"BLANK PAGE"

Children’s giggles, chit-chat, and laughs made me miss my childhood. As I am watching my grade eight students, at our annual school camp, I remembered my best friends and the things we did when we were young.

“Teacher why are you smiling?” asked Ericka, one of my students as she was walking closer in my direction. I did not notice her approaching because I’m busy looking back at my adventurous memories.

“Hi, Ericka! I am smiling because I remembered how happy I am when I was a child like your age playing with my friends.”

“Your smile tells me that it was great ma’am.”

I was about to reply that not all are great, some are terrifying. But she ran so fast when Jean called her to build their tent. When I have left alone all came back to my thought. That creepy day ten summers ago. I was 12 at that time. One morning on our summer musical class, recess time, everybody was out taking their snacks. I stayed in the classroom because I want to read books while eating my delicious sandwich. Sandwiches are one of my favorite snacks specifically those that are made of brown bread, ham, with a sunny-side-up egg, mayonnaise, and cheese. I usually pair it with Yakult-a healthy and yummy beverage. It makes me super ecstatic to take my sweet time during recess to munch down these foods.

I started eating while looking for some books that may catch my attention and grab it to read on our mini-library. I am an avid reader. I finished reading all of the books on the two shelves. I went to the only shelf where I never get a book because all of the books there looks very old and dusty. I took a book from the bottom part of the shelf. It was covered with a hard-bound black cover. I was about to open it when Carl, my good-looking and bubbly friend entered our room. Debbie and Ethan were at his back following. The three are my closest friends, they are smarts too. The four of us are at the top of our class. Carl, Debbie, and Ethan sat with me at the round table.

We do not know what was happening but, as we open the book, we had goosebumps. The first page feels so mysterious. Debbie and I decided not to read the book because of the unusual feeling we had towards the book. But Carl and Ethan insisted. We had read almost ten pages of the book before it rang. It was time for the next musical class. We asked our teacher to bring home the book and return it tomorrow. After class, the four of us went to the community treehouse. In the middle of the book, there was a page with an illustration. There was an unknown creature. It was unimaginable, indescribable, unbelievable, and full of dark aura. There is something on the image that we cannot take away our sight out of it. After minutes of staring at the page with the dark creature's image, the page slowly releases gray smoke and a stinky odor that made us nearly vomit.

As the smoke comes out, the image slowly disappeared. We run as fast as we could. Debbie and I were neighbors so we ran in the same direction. Carl goes right while Ethan ran towards the left side of the road. That night, we do not get enough time to rest thinking about what happened earlier. The next morning, I waited for Debbie, and I told her that we need to get the book and return it to our teacher. She refused to go with me to the treehouse. I do not want to go there alone so, we just walked to school. Upon arriving in our classroom, we saw our teacher checking a broken window. I told him that I left the book in our house and maybe I can return it the next day.

Throughout recess time, Debbie, Carl, Ethan, and me myself look for another book that may look like the book we read yesterday and check if there is also the page in the middle with the same image. We spend the whole break time looking for the same book but, we failed. It was a one-kind masterpiece. Later after class, I forced the same group of friends to go to the place where we left the book.

“We need to get and returned the book. It is not our property. The teacher might call our parents if we lost it.” Debbie said.

“I agree.” Ethan nodded.

“Are you sure you want to go back to the treehouse?” Carl asked who is very serious this time.

Even if all of us were frightened, we climbed up and entered the treehouse. The book is still there. But the image in the middle of it was gone. The four of us wondered where the image went or if it just a picture or a real creature. All of us questioned each other if the smoke from the book is the creature on the page. All of us were filled with questions. We walked for a while but, we can trace neither the smoke nor the unpleasant smell from it.

We know that our teacher is as serious and scary as a lion. Afraid that he might scold us or call our parents, Debbie, the wisest of the group came up with an idea. She shared it with us and we decided to go to the known artist of the town. We describe to him what we saw as accurately as we can and asked him to draw for the cost of money. We put together our savings on our piggy bank just to have money to pay the artist. We did not ask for money from our parents. We did not tell anybody about it. After three days, we have the sketch. We attached it to the page of the book at the center. After the glue dried, we finally returned the book to the shelf. Anxious that our other friends will laugh at us, we decided not to tell anyone about what happened. We go to the summer music class each day as if everything is normal.

There was no sign, no footprint, no mark, and no trace from the creature since the time we saw it printed in the book. We visit the treehouse almost after class or walk around the community to look if we can find it. But each day is just the same. There was nothing.

I went back to my senses when my co-teacher tap me at the back. The first camp game will start and I am one of the facilitators. It was ten years ago but, only the four of us know the story. My friend Debbie moved to the next town. Ethan and I are still living in the same community. While Carl migrated abroad. Without the sketch from the artist, the original center page of the book will remain blank.