‘Hey kid, can that thing tell you the date?’ I asked as she played a game on something that was called a tablet, but not the medical kind.
‘Erm, I think it’s the 16th of August,’ She lifted the screen to show me the actual date which was the 17th of September 2018.
‘It’s 2018?’ I said, causing her to jump a little. Had it really been thirty-three years since I had died? I knew it had been a long time but had thirty-three years really passed? ‘I’m fifty-one years old.’
I laughed but I wasn’t sure if I had actually found it funny.
Maia sat back in silence for a moment before chuckling. ‘You’re not fifty-one.’
‘Well, I would have been if I was still alive.’ I stopped laughing, thinking about where I would have been right then if that day hadn’t ever happened. I was never going to be the traditional type and settle down with kids before turning thirty. None of that had ever appealed to me, but I did want to travel. I had a plan that once I turned nineteen, I’d leave my gran’s house and head for wherever my savings would take me. I didn’t have much, but it would be enough to get a train somewhere far enough away, and I’d figure out the rest once I got there. Maybe along the way, I’d fall in love a dozen times, never quite settling with someone but enjoying it all the same.
‘How did you die?’ Maia asked putting away her tea set. I found the way she spoke so calmly about everything both terrifying and incredible. It was sometimes like I was speaking to someone older than me but in a five-year-old’s body.
‘How about instead, I tell you a different story?’ I said eager to change the topic.
Maia paused, scrunching up her eyebrows before shrugging. ‘Ok.’
I smiled as I got to my feet and headed for the door.
‘Wait, I thought you were telling me a story?’
‘I am, I just need to get the book. Why don’t you get into your pyjamas while I get it?’ I smiled as I left the room, walking straight through someone.
‘Ugh.’ I found Finn in front of me looking white and moments away from vomiting.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ Theo said, walking out of his bedroom.
‘Nothing.’ Finn frowned at his brother before shoving into him and sulking into his room.
‘You’re such a dick, Finn,’ Theo called out.
‘Like you’re not,’ Finn replied as he slammed his door shut.
‘Just remember to stay away from me in school tomorrow. I don’t need to be associated with someone like you,’ Theo said with his chest forced out to make himself look bigger. He was waiting for a response from Finn but instead sighed quietly as he watched Finn walk off down the stairs.
‘Talk about brotherly love,’ I muttered to myself as I walked up the stairs to the library and picked out a book for Maia.
I didn’t have siblings, so I didn’t know exactly what it was like, but I knew we’d fight like cats and dogs if we were as miserable as Finn. In those past two days, I had seen him only at dinner time when he was forced to eat with his family. Other than that, he was hidden away in his room playing a game on something that looked like a Nintendo. Harsh or not, his dad had been right.
‘What took you so long?’ Maia said, tucked into her bed as I walked into the room.
‘Who are you talking to, sweetie?’ Cait said following in behind me as I quietly placed the ‘floating’ book down without her noticing.
Maia’s eyes shot over to me where I shook my head.
‘You,’ she replied. ‘I wanted you to kiss me goodnight.’
Cait seemed taken aback. ‘Well, normally I have to fight to get you into your pyjamas, let alone get you into bed on a school night. I didn’t expect you to be ready in bed before I got up here.’
Maia shrugged. ‘I’m tired.’
‘Right, well goodnight, sweetie,’ Cait said. She kissed her daughter on the forehead and tucked the blanket up high over her arms and under her chin—the same way my gran did to me when I was Maia’s age.
‘Night,’ Maia replied avoiding Cait’s curious eyes by closing her own in the tight way kids did when they were pretending.
Once she had left the room, I picked the book back up as Maia shuffled across her bed to make room for me to lie beside her.
‘Ok, so this book is one of my favourites, and I first read it in school when I was your age,’ I said excitedly as her eyes grew big. ‘It’s called The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett’
Maia leant forward to get a better look of the cover. ‘What’s it about?’ she asked.
‘Well, let’s find out,’ I said, gleefully turning the page.
I had gotten about twelve pages into the book when I discovered Maia had long fallen asleep, but I continued reading out loud until I reached the final page. Book in hand, I left Maia to sleep, ready to head up to the library when I noticed a sliver of light coming from under Finn’s door. Curious, I poked my head through the door to find Finn wide awake in bed with his laptop screen glaring back onto his face. In my day, only the very rich and successful could afford laptops, but it seemed it wasn’t the case in 2018.
His room was still in a pretty bad way with only bits of his furniture in corners. In the centre of his room was a huge TV sitting on a cabinet with a black armchair in front of it. It was usually where he was found when he locked himself away.
I walked closer to him, wanting to see what was on his screen where I found white pages of words and pictures all about my old school. Except it was no longer just called Birkinhill School, it was instead called The Birkinhill House Academy and Sixth Form. There were pictures of kids looking far too happy with books in their hands and sitting at fancy desks.
Finn sighed as he tapped on something making it all disappear until he tapped again, and another white screen showed up. This time it had pictures with people pouting and videos of others doing stupid stuff. As he scrolled through, it was endless funny photos and comments.
Is this the internet? I thought, remembering it not being much when I had been alive. The world had changed so much.
Finn stopped pressing the button when he found a picture of Theo posing with a pretty blonde. Theo was definitely the better-looking brother out of the two. He was in great shape having obviously played a lot of sport, but it wasn’t like Finn was ugly—he just never made any effort. Where Theo styled his hair every morning, Finn’s looked like it hadn’t been cut in months. Theo dressed in jeans and smart tops, which weren’t exactly my cup of tea, but at least they looked clean compared to Finn’s worn hoodie and baggy jogging bottoms.
‘First day at the new school tomorrow—who’s gonna miss me?’
I read the text underneath the photo, but Finn clicked again showing more writing underneath that but this time it seemed to be from other people.
‘Can’t believe you’re not at Belmont anymore—not gonna be the same, bro.’
‘NGL, still lowkey salty about you moving but I still love you, boo.’
‘Hope your first day is lit.’
I looked over at Finn still reading the words, ‘I hope this makes sense to you because this might as well be in Chinese…’ I said out loud. What did lowkey salty mean, and why would someone wish for his first day to be lit?