I'm standing in a bookshop. 
My fingers graze over the spines of the books, sending a tingling down my spine.
My heart is alight and aflame and I'm free,
Lost, never to be found again.

I pause in my journey through the endless maze of shelves.
My eyes flit over titles.
I see something
Something incredible – 

I hear a noise, 
A creak of floorboards.
Startled, I turn at the noise, darting backwards.
I hit something solid, and tumble toward the ground.

Mumbled apologies swarm the air, as I fumble to regain balance and collect my fallen books.
A foot away, the other figure does the same.
I shuffle through the items in my hands, and notice a cover that doesn't look familiar.

"Is this yours?" I ask, holding it out to her.

She affirms with a stiff nod and reaches for it.

I glance at the title before it slips out of my grasp. 
Then my gaze moves to the girl standing before me.

Taking in her face,

A face I have seen before,
A face I have lived a thousand lifetimes with
In the hazy dreamland between sleeping and waking.

The whole world is silent
As her eyes flit to mine.

Blue meets – 

Brown? 

Green? 

Gold?

Let's pause.

I haven't yet decided what her eyes should be.
Somehow that doesn't really matter though.
​There's this girl inside my head.
I'm content to draw her in monochrome for the time being.

I like to dream.
Dreams alone will get me nowhere
And so
I ask myself,
What do people do? 
What on earth do people do?

I used to enjoy many things. 
Now the world is full of noise with not enough words,
Full of colors with not enough craft.
I ask myself,
What on earth do people do? 

Read.

People read,
Waiting for dreams to take form and become reality. 
So I'll go get lost in a bookshop.
Maybe I'll meet her there.