the storybook (old)

“Kim, look!” Kyle presented proudly. “It’s for your ninth birthday!”

“What, this piece of cloth?” Kimberly flicked the cloth hanging before her.

“What? No! It’s behind the cover! Check this out!”

Yanking the cloth down, it revealed a beautiful mahogany shelf jammed with books of all shape and sizes.

“A- a mini library?” Kimberly gasped. “Who made this?”

“My brother!” Kyle huffed proudly. “I helped him put it together!”

“This is... really nice. I love it.”

“Well I’m glad you do! We spent a long time on that!”

“Are we adding this to the secret hideout?”

“You bet! Now, are you gonna help me lift this or what?”

——

“And that’s the end!”

“That didn’t really feel like an ending. Everything went together too well.”

“But don’t you like happy endings?”

“I prefer more mysterious ones.”

“You’re weird.”

“So are you.”

Kyle tossed the book back onto the shelf and pulled another one out, laying the large cover between their laps as they relaxed in the beanbag chair.

“I really like this one!” Kyle exclaimed, flipping to the first page. “The pictures are really pretty.”

“In a kingdom from a land far away, there lived a prince waiting for a princess,” Kimberly recited, then frowned. “This just sounds like any other book”

“But you see, the ending is very different,” Kyle informed. “I’d be happy to read this again with you.”

“Alright then. Lets take turns reading the pages.”

——

Kimberly placed her foot down on the shaky rope ladder. It had been years since she had last touched this place. Higher and higher she climbed up until the reached the top of the treehouse and stepped into the room.
The floor, once crisp and clean was soiled with dirt and dead leaves. Papers littered the floor and an old beanbag chair sat in the corner, now ragged and broken open.

She turned to the old bookshelf, now covered in dust, yet still in a decent condition. The books were all falling apart and dusty from the years of being untouched. She picked up a book with a cover of a prince peeking out the window and opened it to find that its first page had a massive tear in between it.

She remembered the ending. The princess and the prince had to work together to defeat the dragon, each with their special skill.

Kimberly sighed and placed it back on its shelf. She needed to leave this place. The memories were already too painful.