The Power Of Literature - My Entry For The Fiction-Trail Writing Competition

It happened without warning. She was reading along when the words started to blur. Something she read struck her, it went deep and like the words were a key, unlocked something from her past. All of a sudden it was her in the story as a little girl. She had that red umbrella. She carried it with her everwhere. How she loved that thing. She would wait by the window and watch the clouds, hoping they would darken. Even when there was only one cloud in the sky, that was enough for her to bring her umbrella, just in case.

And her dog. The park. There was that lamp that she would always pass on the way to school and on the way home. But today was different. Today was special. It was the day her father came home from work. He was gone for months. The weather was starting to clear up as she ran through the park. The rain was stopping and the sun began to rise. But that lamp was. The real reason was it was still too dark but in her eyes it was because her dad was home. 

She saw the door in the driveway. She dropped her umbrella. The first and only time. She ran into the house with her arms opened. "Daddy!" she yelled. He greeted her with a smile and a handful of gifts. She didn't care about those. She just wanted a hug.

"I told you I would be back," he said with a smile. 

It was then she knew he could trust him. Just like the character in the book. 

Then she blinked and was back in the present. She reread the passage. What was written was not the same as what was in her head. The umbrella was pink, the lampstand light flickered and the dog, "a bulldog whose stench faded away in the rain" But the feeling was the same. For a moment she and the writer were the same. 

A warm feeling embraced her. She smiled as she turned the page.