The fairytale book

The pages from the book were pressing hard on me from above and made it difficult to breathe. I did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps a week since Dan picked the book up to read. Or a month. Or a whole year. When no one reads the story you are in for a long time, the sense of time disappears. Sometimes slow steps came from the room. Dan’s grandmother would enter the room to dust off the shelves or to watch the TV. She’d sit there quietly with the lowest volume set on the TV so that she could hear the rest of the family come home. Then she’d join them in the kitchen and it would become too quiet again. Being alone in the room was even more daunting then being alone in a book.

The book was a children’s fairytale. On the page seven lived tigers. They wouldn’t eat me or kill me. But they could leave bad scratches or bites which would hurt for a long time. The tigers prevented me from seeing my friends. All of them lived on the other side from the tigers. My closest friend, The Talking Tower lived on page twelve. She was very hard to be around as she was 600-years old and would judge everything and everyone around. But now I found talking to her was better than talking to myself in my mind. Having pondered about my decision I chose to risk and to visit the Talking Tower. Quietly I turned over the page and went to the next one. Then I skipped several pages. There were just pictures that were supposed to look like us but none of them did. They drew me as a yellow pony with a brown tail when in reality my tail was pinkish. The writer created me this way. But forgot to mention it in the book, so here I went. The characters saw my pinkish tail, but the readers would assume it was brown. Or they just didn’t pay attention to small things like that.

The family of the rabbits were wearing t-shirts and shorts in the picture. But they never wore any clothes as it was always too hot in their house. None of the pictures looked like the reality and I hurried to get to the Talking Tower. luckily, the tigers were taking a nap and I walked passed them unnoticed.

-don’t start yelling. I know you are bored and old and want to nag at everyone around-said I.

But the Tower didn’t respond. I stepped closer to her and looked up. She looked sad and the window-sills which were supposed to be her eyebrows were crooked downwards.

-what’s wrong? -I started getting worried.

-I feel that I don’t have much Left-It was unsettling to hear her usually loud voice be so weak.

-there are towers that are much older than you, I heard of a tower who is 1200 years’ old

-you do forget basic things.

-what?

-we are book characters, and we are immortal…

-then why are you saying…-started I, but she interrupted me.

-…as long as someone reads us and remembers. -finished the Tower.

Suddenly I regretted coming here. Not knowing the sad truth would be easier. Characters would disappear one by one and the pages would turn white. Even the tigers would disappear. Then I would be the last one to disappear too, as the story begins with me. What will I do when everything I knew since the beginning ends and I am left alone? What will happen to me after I disappear? Will it be a death like humans’ experience or will I just forget everything and wake up as a new character in a different story? Since we are fictional, will we go to fictional hell and heaven?

My very first memory was still with me. I was invisible for a few minutes. The writer was creating me in front of me. I still can’t remember what she looked like. But she wore thick glasses and had very curly hair. Suddenly I grew four dog legs and large years.

-Ok, you’ll be a dog…came a voice. I looked at the writer, but she wasn’t speaking. Apparently, those were her thoughts.

-nooo-yelled I. Make me a nice pony, I want to gallop through the book.

I didn’t hear myself, but she suddenly stopped typing. Then took off her glasses, wiped them and put them back on again.

I saw my paws turn into a pony legs and laughed.

-and I want a pink tail. Make my tail pink-asked I.

Not now, stop bothering me or I’ll forget the names of the Rabbits' Family.

-stop thinking so hard -the Talking Tower seemed irritated. -and look behind me.

Behind the Talking Tower there was nothing. Just white emptiness. Everyone else disappeared and now me, The Tower, and the tigers were the only ones left.

-we have to make someone read the book! -screamed I.

-they forgot about us. All the kids do nowadays is just play on their stupid… what are they called? Temefoles?-the Tower seemed to get her bad temper back.

-not now! I have a plan.

Luckily, the Tower was big and heavy enough. If she managed to shake the book and make it drop, someone from the family would eventually remember and read it.

I ran to the side of the page and pushed hard to make the book fall. It took some time, but we succeeded and it fell with a loud thud. The tower hit me when we were falling and hurt my leg but I forgot about the pain as soon as I heard the steps running to the noise.

-oh wow! Your book fell, Dan-came the Mom’s voice. I’ll read it to you tonight before bed.

We let out the biggest cheers but of course no one heard us.

Later that evening, the Mom opened the first page. She saw the black text on the white page and started reading out loud, making the list of groceries she needs to buy tomorrow in her mind at the same time. But her son immediately saw me and cheered. I jumped from the joy. His mom turned the page and continued reading as Dan watched me gallop through the book to meet the tigers, the Talking Tower, and the Rabbits’ family.