Anyone sick of me yet? Want to send evil ghosts my way to stop me and my story tirade?
No?
Well, okay!
Let me thank The Midnight Society for giving me this challenge. Check it out here. And today’s inspiration is fall reading.
In all honesty, my head slightly exploded yesterday and I am completely unprepared for this today. So we’ll see what my mind can create. Please don’t hate me if it’s terrible, and if you must throw things, throw chocolate. I could use it. MmmKay? Thanx!
Withdrawn
The pages flutter in the chilling autumn breeze. I press my hand to the book to quiet the complaining paper.
I like silence. It wraps around me like an old friend.
My usual park bench has finally warmed under my body. Leaves skitter across the walkway in front of me and cling to my thick blanket. The air nudges my dark hair over my shoulder to touch my cheek like ghostly fingers.
The fall. When the kids are in school, when most joggers retreat to indoor treadmills, when the bugs no longer flit through the air.
I would stay here forever, lost in the words of my books.
I sit, barely breathing. The weight of my book my only companion, the whisper of the pages as they turn a peaceful lullaby. My heart slows. Calm spreads through me like ice creeping across a lake in winter. The world disappears.
I sit.
Forever.
End
Perhaps if you find a sculpture of a woman reading on a bench, stop for a moment, take in the quiet, and remember how words can free us from the world. But don’t forget to come back.
Kathleen Palm 