By the Book -5minutefreewrite

For https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-469-5-minute-freewrite-friday-prompt-by-the-book

She sets her bookbag down and lifts the flap that covers all her favorite things. From the bag she takes a slim choose-your-own-adventure novel and places it on the kitchen table. She takes out her pencil with the furry tail where an eraser should be and places it by the book. She sits in the straight-backed chair, thinking of her posture, then she opens to the first page of the well-worn book.

As she reads the words again, she tries to imagine reading them as if for the first time. She tries to lose herself in the story, tries not to know what will happen, and for a moment, she succeeds. The first choice appears at the bottom of the page. As she always has, she chooses the first option and turns to page 13. Before she begins flipping pages, though, she makes a little hash with the pencil with the fluffy butt next to her choice. The hash joins hundreds of others. When she reads this book, she imagines she has never read the story before, and so, naturally, her first choice is always the same.