Joseph didn’t pick up the book. He left it on the table, as though he hadn’t even noticed it, and moments later the stranger opposite put on their jacket, packed their stuff away, and off they went. Joseph never saw their face.
Joseph had never been a super bookish person; he hadn’t really read reading books since he was small, he had too much schoolwork these days. But as he pulled the book towards him, turning it over in his hands, he ran his eyes down the words on the back cover. It was about a boy – 16 years old – stranded on a boat with a tiger, a hyena, an orang-utan and a zebra. How strange. He turned the cover back over – he saw the boy, curled up at one end of the boat, hugging his knees tightly. Joseph had never been on a boat with a tiger before. But he knew that feeling, the feeling of wanting, needing, to be as small as possible, invisible. He laid the book on the table. Somehow, he knew this book had been left here deliberately: for him.
In a heartbeat, he shoved his PSHE homework into his bag, and slung it over his shoulder. He marched the book over to the self-service machines. He desperately wanted to be at home now, so he could curl up with the book and find out what the stranger intended for him to discover.
At home, Joseph opened then slammed his front door, and ran upstairs to his bedroom. He tucked himself under the covers, the duvet resting on his head as he sat cross-legged on his bed, and opened the book to where the scrappy bit of paper had been left.
He pulled it out – being as gentle as he could with the paper – and scanned it. It was a list. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight books. With one of them circled.
Life of Pi.
His book.
Chapter 15
ALEISHA
SHE TURNED THE FINAL page and took a deep inhale. She hadn’t noticed the hours passing as she sat in the deserted library, her head between the pages. It was the first time she’d read freely, without doubting herself, without wondering if she was taking the story in properly, without thinking about the outside world at all.
Putting The Kite Runner back on her desk, Aleisha covered her face in her hands. She could feel her pulse racing, she could feel her heart beating as though it was going to blast out of her chest, and her head hurt – she was so glad the library was empty. If anyone spoke to her in real life, she might just burst into tears.
She picked up her phone, wanting desperately to message someone instead, to talk without actually talking, to tell someone about what she’d read. She wondered if Rachel would know the book, but she hadn’t messaged her for a few weeks and texting out of the blue about a book would be weird. Then she thought of the woman in the shop, and then that guy, Zac … had he said he’d read it? She was surprised to find her mind wandering to him again.
She pictured Amir and Hassan, two best friends, as close as brothers, running around Kabul flying their kites – Hassan, who was so kind, and so loyal to his friend, who would do anything to protect him, and to make him happy; and Amir, who enjoyed Hassan’s friendship and his loyalty, yet still treated him unkindly in the small ways that children do, without thinking. Amir spent the rest of his life regretting what he did to his best friend, finally understanding everything Hassan had sacrificed for him when they were both just children. But Amir spent the rest of his life trying to be good again. And, if Amir’s story showed Aleisha one thing, it was that – no matter how terribly you have behaved in the past – you should do everything you can to be good. Amir and Hassan’s friendship had literally broken Aleisha’s heart; she hadn’t known she could feel this bereft because of a story, some words on a page.
To Kill a Mockingbird and Rebecca had been good, but at points she’d felt as though she was reading them maybe more like schoolbooks. She was reading them looking for a message, searching for what she could talk to Mr Patel about.
But The Kite Runner – she’d lived and breathed this book for days. When she was at home with Aidan, and he’d been asking her how her day was, her day was nothing outside of the world of the book.
‘I’m reading The Kite Runner,’ she’d told him. ‘It’s literally all I can think about.’
‘I’ve seen the film,’ Aidan said. ‘It’s so fucking sad, how are you coping?’
‘No one warned me!’ Aleisha said, waving the book at him, knowing it was a lie. Everyone had warned her – but even then, she hadn’t been prepared for this. ‘Why did no one tell me this was literally going to shatter my heart into a million billion pieces? Hassan; he is so, so kind. And Amir just walks all over him.’