Lessons From Books

• Amelia Grant, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2009

Sammy fell face first into a puddle of cool mud; she could hear the foul-mouthed names she was being called by Fiona and her gang. They each gave her a rather painful kick in the stomach before leaving to push another first year, hatred powered through her veins as she barely managed to stand up. Her borrowed library book was ruined, how would Sammy explain this to the almost always cranky librarian! She began walking towards her doom thinking of the punishment the daughter of a devil will summon up, her heart dropped as she stepped went into the library. The librarian noticed Sammy and asked, ‘what happened to you?’ Gingerly she told her about being bullied by Fiona but the librarian shook her head slowly. ‘You should stand up to her’ she commented ‘you aren’t weak or worthless but you appear so and it gives you a chance to surprise that girl one day, go get the other copy of that book’ Sammy was shocked. No yelling, no detention and no flames! Quickly she looked through the tall isles and found it at the back of the forest of books. A small piece of paper slipped out, Sammy thought it must be part of a page and hastily put it in her pocket and left the school for home. She tiptoed as quietly as a mouse into her room to avoid talking to her mum, with a turn of her wrist Sammy locked the door and flopped onto her soft bouncy bed. Her hand dived into of her pocket to see what the paper said “Those who read this at any age, will embark on a journey through every page. The next story will become so real, for you have to complete it is the deal” Clearly this wasn’t part of the book so Sammy laid it on her bedside table and opened her book. Suddenly a blinding light flashed in the room. When her eyes flung open she couldn’t believe it, she had been sucked into the story! That innocent piece of paper said this would happen; all she had to do was play the main character and work her way through the book. It was an extraordinary experience for Sammy; it felt so real because she could feel every emotion rush into her along with pain that her character suffered. The end finally came and she woke back into reality. ‘Was it a dream?’ Sammy said, obviously it wasn’t when she saw her book opened at the last page. The next day she felt confident enough to approach Fiona, ‘Fiona out the whole world you are the biggest…’ the swear word Sammy said made Fiona so angry that she swung a punch at Sammy but she blocked it, Fiona tried the other arm but failed as Sammy threw her fist into Fiona’s face. She started crying and ran away along with her gang, she bullied no one else again.