Open A Book

When I grow tired of this world, I seek an escape.

I set out to find a world that goes against science and fact; a world of fairies, warlocks, vampires and werewolves, a world where everyone is split into factions, or emotions are deadly; a world where there are rulers of supernatural heritage, where certain babies with great destinies are born with gifts.

I set to find a new family that I will never meet, where I can know new characters; where I can fall in love with some and grow to hate others, where I can laugh with some and sympathise with others, where I can miss some and cry at the deaths of others.

I set out to find a new way of living away from my everyday routine; where I am thrown into a prophecy, where I am being hunted by all forces of evil; where I am bringing about a war that will change the course of history, where I am told that all the fairy tales are true.
I set out for this place in the only way possible.

I open a book.

There is strength in a letter, might in a word, power in a sentence and an otherworldly, ethereal journey in books.
All it takes is for the first few words to be read, and I am no longer who I am; I am Alex Rider or Katnisss Everdeen. I am Harry Potter or Tris Prior.

And that is the beauty of books; you suddenly leave the world behind and everything that you know and you start your new life, in a new world with new people. Your environment slowly fades into nothing as it erodes, it’s lifeless and grey walls of imprisonment drooping into nothing as the arms of this new place surround you. Just like that, you are stranded on a beach somewhere, the sun laughing at you wickedly as it blazes its heat against your skin, your new friends complaining about their unquenched thirst; you’re cornered by pirates as you confidently hold your sword, preparing yourself for battle, your crew winking at you as they let you know they’re one step behind you. You’re whizzing past people in a blur and soaring through the skies with your enhanced abilities, your other friends shooting fire from their arms and controlling the weather; you’re the ruler of your own land, looking down at the people you have sworn to protect, your trusted knights and advisors beside you, ready to aid your legacy.

It is only when opening books can you experience such thrill and adventure - you are left with memories that you have only lived in your mind, wishing that somehow, in some way, it could have been your reality.

When you finally close that book, and that grey, dull droop makes it way back, you feel a sense of loss as your world of fiction fades away, but that feeling is short lived, for you know that escaping is simple.

All you had to do was open a book.