20180520

Now she was angry.  Twice she had begun her writing for the day and twice her app had crashed.  She saved her third attempt at writing thrice, once for every new sentence, and shook her head.

She wanted to sink into the magical place in her head where her characters lived, and see what they were up to, but the door was locked. And her eye itched. She tried to avoid rubbing it, knowing it would just encourage that itchy stinging burning sensation. Ah, damn it, she rubbed furiously at her eye until it watered and she had to blink away the tears. 

Sighing she got up from her stool and glancing at the door, ducked into the back room to boil the kettle. Tea would help.  It felt hopeless.  She had been working at the bookstore for a few months now, and loved it.  She loved sharing the books with people, opening their eyes to stories they never knew they needed in their lives.  

Then last month, while talking to one of her coworkers, Pete, he had suggested she write something herself. That surely, somewhere inside her was a group of long lost friends with their tale just waiting to be told, if only she let them tell it. So she was trying to. Trying every day. But most of what came put was dribble.  Dribble and stories about her daily life. The flavour of the coffee she drank across the road at Mia's cafe, the way the sun shone through the window onto her bed, where it made glittering rainbows of light. 

She was trying to be patient. Trying to gently and casually search for the treasure inside. She was sure it was there somewhere, perhaps her light just wasn't switched on yet. 

Hearing the bell on the stores door tinkle, she wrapped her hands around the generic mug containing her tea and went back out to the counter.  Smiling at the newcomer, she couldn't help but choke on her tea when they smiled back.  How on earth did anyone have such a beautiful smile. Particularly someone who was about 5.  "Do you have an adventure story for me? Or something about farts?" The little boy giggled.  She nodded and led him to a treasure trove of books, all excited to meet someone new.  She piled them high and the boy, called Gregory she learned, eagerly started to look through them.

When they were other people's stories, already written on paper, she saw them so easily. She saw the characters who readily shared their lives with her and their readers. Why was the story inside her stuck, too shy to unlock the door and meet her?

Her mind was still deliberating it, when she heard someone talking behind her. Snapping out of it, she turned from where she sat on the ground, her jeans cutting into her tummy and legs tucked under her body to see a handsome man standing there smiling a "she's bonkers" smile at her.

"Sorry! I was..." what was she doing? Could you admit you were trying to figure out how to unlock a story in your brain without sounding insane? Probably not.  She gazed up at the man and noticed the twinkle of laughter in his eyes, and the smile of amusement spread widely on his face. Startled, she realised it was the same smile as the boy, who was currently somewhere behind a mountain of books chuckling at a rabbit who wanted to share how he liked to steal books.
"I was just saying that I can see you've managed to tame my nephew" the man repeated.