Prompt — First Sentence: “We’ll never know what happened to it.”
Goal: 500-800 Words
We’ll never know what happened to it. I seemed to have blinked and then it had just…vanished. But because it was gone, there was nothing I was able to do about it. No matter how hard I tried looking, it was just gone. It was as if a ghost had entered the room, picked it up, and then just simply flew away with it.
It bothers me because that item was my responsibility. Ever since my mother handed me that object I have been the one in charge of it. I was supposed to look after it. And I ended up failing. I have searched high and low for it, but I never found it.
I looked around at the other people in the room, but none of them had any idea what I was talking about.
“What do you mean you have no idea what it is? It was sitting right in here in the center of the table! It’s been in plain sight all night long.” I growled through gritted teeth. I rubbed the top of my forehead with the palm of my hand. I was beginning to sweat. I was going to be in so much trouble if I lost it!
“Annie, it’s okay. We’ll come across it sooner or later. It’s not like anyone stole it or something.” Casey chuckled. He got up off of the couch and put a hand on my shoulder. He twisted his head to look over his shoulders at the three other males sitting on the couch. Then he looked back at me and whispered, “What’s the big deal? What was even on the table?”
“The book!” I shouted. I had no idea why he was whispering. “My favorite book…it belonged to my mother. I have no idea where it went, but I know that it was there two seconds ago.”
Casey sighed and looked to the other guys. “Did any of you see a book sitting in the middle of the coffee table?”
“Nope,”
“I didn’t see a thing.”
“I’m still confused as to why this book is so important.”
“You never denied seeing it!” I pointed to Steve accusingly. Casey grabbed me by the shoulders which caused me to stumble back a little bit.
“I think you’re getting a little too excited over this.” Casey began to rub my shoulders in an attempt to get me to calm down.
Steve stood up from the couch. “I didn’t see it, but I’m just asking why it’s such a big deal. It’s not like one of the characters from the book jumped out of the cover and walked away with the binding.”
All the guys, including Casey, began to laugh.
I rolled my eyes and let out an angry growl. I stormed out of the living room and paced in the kitchen biting my nails. My friends all seem to think that it’s funny, but they have no idea what they’re talking about. That book is important for the very reason Steve thought he was joking about. The book was special. The characters in that book were truly alive and…well, it was 100% possible a character could have escaped the book and walked away with it.
You see, the book possessed magical qualities. That book was the very first story my mother ever read as a child. She was in love with it and was in love with all books ever since. That book was the reason she became a writer.
One day, when she was a teenager, she rode the train home from work. On that train sat an old woman sitting across from her. She happened to be reading the same book. They got to talking about the book the entire ride.
According to my mother, she handed the old lady her copy of the book. When she held it in her wrinkled hands the book began to glow a green aura. She handed the book back and ever since then the characters have come to life…literally. But no one ever believed her. No one ever saw.
My mother searched and searched for the old woman, but she only knew what the lady looked like. She didn’t know her name and she didn’t even remember which stop she got off the train. But she never stopped searching. Up until she passed away, she never stopped searching.
In my mom’s will, she left the book to me. She wanted me to take very good care of it and keep an eye on it because the characters can be “troublesome,” as she wrote in her will.
Like my mother searched for the old woman, I have been searching for this book. Like my mother, I have not found what I’ve been looking for. And I’m beginning to believe I never will.
Words: 800