Short Story #3 - Book
Do not open a closed book that refuses to open; there may be things inside that were just not meant to be read- that's why it closed in the first place.
A book; it was sealed. Shut, strapped, locked, and hidden. The story inside was not to be shared with anyone else. It was to remain closed. Most people do not toy with a closed book because they figure that it'll take too much effort to open or there's a big reason as to why it closed in the first place.
One day, someone toyed around with the buried book. They tried to pick open the lock or rip it off altogether. When the owner saw what was happening to her beloved book, she snatched it away from his hands and explained why it should not be tampered with.
"For heaven's sake, haven't you learned not to open a closed book? There may be something so powerful or evil in there that should not be seen!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, please, let me read what is inside," he pleaded.
She looked down at the book, and dusted off the cover to read the title. She gasped and dropped the book, "No... No. That book... I-it brings too many memories to me... Bad ones."
He began to beg more, "Please let me read it, I'm sure those memories aren't so bad. Is it about you?"
"Y-yes... It is. It is something about me that I closed up for a reason; I went into a depressed state afterwards. Please, do not ask again," she requested.
He picked up the book and handed it back to her, "If it is about yourself, then let me assure you that I will not judge you or who you were. Please let me get to know you."
She looked down and thought for a moment. "Alright," she said, "read it if you so wish to."
Excited, the boy did. She handed him a key and he unlocked the secrets within. For a long time, he kept reading. He learned much about it and soon didn't care for it. He stopped reading it and he was very, very rude to her based off things she did in the book, not what she did in the now.
One evening, while they were in an argument, he reasoned, "How do you think it feels to try so hard to open a closed book that refuses to open?"
Her eyes welled up with water but she did not let them drip. She cried, "How do you think it feels to be a closed book that once opened, nobody wants to read?" There was silence between them except her sniffling. She answered her question, "It hurts. It hurts so much; that's why I closed it in the first place, so I wouldn't have to be sad when no one read it. Why keep a book open that no one will ever finish?"
Tears finally fell down her face as she fell on her knees up against the wall. She placed her face in her palms and sobbed. The only thing he could come up with was, "It is far better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
She sniffled, and wiped away her tears. She thought about it, then her mood went from sad to upset and exclaimed, "How can I think like that when there was no love in the first place? It was sheer curiosity and selfishness. You wanted the information for yourself; you didn't care about the pain it would've put me through!"
She slowly approached him shouting and yelling about what a careless and inconsiderate person he was. She pushed him back so far that he fell against the wall and slid down. She lifted her hand and slapped him across the face, leaving a red hand-print on his left cheek. She looked at her hand in the follow through and teared up again. She fled, thinking about what she had done. He was interested in a mystery that needed to be solved and did not trust him enough to do so.
She decided to burn the book. The book that had her full story written in.
She burned alive.
