“Life can be so difficult, and stories help us escape those difficulties. It’s all right to lose yourself in one” ― Jennifer Donnelly
Once upon a time there once was a young girl who had experienced so many ugly truths of the real world that she decided reality wasn’t for her. She decided she needed to get lost daily, find some sort of escape from the never ending horrors of her real world reality.
When she found her escape it didn’t come from a party or pipe, or the senseless boys who wanted nothing from her but her developing body. No, her escape came in the form of written words bound on a spine that woven an infinite amount of worlds to take her far away from her shitty reality.
She dives into worlds of romance and first loves. Dragons and royalty, demons, vampires, and witches. Submerged in the world of literature with endless characters with endless stories. She rides alongside them to battle or cries along with them as they lose someone important in their lives. She feels and experiences everything that happened in this world the way it was written to be experienced. She becomes so involved in this world she doesn’t just read the voices of characters she hears them in her head as if they are in the room with her. She is so entranced by the world she forgets where she really is.
Sadly, the girl knows she can’t stay as she reaches the end of another tale. It is time to face was what is hiding behind the book, the harsh reality of the real world.
That is until she decided she wants to get lost again. Another world with all new characters are waiting inside the stack of novels beside her bed in the “To Be Read” pile that she can seem to never reach the end of. Waiting to be picked up and absorb the girl in another story of adventure and life that ultimately saves her from her own.
I hope you all enjoyed my tiny contribution to the writing community with this short creative nonfiction piece.
The idea for this short story came from the poem below which I wrote for a class earlier this year.
Escapism Reading
I opened the book to go far away
to far-off places I may never truly see.
Where no one can find me throughout the day
letting myself escape and be carefree.
I travel far and wide finding friends along the way
Sharing in their triumphs and victories
Battling their demons and tears away
Always finding a way to solve the mystery
Caught up in wars, exploring vast oceans,
watching star crossed lovers fall in love,
or witnessing the magic of a potion
Unknown adventures I can take hold of
With the last page turned and the cover closed
Back to my world so reality can impose
I dabble here and there in my own writing and I find that I am the most motivated to write after I finish a really well written novel. If you are an aspiring writer I highly recommend reading as often as you write.
Learn from those who have gotten where you want to go.
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