time Mat had off from school, he absorbed knowledge from random books found in the house or an excursion to the library. One day his mum took him to a second-hand book shop. He was in heaven, especially in the bargain bin with every book for a pound. Most of them were all nonfiction too! They took 23 books home that day. To sate his curiosity, he managed to find books about the human anatomy, biology and other subjects about the human body. He was trying to figure out why he was different this time and if anything could explain it. He knew about the amazing feats of flight and fight responses; like stories of fathers lifting cars to rescue their kids or mothers surviving something that should have killed them to save their child. He had looked into this after he remembered watching the T.V. show, Alphas, about super humans and a character from that show who could access this power. That was his current theory.

He discovered that this was possibly not the case, because the information within these books could not explain the increase in strength and fitness as well as the sudden disappearance of his asthma. It was too sudden. His mind could be explained with brain damage, however. But how much influence did the mind have over the body? After he remembered watching the movie, Lucy, he came with up with a secondary theory of mind over matter. But the main problem with that was his entire consciousness being sent back 32 years and now discovering he was a super-duper version of his self. He decided not to peruse too much into this because it will most likely send him insane.

The first day at school was a nightmare. He forgot how annoying the tribes of screaming kids were. His two young ones in his past life were 4 and 6. He used to drop them off at school and wasn't annoyed by the screaming little buggers. He also came to the realisation that he did not really miss anyone from his old life. He couldn't figure out why. Should he feel guilty about this? He also realised that he did not even think about them often. Did he lose some of his emotion from before? Was he now an unfeeling information robot? Or was he that in control of his emotions because his mind palace and he could control them? He answered his own question by placing these thoughts in the 'for later' box and continued trying to not lose his shit with the mindless babble of primary school children. He really tried to fit in, but he couldn't.

The teachers treated him like a mindless child and refused to answer his question on certain subject because "they knew best" and "they are the adults". Even though Mat made good arguments which apparently challenged their authority, by questioning the information they provided, they thought he was just being unruly and got sent to the headmasters' office in the afternoon. After waiting outside, obviously annoyed by the whole situation, Mat was let inside and asked why he was sent there. "Well Mr Bunting, Mrs Anderton was telling us about the Great Fire of London, and she said that the fire was spread by the thatched roofs on the buildings. I argued that thatched roofs are not as flammable as people believe due to it being so tightly compact. She said that because it was straw it was flammable and compared it to the Three Little Pig's nursery rhyme, saying that it was a poor building material, that's why we don't use it anymore. She thought that was that and dismissed me. But I asked her what about the law which banned thatch roofing in London? And then I then told her that it was a misconception that straw was a poor building material and asked her why it was relatively recently it was stopped being used as such. She then just shouted at me, claiming that I don't know what I am talking about then sent me here, and here I am."

Mr Bunting was shocked to say the least. He had spoken to Mat many times and never saw him as a child that could come up with an articulate answer and argument, especially at his age. He saw that Mat was not trying to by unruly, he was challenging the information given. He asked Mat "how do you know this much about thatched roofing and the laws in London, Matthew?"

Mat replied "I read it in a book" with such an innocent face that Mr Bunting couldn't help but smile.

"Which book did you read it in?" he said, amused yet intrigued by the child.

Mat realised that he could not say that he read it in, Plague, War and Hellfire in 1666, because it was published until 2016. So, he just said that he could not remember. And said that he probably put the pieces together by reading his mum's Encyclopaedia Britannica. Mr Bunting nodded at Mat's explanation and the conversation evolved from Mat being unruly to this new-found passion for reading. Mat shrugged and explained that after the incident that sent him to hospital, he felt that he had a hunger to read books and learn new things.

Mr Bunting scrunched his face and asked Mat "so will you be questioning your teachers more often then?"

Mat replied "of course Mr Bunting, if we don't question, we don't learn"

For some reason that sealed the argument and decided not to punish him and would ask his teacher to observe him and be more patient to see how if this new trend becomes normal. Mr Bunting let Mat stay in his office for the remainder of the day and let him borrow some books he had in his office Mat asked for. At the end of the day Mrs Anderton came to the headmaster's office. The headmaster and Mrs Anderton had a brief conversation about Mat, and she agreed, reluctantly, to Mr Bunting's suggestion. She noticed that Mat was nose deep in a book about the Monarchs of England. And wondered if this was indeed a permanent change in Mat's behaviour.

About a month went past with Matt constantly questioning the Mrs Anderton on a wide range of subjects. Over time she opened up and started enjoying the surprisingly intelligent conversations and discussions with the boy. She thought these changes were remarkable, so she delivered her report to Mr Bunting. She hoped it was the final one she had to deliver, so Mat could start on different, more advanced subjects to challenge him intellectually. As she walked through the door to Mr Buntings office, she couldn't help but smile at the pudgy jovial looking man. He had a kind heard and always strived to look after the kids under his care.

"Aaaah Mrs Anderton, come in come in! I presume you have brought your final report of young Matthew?" he said with an anticipatory grin.

She nodded and handed the folder to him, "yes Mr Bunting, its all here, I must say, Mat has seen a huge improvement in class this past month. I hope that you are sorting something to help him improve. This change is absolutely dazzling". She sat down straightening her skirt as she observed him glance over the contents of the paper she handed to him.

He leaned back in his chair reading the contents. A minute passed and Mr Bunting nodded and closed the file. He flicked his tie and leaned forward "okay I have a plan for Mat, and I want to ask if you agree with the proposal." She nodded and gestured for him to continue. "Right, I have two private tutors to teach him English and maths, I believe he is far ahead of any student in these two subjects. However, ones that are above the others can join if they want. The substitute teachers we have on the roll can sit with him in the library and get him to read a book, then, write a quick report about it and tell the teacher his opinion on it, just so we can prove that he actually understands what he is reading and make sure he is being critical with what is inside. I want to make sure that his social life will not be damaged so I will be encouraging P.E. and other subjects like painting, drawing and other forms of art that he can do with the other children, preferably have as much time with the kids in his current class. And, I think that is about it, what do you think?"

Mrs Anderton could not help but smile at Mr Bunting. She agreed whole heartedly with what he proposed and decided to implement this plan for next week. Mat was going to be properly challenged.