The Little Black Book

I woke up in a room with flashing red lights and sirens, all that was there was a little black book. The bed was tipped over, along with the table and chairs. The walls were cement with bars as windows. It reminded me of a prison.

I couldn’t quite recall how I got here, but it was scary hearing the loud noises in the other room and not be able to get out.

It felt suffocating. Like the room was getting smaller by the second.

I sat on the floor curled up in the corner, covering my ears, with my eyes closed.

Screams went off in the other room, along with gun shots. Someone pounded on my door, rattling the doorknob.

I looked up to see there was no one there and all that nothing happened at all.

The bed was back in place, table and chairs standing up straight. The only thing that was the same was the room I was in. Same walls and bar windows, same prison look to it. There was still a little black book in the center of the room.

Frantically I crawled across the floor, flipping the book open.

Escape the room

Let your dream

Be bigger than the moon

You’ll need a scheme

And a little tune

Along with a theme

To make your cartoon

Only then will you find you prize

This is where your inner beauty lies

I sat there and thought to myself, wondering what it meant. How would I escape the room, I’m barred in. There is literally no escaping this place, no matter how hard I try.

I looked under the table, under the chairs, under the bed, and still found nothing.

Maybe, I couldn’t escape the room through a key, but maybe I could escape the room through a dream.

Laughing, I climbed into bed, thinking how crazy this sounds.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on falling asleep. The darkness seemed to breathe, it went brighter and darker, moving in and out. Little stars started appearing, twinkling against the darkness. A giant moon loomed in the distance.

I imagined a bunch of stepping stones appear above some floating waterfalls, creating a river leading through outer space between stars.

In order to get to the moon, I had to jump from stone-to-stone defeating invisible monsters to claim the prize.

I hummed the only tune I’ve known since I was little, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The more I thought, the more things opened up in possibilities in my eyes.

To my left and right, there were beautiful floating trees with pretty pink flower blossoms on them. The water glistened in the sunlight, creating reflections on the stars around it.

Slowly, I crept onto the nearest rock, feeling it sway under my feet, almost making me lose my balance.

An enemy appeared to my right, swinging their long arms at me, trying to knock me off the rock I was standing on.

I twisted my body backwards and grabbed their arm, flinging them over my shoulder and into outer space, watching them float away until they disappeared from view.

Laughing, I turned back to the rocky path that lay ahead of me. Every time I jumped, the rocks swayed, bumping into one another, almost knocking me off balance.

More monsters appeared to my left and right, making it almost impossible to fight all of them by myself.

They were closing in on me, getting closer and closer each second. My heart pounded. If I couldn't destroy these monsters, I'd be dead, I wouldn't be able to return to this world. I'd wake up from the dream world and never be able to find this world again, even if I tried.

My only hope was to run, or at least try to. Maybe, if I ran from side to side, it would confuse them. They can't aim for me if they don't know where I am.

I ran from side to side, jumping from rock to rock, running in circles so fast, it was making me dizzy.

Streaks of black and grey whipped past me, hands coming just inches away from my face. One of the monsters actually jumped, landing on my back and knocking me over.

I kicked and screamed, smacking around at the air, trying to knock it off. My hand hit the thing so hard, I heard the crack and the sting left over.

The monster screamed, piercing my ears. The voice never quite leaving, even after it stopped.

While the thing was distracted, I pushed it off and into the endless space.

More were closing in on me, grabbing at me. There were so many of them, I couldn't see any more light from the sun over my shoulder. They were grabbing at my arms and pulling me towards them.

I didn't want to be so close to them, for fear they were going to seriously hurt me. But, as I yanked my arms away from them, I realized, they were just trying to help me to my feet. I had already been too late to realize this though, I was already plummeting off the rock.

"I'm sorry!", I screamed.

A look spread across all their faces, and I watched, as they made their own bridge. Intertwining their limbs together and catching me from falling into the sun.

Maybe, that was the real test, seeing if I could see them for themselves on the inside, instead of the outside. They had never deserved what I did to them, and the ones I killed did not deserve to die.

I felt ashamed, I should not have assumed they were going to kill me the first time I had seen them. I should have seen they weren't even doing anything to me, that they were smiling and trying to welcome me. That when they reached out their hands, they were just trying to give me a handshake, not knock me off the rocks to my death.

I bowed my head in shame, "I'm really sorry. I did not look at you for who you are on the inside. You're beautiful people and were kind to me. I looked at your appearances and thought the worst of you."

One of them put his hand on my shoulder, "It's all right. You did not know, but you know now. Not very many people can actually look at themselves and see what they did wrong. And then look at others and see the beauty in them instead of the bad. You have found your inner beauty. Now you will return home and see something no one else can see. You will be able to see the beauty in the people that take care of you, but they won't be able to see your beauty. That you're not crazy, that you're just like them. But, if you talk to them, they will see you for you, and your life will get better."

"Thank you-", I said. Watching the blackness fade away, along with the stars. Fading away into the distance and into nothing once more.

The room I was sleeping in returned back to normal and the little black book was now gone. On the table, was a small plate of food and a person placing it there.

"Thank you," I said.

They looked up and smiled, "You're very welcome."

We started talking to one another and that was the beginning of a friendship that would last a lifetime.

Many years passed before they let me out, but eventually, my friend was able to convince the owners to let me out of the mental institute. Once I was out, we visited my old home, excited to see how much changed.

There was a lot of mail in my mailbox, so full, the door wouldn’t close.

Before I had gotten stuck in the mental institute, I had entered a bunch of challenges. One of them was a food eating contest, which I won, and got $100. Another, was a book writing contest, I got 3rd place, and got $500. And the last one was a swimming contest, which I lost dramatically.

The book writing contest was apparently so good, they had sent me a check for $20,000 to write another book for them.

I gladly accepted it.

We were so excited; I began writing that very day.

I woke up in a room with flashing red lights and sirens, all that was there was a little black book....