Tales Whispered in the Margins

Once upon an autumn eve, when twilight began its gentle descent, an aged book lay open on a wooden table. Its pages, yellowed by the kisses of scattered years, whispered secrets to the stillness of the room.

A young girl, no taller than the whispers themselves, peered closely, her fingers tracing paths through the ink as if to grasp tales spun of forgotten dreams.

In the margins, a small sketch of a sketched bird, wings stretching wide, yearned to fly beyond the confines of ink and parchment.
“Someday,” the girl murmured, “you’ll see the skies.”

Time folded over itself; she lost track, as did the book. Each hour a mere shadow, slipping through the cracks of reality as doodles in the margins grew sentient, wrapping around her like strands of time-tethering whispers.

Another drawing, this one of a spiraled staircase, led nowhere and everywhere. “Where do you think this goes?” she asked the silent room, its answer a gentle sigh through the window.

Words became woven like threads in a tapestry of thoughts. The girl, no longer merely a reader but a part of the yarn spun by the book, felt the stories breathe along with her.

Echoes of Dreams | Paths Less Chosen