One more time
 

‘This is the place where they house the dead books. This is where we store the tales that no one reads any more. It’s like a graveyard though paper is slower to decay than flesh. I am the guardian. Let me show you around, help you settle in, make you feel at home.’
 
I blink, coming in from the sunlight. ‘No really, I think there must be some mistake. I took a wrong turn. Maybe you would show me the way out?’
 
The guardian shrugs, rustling cardboard sleeves. His laughter is the crackle of flame. I can feel heat in the air, a dry tinge to the air, the scent of burning. Suddenly I am afraid.
 
‘What’s so funny?’
 
‘I’m sorry. It’s just that everyone says the same when they first arrive. No one ever means to come here. One slip of the pen – that’s all it takes. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’re all friends here.
 
I can feel the ink dripping from my eyes. ‘It wasn’t my fault.’
 
The guardian enfolds me like a parcel in a brown paper embrace. He hands me a wisp of tissue paper and delicately dabs my pages.
 
‘Am I smudged?’
 
‘Only a little. The marbling suits you.’
 
I gather myself together. ‘I am signed you know.’
 
‘And illustrated?’
 
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I am a serious work of art.’
 
He mutters something under his breath. ‘Literary pretensions? Let me tell you something, love. We get all kinds here, paperbacks and first editions, yellow pages, embossed covers and spot gilding. You know what? They all burn in the end.’
 
I cover my ears. Flame! Is this broken backed remainder threatening me? Does he know who I am? I was the fast seller of 2001.
 
‘And now you’re ‘lightly used’ – I like that. Keep me warm and I’ll shield you from the heat, sweetheart.’
 
‘You read my mind?’
 
‘You’re an open book.’ He leers. ‘Be nice and I might just keep you from the fire.’
I close my cover tight. Like me it has seen better days. He paws at my title and it’s all I can do not to scream. I can hear the roar from the furnace and I want to live another day.
 
Read me baby, one more time?


* Sarah Ann Watts writes fantasy with a dash of science fiction – or possibly the other way round. It’s all relative?