Through the Pages

1 Lena

I sit at my desktop, casually scrolling through my Instagram feed as I usually do on a school night before bed. Nothing is really happening. The wind howls outside, making my small windows quiver and bend. The moon isn't full, or new. But something extraordinary is going to happen, I can feel it in my gut.

Of course, that's always what I think.

My life is quite unextraordinary, though I would much rather it be filled with dragons and demons, magic and wonder. I read constantly, and dream too much. I guess that's why my expectations for life are tremendously high. I want life to be exciting and dangerous, not bland and boring. I wouldn't call myself a bibliophile, or an artist, or even a dreamer. I simply don't fit into any category. I read not because I love it, but because I want a chance of adventure, and to escape the boring reality that I was so unfortunate to land in.

I am a stranger to the ongoings of television and gossip, because I don't really care for that stuff. People stare at me if I take no interest in a volleyball tournament, or if I don't know who a certain someone is. But it isn't because I'm strange. It's because I simply don't fit in.

My phone buzzes slightly. I cease my endless scrolling to check my notifications. Alyse, the closest thing I have to a best friend, has texted me.

hey are you going to the carnical?

Carnival, I correct her. And no, of course I'm not going. I've never gone to the carnival, so why should I start now?

aw but its not gonna be any fun without you!

I roll my eyes and click my phone off. I stare around my small but cluttered undecorated room to find anything productive I can work on. I ultimately decide on cleaning my horribly messy room. My phone buzzes and buzzes all the while, and several times I am almost tempted to click it back on. But I resist.

After about an hour, I decide it was just too much. As I'm walking towards my desk, my door opens. My mother stands in the door frame in all her privacy ignoring glory. "Someone dropped off a package for you? There's no other name except your own, so..."

I smile and walk over to her to retrieve the neatly wrapped rectangle. "Thank you," I said.

She nods. "Thirty minutes until bed, okay?" Then she turns and leaves, the door creaking as it closes behind her.

I hurriedly rip open the brown paper, hoping to find a relief to my boredom. Inside is a book. It seems quite old, judging by the frayed edges of the cover and creamy thick pages. I open it up, expecting to see it crammed with words, but no. The pages are all blank. I frown, and flip the old book back to the cover.

Through the Pages.

Nice title, for a book with no words. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? Am I supposed to write in it? I slump my shoulders in disappointment. I don't want a notebook, I want a book that I can read, so I can stop living in reality. I place the book on my desk. I sigh, exasperated, and lean against my roller chair, taking in the quarter moon outside. The lights of the carnival twinkle in the distance and I almost feel a yearning to go.

I shake the feeling off, reminding myself that I need to go to bed soon. Yawning, I half-heartily stand up and walk to the bathroom, my barefeet pattering all the way.

The bathroom is small, much like everything else in this house. Roughly seven by five, the toilet sits about two feet away from the sink, with the shower close by. I sit on the fluffy pink toilet cover and put my face in my hands. Can't sleep, and I'm extremely bored.

Trying to find something to do, I roll my eyes around in my skull, occasionally blowing the brown wisps of hair out of my face. What to do, what to do.

Lightbulb. A dim one, but a lightbulb nontheless.

Quietly but quickly, I scurry to my room and pull some socks and boots on. I grab my wallet and throw it in my biege messenger bag. I then pull on my green tweed jacket and open my window. You're going to get yourself in trouble. I crouch on my sill, ready to pounce onto the ground, ten feet below me. I cast a worried glance back at my room, and spot the empty book. I swipe it from my desk, for an unknown reason, and shove it into my bag. Then, I jump.

The fall hits me harder than it should have, and I roll onto my side, silently squealing in pain. I stay there, rocking around in the wet grass for what feels like forever. Once the pain resides, I slowly and steadily stand. Thank God it isn't so windy anymore. I brush the grass off of my jeans and jacket, then check my bag to see if the book is damaged in any way.

Seeing that it isn't, I creep onto the pavement and head into the night, pulling my phone out of my pocket to quickly text Alyse. I changed my mind; I'm coming to the carnival.

yay!! meet me by the ferris wheel?

Yeah, okay. I click my phone off and hug my tweed jacket tighter around me. Even if it isn't windy, it's still pretty cold.

A gust of wind unexpectedly pushes against me and blows my gray hood off my head, my hair now swirling in the air. So much for that. I walk fast to escape the rising wind.