She ran her fingers gently across the spines, squinting to read the titles in the dim dancing light, though she already knew them by heart. She enjoyed seeing the gilded letters shine in strange tempos by the flickering candles. As she tickled the paper covers of her collection, she was aware that her obsession with order was some sort of coping mechanism--an attempt to bring stability into her otherwise chaotic life.
She found the book she didn't even know she'd been looking for and slid her index finger lovingly up its spine. Her fingertip curled around the top edge of the cover to remove the title from the shelf, hesitating as a tinge of sorrow furrowed her brow. The facial twitch was quick and barely noticeable, but the hollowness forming in her stomach was more prominent as she thought of the empty space she was about to create.
Carefully removing the book from its dusty home, her excitement grew in anticipation of embarking on her favorite way to escape the misadventure of her life. She noticed how the candlelight created a new kind of darkness to fill the empty space. The deception placated her enough that a smirk briefly appeared on her face, eyebrows raised and eyes sparkling with genuine amusement. It seemed strange to her that such a thing was enough to cover the hole left by her escapist desires, but there is joy when dancing shadows fill our darkest sadness.
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Nice... the jump in theme actually works. Horrible title, however.
ReplyDeleteSweet . . but she really should put the light on to read.
ReplyDelete"there is joy when dancing shadows fill our darkest sadness". What a wonderful line.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, concise, and so very visual. -Jayne
ReplyDeletelove how you captured this moment and framed it for us to enjoy...i escape into books as well.
ReplyDeleteYou've been spying on me, haven't you?
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful way to write.Really nice.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like pulling out a favourite (or a new) book and opening it up to read. I understand this story. Really well done.
ReplyDeleteKat
Thanks to JeffScape for helping me fix that last line (among others) and for berating me regularly. :)
ReplyDeleteThe joy isn't so strange to those of us that understand, yes? Nice work( I can relate...somehow ). Welcome!
ReplyDeletedancing shadows is a nice visual...flickering, dancing, mesmerizing
ReplyDeleteNice piece! I love that line, too: "but there is joy when dancing shadows fill our darkest sadness."
ReplyDeleteWonderful. And Jeff does have that... endearing (?) way about him.
That's quite erotic.
ReplyDelete