Paperbeats

Stuck in a book for years, a reader finally picks his book out.

In a place where spiderwebs and the smell of terribly old books collided, I was stuck there in a book. I can feel the papers crushing into each other, hardening day by day. I can hear all these faint footsteps in the dark alley of the gigantic library, but they never stopped in front of me.

 

The misery I was living in as a depressed protagonist made all the readers avoid me like plague. For years, I can feel the shuffles of the books around me, I'm yet to be pulled out from this sickening throng. 

 

Nobody bothered to read my story, except one.

 

For the first time, a hand grasped my dusty book, I almost wished they'd get away of how dirty I was. The fingers of my savior calmly flipped my torn edges to reveal slightly browned papers and the dead flat bodies of rotting bugs.

 

I was finally allowed to breathe.

 

~

 

Out of all spots and shelves of this library, I was forced to be hidden away in the darkness where nobody took a step in there for years. I had nothing to keep me and my deserted soul company but the deafening silence of my fellow books. I heard her whisper the name of the life I was trapped in with softness as she swiped of the dust. I was feeling the tingles of hope, did the time finally come? Would someone out there relive my story?

 

I waited in suspense with a pinch of craving. I can feel the dripping envy & joy of the neighboring characters in books. Ha! I wanted to yell out in glee. After all those years- no, DECADES, someone finally fulfilled the role of my existence. I existed for the outer world to read. After she wiped off the dust so delicately, she held me so tight between her arms, "I've been looking for you..!" Her soft voice rang through my shocked self.

 

W-What? The outer world had knowledge of our existence this whole time? But why would she even know me...  Even when I had so many questions, my paperheart beat when she said that. Maybe..-

 

"My essay savior. Gosh, why would my professor assign this to me? There are so many books yet.." A sigh of disappointment seeped out of her lips. At that moment, I felt all the anticipation fall down to tiny pieces. Snickers were making fun of me, like they surrounded me in total darkness. 

 

I was suddenly reminded of my place. I'm a book.

 

I'm stuck in a book.

 

I'm stuck in a book that belonged nowhere except in the shadows.

 

That's what I am. I only belong to make this library full.

 

I felt her tuck me in with textbooks, my biggest enemy may I add, in her bag. I tried my best to not think of anything but I still couldn't keep in my resentment. Textbooks are READ every day, while I wait in the shadows for a reader. Textbooks are BRIGHTER than me, while my book cover is tainted with dark colors that brings depression to anyone who sees it. People pay for textbooks, yet here I am just a decoration, not worth a penny. 

 

 On & on, i felt my book get pushed to the other books, we all got slammed against each other due to the impacts we get from the outside world. I suppose she's moving through a tight crowd. It felt so much like the suffocation I felt in that library, but this time, I was happy for once. Back there, it was so dusty and dark and the insects were trying to get through my hard pages.

 

But here, it was a whole different story. The voices and sounds of the outside danced around me. I didn't realize I was out of the bag, until I felt the fresh air flipping through my torn pages. A cool breeze that brought me alive.

 

As she blew away what used to be my second skin, I came back alive. After all this time, I was finally revived with a voice. With such delicate fingers, she exposed the story of my life as she grasped the edge of my papers to flip them.

 

I had no existence before I met her, but now I have something to look forward to. She might use me for her benefits, but I could careless, someone out there knows my story, and they are willing to read it. There is finally a purpose for me, I will no longer rot away in the darkness, because she is the life to my shadow.