A Closed Book

from a ten minute free write on hitRECord

She always was a closed book. And sometimes she would turn away. From me. From everybody. It didn't used to matter though. She'd always turn back. The book would always open and I'd read her while she laughed at all the best parts. But then one day I opened her up and the words were no longer there. A sea of blank pages, shuffling in the breeze.

'You thought you had it all figured out!' she cried, and with that she was gone. Closed off again. Turned away from the world and were you really expecting anything less? 'Someday it'll all make sense.' I heard her voice, giggling in the dark, flickering in and out of perception, but always beyond the range of sight. I didn't know what to do. So I sat down. Flicked open the cover. Started to read the first page.

And as I sat there, flipping the pages of my own story, one at a time, opening myself up to the world, I began to sense her creeping back. 'Just one more story' she seemed to say. And I would start a new chapter, tear a few more pages from my body. I stayed there, in a pool of light with the darkness all around, and I read myself, cover to cover. And as I reached the last chapter she was there again, sitting beside me, a tear running down each cheek.

'Don't cry for me,' I told her. 'My story's almost done.' She wiped the tears from her eyes.

'I'm not crying for you,' she whispered. 'I'm crying for me.' And with those words she opened herself again. And the words were there once more. The story of her life, printed across her pages. And she let me read, out loud, for both of us. Reading of how we were close, and then she turned away. Reading how she was open, and then closed. How she was lost... and then found.

She didn't say a word, not even as I turned the last page. Read the last words. And then I looked up, and saw her eyes closed.