A book of chance

Chances

Chapter one

The girl keeps rereading the line, wondering where the actual chapter is. She flips a few pages, back and forth, hoping for the text to appear, as it has been done a few times before, but it doesn't work. The following pages are blank, and there is no new text to read. She returns to the page with 'chapter one' written on it. As she stares at the curly letters, she suddenly remembers that some words did appear when she rested her hand on the paper, and thus she did. She let her hand rest on the yellow page for a little while, mentally counting to ten in anticipation, because surely ten seconds must be enough, she hopes. Once she reaches the tenth second, the girl slowly lifts her hand from the paper, and is both surprised and delighted to see that a small bit of text has appeared.

July 24th, 1997

Confused, the girl looks up from the book. What's with that date? She was seven back then, what happened that year that was apparently so important for the book to choose that specific date? She looks down at the book again. Another word had appeared without her doing anything.

July 24th, 1997

Minty

The girl looks up from the book again as realisation hits her like a brick in the face. Minty was her pet rabbit back in the day. Oh, how she loved that little, white, fluffy animal, She remembers doing everything with him; playing, sleeping, reading. She always played with him inside, though his cage was outside.

Fond memories flash across the girl's mind until she finally remembers what did indeed happen around the end of July, when she was seven; that night, when it was her bedtime, she picked up Minty and put him in his cage outside, before wishing him a good night and running back inside to get a good night's sleep as well.

But she made a mistake that night. The little girl, seven years in age, forgot something which is easily forgettable for a seven year old, but still something really important that has consequences once it is forgotten. That night, the little girl forgot to lock the door of her dear rabbit Minty's cage.

The girl feels a pang in her heart as she remembers the day after that happened, when she discovered the empty cage. She never saw Minty again. She was so devastated, so heartbroken. She missed the little rabbit so much, and she didn't even know if he was safe, or if he even was still alive. She was so worried for him and she was wishing every night that the little rabbit would return home.

But a little bit later, maybe a little bit more than a month, she learned that things simply don't work that way. Everything you do has consequences. Things, people, animals, fate, they all have a will of its own. They won't just do something just because you want it to, and thus Minty didn't just appear on the front step of the little girl's house one time, as she so desperately hoped. This was because Minty had his own will. One that, to the seven year old's great disappointment, didn't include her.

The memories of the past disappear from the front of her mind, allowing the girl to slowly return to the present she's currently in. She looks down at the book again. Another line has appeared, just underneath the previous one.

July 24th, 1997

Minty

But what she reads next shocks her.

Do you want him back?

Do I want him back? the girl wonders confused. What does the book mean with that? How will it work? Will she get send back in time to close the cage she left open? Or will a little white rabbit just randomly appear on her lap as soon as she says yes? Is the book even able to do such a thing? Of course she wanted him back when she was little...

But now?

Sure, she'd missed him a lot, and really wanted him to return back then, but now she's moved on. She's let him go. Besides, it happened several years ago and Minty already wasn't the youngest rabbit anymore back then. He couldn't possibly still be alive to this day, can he?

The girl sighs. She's made her decision. Minty never came back when he escaped, though he could if he wanted to. But he didn't, and she learned her lesson.

No, she does not want him back.

As the girl looks down at the book, she sees for the first time words appear, as if they are written down by an invisible person, unlike the other times where the words just appeared in a matter of seconds, maybe even less. slowly but surely a sentence was formed:

The decision has been made; you chose not to bring him back.

The girl watched as the invisible force ends the sentence, silently waiting for more, but nothing came. Very carefully the girl grabs the page between her fingers and flips it to go to the next page. Here, to her surprise, the invisible force is already writing more. The ink keeps on appearing and forming letters and words. It is still working on the sentence it is currently writing, but it has already finished one above it, at the top of the page, which read:

Chapter two

Curious, and somewhat wary, the girl waits in anticipation for whatever the next sentences will read. She watches the ink gracefully glide over the old, yellow page, starting off with a curly and big capital letter at the beginning of every sentence and continuing and ending with smaller curly letters, until the in ends the sentence with a small, black dot. The girl leans forward a bit as she reads the sentence in curiosity.

May 4th, 2006

As she reads the date, the girl blinks and leans back in the comfortable chair again. She was sixteen back then. What did happen back then that could be something worth mentioning for the book? She doesn't remember anything peculiar, major or life changing... it was the last year of high school and she remembers that she had to choose what to do next, but-

Her train of thought gets interrupted as soon as her eyes land on the book to read a newly formed sentence on the yellow paper:

Art or health care?

The girl smiles. Yeah, exactly. Those were her two choices. She absolutely loved art and creating, she still does. But she also liked taking care of people and animals, which she also still does a little bit now and then. Even though she likes both things, she decided to choose for her passions and her art.

And boy, how glad she is she did! She loves the things she learns and the things she makes. She still likes taking care of people and animals, but she can't imagine herself giving up her art education for-

Do you want to change it?

The girl snorts as she sees what the book offers her. No, of course she doesn't want to change it! That would be ridiculous! She doesn't want to work in a hospital from 9 to 5 to take care of people, she wants to keep on being outside and make art whenever she pleases!

With a smile on her face and a dismissive wave of her hand she grabs the next page and turns it, not even waiting for the book to write down her choice like it did with her choice for Minty.

However, as the girl has fully turned the page, she is surprised to see a bunch of text already written down, unlike the past two times.

Chapter 3

January 12th, 2011

The girl's eyes widen as she sees the date. January 12th 2011 is so very recent, only like two or three weeks ago. What could the book possibly offer her to change, that short of a time ago? Unless it has something to do with...

The girl doesn't even finish her sentence as she book spelled out exactly what she was wondering.

Grandma