Assassins' Motive (Slow Updates!)

Chapter 14: World of Books

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been updating in a while! I hope this makes up for it!

Enjoy!

~Bhumi Sukha

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Krys's P.O.V

I hear children playing and laughing outside. I look around at my surroundings once more finding myself in my own closet sniffling softly. Tears race down my face, faster than my little hands can wipe away. My tears fall faster as the children playing in the other room got louder. As if they're laughing louder than usual to show how much fun they're having. Without me. My tiny 5-year old body shakes violently as my knees muffle my sobs. My lungs begging for air as my sobs get heavier. Just then, the door to the closet opens and light reaches my face. I look up to see the kind, old, and wrinkly face of my grandfather looking down at me with concern and worry. I quickly wipe away my tears as if I wasn't crying at all. But I knew that he had already seen me crying.

"I have been looking everywhere for you. Why aren't you playing with your sister and friends?" my grandfather asks me in Gujarati, an Indian language only my older brother and I can speak in so far.

"They're not my friends." I answer weakly.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I mean that they don't like me. They don't like the fact that I don't want to play outside. They don't like me because I don't like the things that they like. But Kayla does like the things that they like. So they leave me out whenever they play." I answer back.

"Why don't you like to play outside?" he asks calmly.

"Because it gets hot. I also get tired and sweaty. I don't like getting sweaty. Plus it's too loud outside, I like the quiet inside." I answer in a tone that makes it seem like the answer was obvious. The fact that I was crying long forgotten.

My grandfather just sit there quietly thinking. I stare back at him, curious as to what was going on in his brain. Then suddenly his face lights up as he thinks of something. He looks at me and holds out his hand. I take it and walk out of the closet. He holds onto my hand as he guides me to a certain part of the house I remember not being allowed into. Grandfather's office. He opens the dark wooden door and we both walked in. I gaze around the office in awe and keep staring, trying to memorize everything as it was. Aligned straight from the door is a huge wooden desk with a huge leather chair. The room emitted the sweetness of ink and paper. I study the room more and find out why. 

Behind the leather chair is a huge row of bookcases filled with books. The room sparkles with dust everywhere as light shines in from the window on the left wall. My grandfather let's go of my hand and walks around the desk towards the bookshelves. That's when I take a closer look at the desk. A book sat there opened on the middle of the desk. Everything looked neat. There was an array of colored pens in a pen organizer and an array of different sized pencils in another organizer. 

There was a huge stack of blank paper to the right of the book and a huge stack of paper that was written on to the left side of the book. There were picture frames surrounding the front edge of his desk. Pictures of my grandmother that had recently passed, pictures of our entire family, and other little pictures of my siblings and I. I turn to face my grandfather as he lets out a satisfied "aha!" He turned around, holding what seemed to be a huge book in his hands. As he hands it to me, he says something that I will never forget.

He says, "Just keep this between you and me. You are the only one allowed in here without permission. Here."

After that sentence, he hands me the book in his hands. I look down at it and see that it's a hardcover book that is the color of a pastel green. The only design on the book is the title written in gold lettering, with the author's name on the spine. I brush my hand slowly over the letters and one by one reading the title.

"Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen." I whisper the name as if it's a secret, which it is.

"Good pronunciation. I knew you would be the one holding these books as soon as I saw you. You don't need friends to keep you entertained. You have books now." my grandfather tells me in a gentle voice.

"Thank you." I whisper as I nod at my grandfather, softly smiling.

I turn around and am about to walk out of the room when my grandfather says something else.

"And don't forget, treat them as you would a friend. A special friend. Because they you bring into a whole new world, the least you could do is treat them nicely." my grandfather says.

"Ok. I'll treat them better than I would treat any friend." I promise my grandfather as I happily make my way to my room.

I enter my room and immediately sit on my bed, wanting to open the book. Granted I may be 5-years old, but I'm still smart for my age. I open the book and get lost in the world of Jane Austen. Not frowning when I hear the loud laughter from the other room. Instead, I smile wider knowing that I found something that few people have, a whole new world. 

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So...? How was it? In case you didn't know, I'm just adding in some memories to add depth to th character. How did you think about this memory? Anyway, sorry I haven't been able to update! Thanks for reading anyway!

~Bhumi Sukha