Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

• Aleena Junaid, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

“Here, take this one,” exclaimed Anna, my best friend, handing an old rusty book to me.”It looks so boring,” I thought to myself, as Anna hurried away looking for a book which she hadn’t read. I stared at the book thoroughly, and noticed that It had no title on the front cover.”What?”I thought. “Anna!”I called out. Anna trotted hurriedly with an annoyed look on her face. “Shhh, don’t you know that this is a library?”She asked.”But look, this book has no title,”I complained. Anna snatched the book out of my bony hands and wiped the dust off the cover.”Here, now read it,”she said as she handed the book back to me with black, dusty hands and hurried away into thin air to wash her them. I stared at the book again and read the title out loud.”The world of Fantasy,” It said.”Hmm, still sounds boring,”I thought deeply, but borrowed the book anyways.”What a book you have chosen,” said the old, but weird librarian.”You have made a wise choice,”he whispered deeply in a croaking voice. I dropped the book in my school bag after he had finally finished scanning it after all is boring questions and talks and jogged downstairs towards the girls toilets, with some hope that I would be able to find Anna somewhere in there, washing her hands. But for some particular reason, my bag felt as though it was full of ten kilogram weighted rocks with some ten kilogram weights. “Hmm, weird, It wasn’t like this before,”I thought deeply into my mind again, as mum said I always think deeply. But today had already been an unusual day so far, especially when my books had disappeared mysteriously during algebra and also during biography. The thought of the disappearing books made my stomach lurch and scrunch but also made me giggle hilariously.

“Emily, what are you doing up there?”Called my mother.”Nothing!”I called back as I shutdown my phone and placed it on the bedside table beside me and turned out the lights. My eyes shut closed immediately, but something was bothering me consistently. I opened my eyes slowly and all I could notice was the old book which Anna had made me borrow this afternoon. It was shining delightfully with a tint of silver glitter and magical rays of white. I jumped of the bed, confused as I reached my sweating hand, for the book. As I held it up, it let out a brighter shine.I opened the book slowly and started reading it.” Oh you, who have opened this magical book, prepare for some wonderful fantasy heading towards you. You are the special one and have been chosen to save the world and creatures of fantasy, as they are in danger.” I started reading the first few mysterious pages of the book and in no time I had finished reading it. It was amazing and magical.I looked back at the window after I had finished and stared at the sunrise delightfully. I couldn’t wait till tomorrow evening, as I had been chosen for a special mission which i had to complete. A mission that no one had even believed existed.