The Storybook – Exerpt

{ July 9, 2011 @ 5:24 am } · { Uncategorized }

“Giving up so soon, Addie?”

“Just go away! Honestly, am I talking to a wall?”

“No, I’m much cooler than a wall.”

It must have been something in the way that he said it, or maybe it was just what he said, but my angry huffing and puffing about quickly turned into a burst of laughter, to which Oli had no problem joining in on.

A student nearby sent a loud “Shh!” in our direction, and I quieted myself almost immediately. Oliver and I were smiling widely at each other, attempting not to break into another fit of giggles.

“You’re so annoying,” I whispered to him. He just shrugged, a grin still playing at his lips.

“Like I said earlier, it’s my job.”

“I know.” I turned my back to him, then, eyeing the aisle of books we were in. It seemed that I had ended up in the children’s book section with various fairytales and silly stories that I used to love. My eyes scanned over every title, skipping over those I didn’t recognize and pausing to remember the ones I loved.

“Hey, look at this one,” Oliver murmured. I turned around to face him again, only to find him holding a large, brown, leather-bound book with a title I was not familiar with, in his arms. Making my way over to him, I peered down with admiration at the book, wonderment coursing through my mind. 

The Storybook; those were the only two words on the cover, a golden border inlaid around them. It was a simple design, yet it was fascinating.

“Open it,” I uttered softly, watching as he did what I had told him to do. Oliver flipped through the many pages, all of them torn at the edges with old age, and… 

“Every single page is blank.”

I was the one to say it, glancing up at Oliver to see what he thought. He was shaking his head slowly, mind blown at the possibility.

“Why would they have a book where all of the pages are blank, Adaline? We must have missed something,” he muttered, returning to the cover and turning to the first page. Unlike the first time, though, there was writing on it. 

“See!” Oli exclaimed triumphantly. “I knew there had to be something. We probably just skipped the page. It’s easy to do that, you know; skip pages.” I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic tone, glaring at him in annoyance.

“Just read it,” I hissed, giving him a good shove in the arm. He frowned while his eyes studied words on the page, reading the contents aloud.

“Welcome to The Storybook, you’ve met your new fate,
Find yourself in a fairytale, one you must create,
It won’t be easy, I assure you—it’ll be an endeavor,
But there must be a happy ending, or disappear forever.“

“I swear that wasn’t there before,” I murmured in fascination, rereading the words over and over again in my head, my eyebrows soon furrowing in confusion. “What does it mean?”

“I don’t know,” Oliver replied. “Feels like it was written just for us.”

I nodded in agreement, reaching out to run my hand down the worn page, tracing circles over the small stanza of poetry. The words shimmered in the dim light of the library, seemingly growing brighter as the minutes ticked by.

“Oliver… Is… Is it just me or are the words actually… shining?” I asked, voice shaking slightly in near-panic. The light was growing, growing until the whole book shone, and it was then that my fears were confirmed. I must be dreaming, I thought. Let me out of this fantasy.

“What the…” Oliver’s voice trailed off as the light spread around us, eventually consuming every nook and cranny of the room. I closed my eyes, keeping them shut tight, the illumination as bright as the sun, and blinding.

“Adaline!” Oliver called, sounding so distant from where I was, yet we had been so close only moments before.

“Oliver!” I screamed, my arms reaching out in the light, only to find nothing, and in a second, the light was gone, too. I must have been flying or floating in the air, because I landed harshly against a solid white substance, an “oof” emitting from my lips. Oliver had reappeared magically, falling to his bum against the same white base. I glanced at him and he stared right back at me, eyes wide. 

“Oli… Where are we?”