Little Black Book

There once lived a boy in a faraway town. He was gifted everything he ever wanted; he didn’t have to lift a finger for he had his parent's wealth. With his wealth, he was able to command respect from his peers at school, in public, and at home. Living every day surrounding himself with only the finest luxuries and filling his room with the thing he loved the most: books. Through his books he could visit distant and bountiful lands, full of adventure maybe even a little mystery, he spends all his time reading like an alcoholic drinking away their life. Every day after leaving the gray-toned halls of the school he would visit a small library compared to his room’s marble walls used solely for bookshelves, this library held both miserable and joyous memories for the boy. In his younger days he faced bullying form his faceless classmates before he wore his mask of confidence, he would only escape them by running into the quite of the palace that held the books. He held onto so dear to his crumbling quaking heart, closing off his heart from the sorrow of socializing with the distant world he called home. All of this came to an end one fateful rainy day, the downpour would change the life of the boy.

The pitter patter of the storm on the now thin, pale, and heartless boy’s umbrella, reflected his apathy for the situation. The pale-gray sky’s tears masked the murmurs of the boy’s distant relatives mourning the loss of life as the boy had only one wish to go home and read his books. He made this fact very vocal, and the adults turned red with rage and scolded the boy, but the boy’s black heart stopped the tears any normal boy would shed, leaving him to stand out in the rain as people who didn’t know him yelled and screamed. After the ceremony the boy got a letter, a letter that would close off his heart even more to the outside world.

The boy was left with only 20,000 dollars which was meant for the boy to take care of himself through school and to start college, but instead the boy used the money to buy and transform the now abandoned library into his new home. The old library that sheltered him from the bullies at school would shelter him for the rest of his life. With the money, the library was cleaned and fixed, given new paint, and filled with the books that once lined the boy’s old room. He’s never to return to his old home as his relatives took over the mansion, essentially kicking out the pale boy on the hard streets not knowing he had the money. Reflecting the further deepening black rift in his heart, he found a little black book, alone in the dusty halls of his new library, the cover seemed to be pulling the light around it never to shine any color except the black void. The little book seemed to never run out of pages for the boy to read, the worlds went on and on without ending. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months to years. The boy grew up entering high school still wasting days reading the contents of the little black book. The dark gray school, the dark gray students, and the blackened sun was all the boy could see throughout the day and spending this time at the library to continue reading the book, leaving no time in the day to talk with people or even interact with anything other than the small book. No light could break thought his now black heart. In a year however a light would break through to the boy as the money slowly dried up like a river in the desert.

The blank stares of this classmates hid as he walked past, leading up to the beginning of class. The money just ran out and he was forced to come to the dripping ink of the school, but a new bright faced cheery girl came up and greeted the boy. “Hello” the bright faced girl said, the shine in her eyes contrasting the boy’s eyes. The boy was then forced by his monotoned teacher to lead the girl around the school, but the aching in his heart because of her kindness to everyone they met on the tour but even to him, a stranger. Eventually, the school day would end, and her light would flicker out like all candles, mirroring all how were nice to him. The girl noticed the little black book and grinned saying," I have a book like that,” pulling out a little white book that did nothing but release light leaving the cover a shining white. “This book is what inspires me to help others. Without this I wouldn’t have the courage to help everyone, that includes you to you now”. With those word uttered the boy’s walls collapsed like him, falling onto the floor he realized that people could be just like his stories he read about, knights in armor and dragons. Just like those characters people can be just as mean. Left sobbing on the floor the girl stayed by his side holding the thin, pale, and lonely boy in her arms. The boy shaking said the first words he said to a real person in a long time.

“Thank you,” his black heart shined bright with colors as the two books, one of darkness and sadness and one of light and joy, turned to ash the danced together in the wind with two halves joining into one.