The springs of Raven’s mattress squeaked, as she curled onto her bed. She wondered why Mr. Linden had been so cautious and worrisome when she had checked the book out of his library. Raven had always been very grown up for her age and able to handle a very high level of maturity that awaited in the books relaxing on the endless rows of shelves. It perplexed her that Mr. Linden didn’t trust her with an ordinary book. The only thing she found odd about it had been that it didn’t have a title nor a synopsis to explain what secrets it could possibly. Not only did she somewhat enjoy the mysterious identity of the book, but a strange occurrence had summoned her to it.
Just prior to checking out the book, she heard her name whispered as if the throat it had escaped was slowly suffocating and her ears were witnessing its last breath. She whipped her head in the direction it originated and saw a shadow disappear behind a book case. She turned the corner to find the gloomy appearance move towards the book resting on the shelf and infiltrate the pages until it vanished completely, right before her eyes.
It rapidly began to grow darker and darker outside as Raven walked home from the library. For a split second the pitch blackness had devoured her whole, making her stop in her tracks. She continued to walk as soon as she saw the familiar sight of faint streetlights ahead. As she passed each one the light bulbs flickered and buzzed. Obviously startled, she sprinted home, almost as if someone was chasing her and her life was at stake. Raven leaned against the door shortly after running in and slamming it. As she ran hr fingers through her hair, Raven tried to comprehend what had just occurred but was still unable.
Raven decided to think nothing of it and trudged up the stairs. as soon as she reached her room she plopped on her bed. She stared at the book for a minute and then cracked it open promptly to the first page. She started to read, only to find that it was just another adventure novel. Raven was both relieved and disappointed in the book. She had high hopes based on how much of a reaction it had gotten out of Mr. Linden. Raven fell asleep reading and began to dream, although to her it was more of a nightmare, illustrating in great detail her mind’s eye of what further events could have taken place that night.
As Raven awoke, she noticed she could no longer move her right arm. Her chest began to tighten, making it hard to breath. The numbing sensation soon spread from her chest to her left arm, shortly followed by her waist. She noticed that before she felt each limb go limp, a tingling sensation tickled over it. She forced her eyes to shift to her leg right before it went numb, and saw green coil itself all around it. She squinted and noticed leaves poking through the slithering wire to soon realize that it was a vine. She looked to the left only to see the book wide open with curls of greenery sliding out of it and across her bed sheets, this being the last thing she saw before the vines slid up her throat and over her eyes.
Raven awoke startled, clammy, gasping for breath and attempting to recover from her imaginary collapsing lungs. She moved to wipe her sweaty palm on her shirt when she realized she couldn’t move, She looked over at the book with sheer terror hidden behind her eyes and tried to scream but her lips strictly forbid her from anything of the sort. The world grew dark as the green fell over her eyes and her body fell limp.
