Lovely Love

Below is my submission under 400 words @www.figment.com on the topic: Reader and Character are falling in love.

“Hi, what is your name?  Will you be my friend?” a husky wafted voice came out of nowhere.

I was at page 31 of an old thriller, based on 18th century France, that my grandfather acquired during his visit to countryside. It was gathering dust for quite some years  in the musty corner of the naphthalene smelling attic. Carefully I was turning the pages -turned yellowish brown and cleaning them while straightening the creases.

“I see you are taking good care of me for some time now. Thanks for taking me out of that cloistered shelf with dimly lit  space and almost no air to breathe”, rattled the voice.

Being baffled and confused with the suddenness of the situation, I closed the book hard to silence it. Thinking it might be some paranormal activity, I threw the book down. A beautiful girl of 12 years with an angelic look in a blue floral frock, brownish hair neatly plaited was smiling there in front of me. With golden complexion and medium built for that age, her big dreamy eyes were telling me so many things. 

While I was making efforts to take my mind away from what just happened, she was pulling me towards her. Almost in a trance, I had to give in and picked up the book again. I asked myself if this is really happening and what Rowling wrote about life being imprisoned in a book is unfolding in front of me.

She eventually started telling me her story.

“You know, I have started liking you a lot - you are of my age and none has touched me so delicately so far. You must be a good person at heart. Only thing I remember about my early days is that we used to be a happy family and now I can’t recollect even my parents. I have not been loved for such a long time” said my new friend as she clutched my hands tightly.

Dumbfounded I was sitting there motionless listening to her with a liking growing inside me- like a flame of a slow burning candle. My first interaction with adolescent love - did not realize how sweet it is. I was just getting drifted towards her and entangled in her persona with each passing moment.

With an effort to hug her, I fell down from bed bringing me back to mundane earth shattering my sweet dream.