‘The library door was thick and none of the ordinary sounds that might have reminded them, might have held them back, could reach them. They were beyond the present, outside time, with no memories and no future.’
– Ian McEwan, Atonement
‘Follow me,’ he said. ‘Come into the library with me.’
He took her hand and led her on, into the secluded room at the back of the house. He took her away from the others, away from the crowds and their questioning eyes.
The library was bright and warm. It smelled dusty and vaguely of a long burnt-out wood fire whose ashes were still in the hearth. As he closed the heavy door, it abruptly cut off the noise that they had left behind, emphasising their privacy and solitude.
She had always known that libraries were magical places. They were doorways to worlds that only existed in her imagination. They allowed her to lose herself in fantasy, to escape from reality, to experience another life in another place.
But, today, she did not want to be anywhere but here, with this man.
(Also, sorry for the tease this morning, posting this before it was finished and then rapidly deleting…I hope it was worth the wait!)