The books had minds of their own.
This was no ordinary library.
Books about knights and castles would gallop all over the library, bravely and boldly ordering the other books around. The books about thieves would sneak around, lurking behind bookshelves in the shadows. Books about wild animals would occasionally roar and bite other books. The ones containing stories set in the winter would often shiver, covering their neighbours with snow and frost.
Lucy loved this place like no other. Reading was the most exciting thing in the world here: everything she read seemed to come alive out of the pages…but she always read them anyway. She glanced around the library and a book jumped out at her.. but with no title or author. The first page read: If you’ve picked up this story, don’t bother reading it. Just put it down and go about your day, reading books, or playing games. Go and do something while you still can, when someone won’t control you and watch you do it. Thats funny, lucy thought. I’ve never seen anything like this before. So, out of curiosity she flipped to the next page.
The worn down clock in the middle of the town struck 4 as the small girl walked down the middle of the deserted road. Above her, the air wore a blanket of black fog and she wrapped her ragged coat around her legs as the breeze whipped her tiny figure like a belt. She recited the alphabet as she walked around streets toward her apartment, careful not to stand on the glass and rubbish that painted the streets.
“Lucy?” Her mother called to her.
Lucy stopped in her tracks. I’m here, inside the book? It can’t be?!
“Yes, Mum?” She said.
“How was school?” She replied as she ran out to meet her.
In response, Lucy told her mother about her day at school.
Rats, flea’s and other six-legged insects made themselves at home along with Lucy and her mother in this small apartment. Its ceilings were stripped of paint and the ugly khaki wallpaper was peeling. The only room that Lucy could feel comfortable in was the cupboard with the light on doing her homework, but every now and then, the walls got smaller and smaller, trapping her inside with nowhere else to go. Lucy’s mother went out so she crept down the dimly lit hallway and sat in her mother’s room and switched the light on. A rat scattered away as she propped herself up against the wall, with her knees up against her chest and began to write. After a few hours, Lucy heard faint sounds of steps coming down the hallway and the voices of men. She immediately switched the light off and made herself hidden in the cupboard so she couldn’t be seen through the crack in the door. Voices and steps came closer and closer and she held her breath. She stayed as still as a statue until they walked out of the apartment. Lucy walked out of the cupboard and heard beeping. She realised she had been under surveillance from the moment she switched the light on. She checked her watch, it had been 4 hours and her mother should have been home. They must have looked for her to take her away too. Lucy’s knees gave way to the floor, she closed her eyes and she sunk into a pool of misery. Lucy woke up and she was sitting on the big blue chair once again with the knights and castles and lots of books around her -the chapter from the book with no title had ended. She wasn’t sure she wanted to carry on reading..