Reading

It was love at first sight

The cover, bright and enticing caught the corner of her eye from the bottom shelf

The first few lines drawing her in like a smooth pick up line and wink

The ink, dark with mystery and the potential of the story it held

It grasped at her heartstrings, still bloody and tender from sharp words on the seemingly soft pages of the last book or two

And wrapped them in the escape of a delusion

Lost in the world of fantasy, she drank up the adventure

but could never quite quench her thirst

Reaching for something that was never there

Only to find that the story had ended before she was finished

The hero had gone home, the dragon had been tamed, and their first kiss was the last

The villain exposed and defeated

But with every passing paragraph she had learned of courage and determination

Inspired by stubbornness and sarcasm

And armed with compassion and knowledge

Ready to take on the world

But when faced with the return to reality, she faltered

For like the hero, thrust back to his home world

The magic that once set fire his veins on fire has sizzled out

How can they spend the rest of their lives behind a desk

When they've just returned from war?

-This is why she can't stop reading