The Handle of the Knife

Mind Tricks

My head is pumping louder with every passing minute. My adrenaline has reach max, and I am jumping at every noise or shadow. My heart is pounding out of my chest. I hear a ruffle in the bush up ahead. I duck under another shrub beside me waiting for it to pass. It seems like eons before I get out of my makeshift cover. I keep heading away from the town, hoping that I will find someone else up ahead. I hope I haven't made any turns without realizing. I dodge trees as I slowly walk deeper and deeper. My vision becomes narrow and the trees seem to lean onto me. I hear scratching beside me. I leap out of the way like it's a huge spider. Everything seems to be out to get me. A giant four-legged creature comes barreling towards me with inhuman speed. I scream as his vicious fangs rise out of his mouth. I am tackled down by the monster. I feel a giant tongue lick my face?

Dazed, I shove the creature off of my body. "Bron?" I softly yell at him with a questionable look on my face. He responds with a resounding bark. In spite of me, I chuckle. That chuckle turns into a laugh. Soon, I am on the ground laughing so hard that my stomach starts to hurt. I control myself, gasping for air. I rub Bron's ears thinking to myself, I was scared of a dog. "Let's keep this between the two of us shall we?" I tell Bron. With my newfound companion now found again, I set off into the woods a little less scared. "So where have you been bud?" I ask Bron. I figure it's not insane to talk to a dog. Sure, it's insane to talk to myself, but a dog is fine, right? The moon has now moved to the center of the sky. It's light barely penetrating through the canopy. Bron and I stumble along the forest for what seems like days but is probably only hours. I stop to check what is inside my rucksack. Some matches, a torch, and a small amount of stones that have settled in the bottom, due to being jolted up and down.

Finally, a break in the everlasting trees. A small round opening in the forest appears in front of me. It's small, about the size of a dining room's length in width and just as long. There is a stone in the middle. I step out into the open, the moonlight bathing me. I run forward to the stone, compelled to touch it. It's soft and smooth. I rub my hands on it as if it's a sacred alter. Its bowl-shaped and I squint my eye's in the moonlight and I notice a leather rectangular object. I pick it up and its rather heavy. It has many pieces of parchment in it. Suddenly I let go of the object and race back into the trees. My hands trembling. I could get killed for having one of those. They were banned forever ago! I breathe, deeply, in and out. I just possibly found the last book ever known to this land. A book.