Read Between the Lines

ONC 2026 SUBMISSION--Brighton had always been romanticized, and Arlia's view of the waterside town was no different. She imagined Sherlock Holmes walking down the misty streets in the evening, streetlights glare barely breaking the fog, off to solve a mystery. She imagined finding Hogwarts. Alas the only thing that had come true so far was her dream of opening a little antiques shop. Her mum had run one before she'd grown too old, and now enjoyed the occasional shopping trip to find little curios for the shop. The shop was in need of some love and cleaning. Simple in theory, but the antiques were transporting her back to a time when the shop was a bookstore and horse drawn carriages were in style. Books, the only timeless aspect of these two worlds, hold all the answers, if you only dare the read between the lines.