Return

Автор: Anastasia

Finally the big day came. We were standing at the airport: Peter, Rachel, Linnet and me. I have already bid farewell to all the others I knew and now it was the immediate turn of my family.

"I’m so sorry you go away," Linnet whined, "nothing will be the same without you!"

I hugged her. I also hated the thought of leaving her behind, I was very fond of my little sister. Rachel watched us, troubled. I knew she was happy I found someone I loved and besides she always feared the rivalry between us.

"AJ, you’ll write to us, won’t you?" Rachel asked.

I nodded: "Surely, Rachel, I’ll miss you all."

Peter brought me to the ladder: "AJ, if you feel bad there, just let me know. You know I’ll do everything to help you, all right?"

"Right, Pete, thanks for everything."

As the plane finally left the ground, I could still see the little group standing below. No matter I was looking towards Oxford, I was sorry I had to go away from Peter and O.S.I.R. They were my only family.

From the instant my plane landed in Britain, I was sure that something wonderful is going to happen. Only as I arrived into a country with a stunning history, I understood what I missed living in US. There two hundred years were a long time but walking down the narrow cobbled streets of Oxford I could see that this time was nothing for the old town. The most buildings here were old and I enjoyed very much wandering around, gazing at the houses I passed. I also liked my life at the university. I didn’t have a room for myself but my mate turned out to be a nice girl, another American visiting the famous British university. Terry, that was the name of my new friend, has been told this was the best university and so as a child of a rich family in Texas she came here to study. I could hardly hide my amusement listening to her but I liked having down – to – earth Terry around, she made me feel better.

I haven’t forgotten my promise to write Peter and so I sent letters every two weeks, describing my life in Oxford and making sure I sounded cheerful. Meanwhile I didn’t have to pretend, I really enjoyed the life at the university. And then my whole life was overturned, because I met him.

I was late for physics and knocking at the door half awaited the displeased voice of Dr. Brown, who disliked students who were not punctual but none of it happened. I carefully slid the door open and saw to my great surprise that there was no teacher in class.

Terry cheerfully waved to me from the front bank, crying out: "AJ, finally! It’s great there’s no teacher around, isn’t it?"

I smiled back but didn’t sit down near Terry. I had still a lot to do and so I sat down at the back of the classroom and within two minutes I was deep in the chemistry book I was reading.

"It must be very interesting," a voice said but it took me some time to realize I wasn’t dreaming.

I looked up and found myself staring into dark – blue eyes of a handsome man I haven’t met before. Now I noticed that it was too quite in the classroom and that everyone was staring at me.

"Hello," I greeted the stranger, "sorry, I didn’t hear you come up."

"It’s all right," he smiled, "never mind. I just wanted to say I’m a new physicist, I only started teaching and I’m going to stay with you until Dr. Brown is again able to teach."

I shrugged: "Great."

Obviously it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, so he turned around and headed his table. The rest of the lesson we talked on about physics but I could feel that I was being watched by our new teacher.

After the lesson I was about to leave the classroom, as he called out: "Wait a minute, we don’t even know each other. I haven’t heard your name."

Reluctantly I stopped, angry that he had a reason to stop me.

He came up to me and stretched out his hand: "Roy Gladstone, nice to meet you."

"Anne Julia Doyle," I answered duly, shaking his hand. "Goodbye, Mr. Gladstone, I’ve got another lectures."

I knew I wasn’t polite but I liked Roy (in my thoughts I couldn’t refer to him as Mr. Gladstone) from the first minute I saw him and I didn’t know how to handle the whole situation. So I left the room, leaving Roy staring after me.

Next day however, as I was walking down the street, I heard him calling my name. I turned around and saw Roy.

"Mr. Gladstone, what are you doing here?" I wanted to sound matter – of – factly but immediately burst into laughter because the phrase sounded too snobbish.

He joined me, and together continued laughing until an elderly woman threw us a strange look.

Laughter still bubbling in my throat, I looked up at Roy as he talked: "Anne Julia, yesterday you ran away before I could even talk to you." "Mr. Gladstone, I…," but I was immediately interrupted.

"Roy," he said.

"AJ," my answer followed, "Anne Julia is a bit too formal."

"OK, AJ, as I can imagine you’re not from England," it was more a statement than a question and I nodded. "How do you like it here?"

"It’s great, I just haven’t seen much of England. But I guess it’s wonderful to live in a country with such a long history," I smiled.

"Did you come here with your parents?" Roy asked.

My parents. The wound I thought was healing was again open, hurting me. If only I were here with them! I think he saw that he had hit a nerve because he tried to change the topic.

Now it was me who interrupted: "I’m sorry, Roy, it’s just that I’m not used to talking about my parents."

"Are they dead?" he carefully inquired.

"I don’t know. I’ve been said they are but I don’t know whether I should believe these talks. Both my father and my mother were scientists, fascinated by mysteries. Then one day they shipped away and never came back."

"I’m sorry," he said, "I think I can understand what you feel. My parents died in a plane crash, together with my elder sister and her husband – to – be. They were already looking forward to their return to England. We spoke on the phone one day and the other day they were gone. All of them. I’ve been only twelve back then."

"Oh," that was all I could manage. I could imagine how I would feel if something happened to Linnet.

Roy’s eyes were sad now: "I guess they call it "guilt of the survivor", at least that’s what the doctors told me. I had to be on this plane but I caught a cold and had to stay. I wished so much I were with them!"

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