Chapter 19: Change
Chapter 19: Change
I have this "thing" about finishing chapters that sort of changes the experience of reading for me. I don't like to quit in the middle, or after the first page, even if it's a book I hate. I have to finish it. After I finish it, then fine — I go fold laundry, I get back to my schoolwork, I settle back in. I don't think that that's a particularly unusual experience — I'm sure there are plenty of people out there, just like me, who can't function until they see the page break. Eight billion is a big number, an enormous amount — surely one out of all of them does the same thing? And, sure, the people I pay attention to — my dad, my grandparents, people in movies and TV — put the book down on a whim, sometimes not even bothering to mark it, bending the spine until the paper tears. But that's alright. I have learned very quickly how vast the world truly is, and how difficult her inhabitants can be to decode.
My obsession with chapters also extends to people. I wish it didn't — I wish I could say I closed the book and let it go and forgot everyone and who they were to me. I think it would help a lot, letting it go, loosening my grip. But these things are their own novels and series, trilogies and prequels — I often think of them for months or years; on the toilet, in the car, all the time.
My eyes are heavy, and The House of the Seven Gables is a hefty book. There are still twelve pages left in chapter eight.
But it's late, and I'm tired, and the book can wait.
It'll be 2026 soon.
Everyone else can wait, too.
The Voice
January 2026
Freedom
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Chapter 19: Change
I have this "thing" about finishing chapters that sort of changes the experience of reading for me. I don't like to quit in the middle, or after the first page, even if it's a book I hate. I have to f...
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