Straight From A Storybook

Prologue

• prologue •

Josie Mason. A simple name, one that could belong to anyone. Maybe you've heard this name being whispered around on the bus. Maybe you've heard the teacher call her name for roll-call in Biology class. She isn't important to you, she isn't in your clique. She's just simply there.

Now, Josie was a pretty girl. But most people couldn't tell, as her nose was always buried in a book. But for the most part, Josie Mason was just... Ordinary.

She looked her age; about 15. On a good day, she might look 16. Sometimes, she could look 14, depending on how she dressed herself. If she was living in Florida, her skin would be considered quite pale; but compared to someone living in New York, it could be considered slightly tan. She had a few light freckles dusted across her nose and cheeks. When she laughed or smiled, her ski-slope nose would scrunch up and a single dimple would appear on her left cheek. Her hair was a light brown color, came down to about her shoulder blades, and was perfectly straight; unless she slept on it weird and it became slightly waved in places. Her eyes were a slightly darker, more muddy looking brown. She had large, black, square glasses, like the kind you would see on a stereotypical geek. Her teeth were, for the most part, straight, thanks to 3 obnoxious middle school years filled with the constant pain of braces. Her eyelashes were very long and gorgeous, though she had never had a drop of makeup on her skin in her life. Her nails were never painted, and their length was always perfectly maintained.

However, Josie was by no means perfect. She didn't have many friends, seeing as she was extremely shy. In school, her only friend was Finn Miller. You'll get to meet him later. However, outside of her school, two of her best friends were Mr. and Mrs. Fitz. The Fitz's were the elderly and long-married couple who owned and ran the old library. They were extremely kind, and never raised their voices; not even to the obnoxious kids that came in the library about once a week, for school research papers or a place to hang out with their friends. They were some of the only people that Josie ever opened up to, Mrs. Fitz especially.

Being an only child with a single Father who was too wrapped up in his work to care, Josie never had much to do for fun. She had never had many friends, as she was too shy to go introduce herself to anyone. Until she had happened upon the library, Josie spent much of her time walking around alone and talking to herself. When she was young, Mrs. Fitz had found her and brought her to the library. She sat her down and occupied her with The Three Little Pigs, the real version where most of the pigs get eaten. Josie had become very interested in the contrast between that book and the one her Kindergarten teacher had read her, and had come back to the library the next week to talk to Mrs. Fitz again. Every week since then, one of the Fitz's would give her a new book about a different fairytale, unconsciously convincing Josie that they were real events. As time grew on, she began to go every day; walking to the library after school and staying there, leaving just in time to arrive home before her dad did. And, with every passing day, Josie became more and more convinced that these fictional events were somehow real.

Therefore, that bright Monday morning was no different. But something happened on the very day that flipped Josie's whole life upside-down.