Constrained Writing Contest Entry
She knew she was just one of dozens but she didn’t mind. She was surely the prettiest, most fancy and crispy one available. Her spine was nice and straight and her cover clean and crisp. Her edges were still sharp and when you turned her pages, you could still hear the crinkle that cut pages make the first time they are separated.
She didn’t mind that she was factory made. That’s why all her pages matched, same size, same thickness, same length lines all throughout. Factory made meant a lot of things, in her case it meant reliability.
Reliable, that’s what she aimed to be. Reliable.
She was off to a good start. The theme started in her was easy to keep up, current, and a project she really believed in. She'd only added three sections to her. Focus, she was focused.
“We don’t see very many bots around here.” The felt triplets had told her. The had different shaped pages carefully sewn together, beautifully hand bound, and human stitched.
“I was on sale, she admitted.” A little embarrassed, but still grateful to be well cared for. Even in storage she had been treated well, care was taken to keep her spine strong and her cover tough. She knew she would never be lovingly covered in blue minky baby blanket material because she was pretty enough to stand as is. She even had a ribbon.
“Don’t worry, she doesn’t tear pages out as much anymore.” The felt triplets said as she tried not to look at her bot brother. They’d been purchased together but he’d been used first.
She felt better knowing that at least all of his pages had been filled. His spine was starting to fail but all his pages were still held together. So what if he’d had his end pages secured with some stickers.
She lay on the bedside waiting to be reliable. She wouldn’t think about her first tears, or her first fall. She wouldn’t worry about ripped out pages, or words scratched in with anger. She would not worry being put on a dirty surface or having water spilled on her.
Nope, today, she would think about her nice, sturdy pages, some of them still with that crinkle that pages first make when they are separated.
This is my entry for @svashta’s constrained writing contest please visit post for rules and deadlines.
Thank you for visiting my blog. I ❤️ Comments.
I loved it!!! I was so afraid that the owner would choose an e-book or something! Good job!
Never!! Say no to Ebooks.
Well, unless they are only available on that format...
And thank you for your support.
I'll steal this comment to comment on your story, because I also wanted to touch the e-book topic :p
I very much enjoyed your story, and I believe it raises some very solid points.
When we read/write down stuff on paper, we tend to put a lot of emotion into it.
Writing a word down while angry leaves a completely different mark on the paper as writing the same word when you're, say, in a hurry, or relaxed... The creases, the depths, ... You could never portray that digitally.
Also tearing out pages... There's a whole lot of emotion in how we handle our books/diaries/notes/...
And when you pick up an old book of yours, and see a couple of pages missing, you relive those exact feelings that made you tear the pages out. Books hold memories on their own, not just with what is written in them. :p
Thank you very much for your entry ^^
Wow, I wish I could resteem this comment.
Hhee ^^ Glad you liked it ^^
We all share the same sentiments. No to Ebooks!
It's just not the same. I love the way you described the pages, and the things that could happen to them. I could imagine what it would be like to be a book. :)
Interesting approach to writing from an inanimate entity)
Thanks for stopping by ❤️