Prologue

“Grandma, grandma! Can you read me another story?” Kaia asked her grandmother as she was being tucked in bed, “but I just read you one already, aren’t you sleepy now? It’s late already.”

She shook her head and began jumping up and down, “I love listening to your stories! Don’t worry when I grow up, I’ll know how to read long words by then and I’ll read all your books all by myself!” that made her grandmother laugh, ‘that’s great, you better start practice reading… now come here and I’ll read you another one and you’ll sleep after okay?”

Kaia nodded and went back to lying on her bed.

Her grandmother started the story, and it wasn’t long before she saw Kaia’s eyes began to droop and she fell asleep. She closed the book she was reading before she pulls the covers up to Kaia’s shoulders. She kissed her goodnight before going out the room, turning off the lights.

The next morning, while Kaia, her sister Kayla, and their parents are eating when her grandmother announced something. “I just published a new book! It’s bound to some bookstores already by tomorrow” she said proudly.

“Momma what does published means?” Kayla asked while taking a bite of her bacon, her mom looked at her and wiped some food crumbs on the side of her mouth. “It’s how the book is being made honey” then she looked at her mom, “I’m so proud of you mom, that’s wonderful! When is your book signing? I’ll make sure all of us would come.”

Kaia was just listening to them waiting for her turn to talk, her grandmother winked at her mom, “there’s no date yet but I’ll let you know when it’s out.”

Her grandmother was a well-known author in their town, and everyone whether a child or an adult loves her books, it ranges from children’s books to adult novels. Kaia always bragged about it to her classmates, “can I have a copy grandma? I want to show it to all my friends. In class, we’ll be showing our costume about what we wanted to be when we grow up, I want to be a writer like you!” she said confidently that her grandmother even her parents laughed at.

After eating, her dad drove her and Kayla to school.

“Okay class are you ready for tomorrow? Make sure to bring your costume and props, okay? We’ll take a picture of each of you and post it on our board so that you can see it everyday and be it your inspiration for the future” our teacher explained, and Kaia turned towards Jennie and Kate.

“I’m going to be a writer just like grandma” she said in a boastful tone but the two just smiled, they know she loves talking about her grandma. “I’m going to be a nurse, my mom bought me a nurse costume yesterday and it’s all white” Kate said grinning and Jennie wanted to be a flight attendant.

“What’s your costume for a writer Kaia? I haven’t seen anything your grandma usually wears except her normal clothes” Jennie asked and both her and Kate looked at Kaia waiting for her answer. “I’ll just wear my casual dress, but I will bring my grandma’s books and a pen, that would make me look like a writer.”

After that, their teacher started their lesson, so the three of them turned their attention at the board.

When Kaia got home, she immediately looked for her grandma. “I’m here darling, why are you looking for me?” she asked after she hugged Kaia, “can I have a copy of your new book now? And help me pick a dress for tomorrow please?”

Kaia excitedly led her to her room and opened her closet. Her grandmother smiled as she began to grab her dresses, she tried one on and showed it to her grandma.

“Do I look like a writer now grandma?” her grandma went to her and led her to the mirror, “you see my dear Kaia, being a writer isn’t about clothes, it’s about putting your heart in your works.” Then she led Kaia to her workroom, Kaia was amazed on what’s inside. They weren’t allowed in here because her parents are afraid, they might destroy something.

Her grandma let her sit on her worktable, and she saw a lot of papers. Her grandma then handed her the book, “here’s my new book, it took me months to finish this. When you’re a writer, you need to find an inspiration on what to write, will it be because the weather’s good? Or is it because you got a good grade? Then your hand will know what to write.” Kaia grinned and got motivated, she grabbed the book her grandma gave her before going back to her room to read it.

As Kaia began to get older, she had a straight goal on becoming a writer so she’s always hanging out with her grandmother.

Her friends Jennie and Kate stopped hanging out with her because they would rather talk about makeups and clothes than read books. That was okay though, Kaia thought she’d rather be alone than be with those kinds of girls.

One day, she was hanging out at the bleachers by the field, reading a book, when a boy suddenly sat beside her. She ignored him thinking he just want to sit by the bleachers too.

“I didn’t know you like watching football games” the boy suddenly said, and Kaia had to look down the field to see if there’s a game, then she raised an eyebrow at him.

“A great way to start a conversation, I’m Alexander by the way, but my friends call me Xander. We’re classmates if you haven’t known…” That made Kaia stopped reading and closed her book, “Kaia, and I know you, you’re one of the popular kids.”

Xander was taken aback at that, he was friendly alright, but he didn’t know he was popular. “So why are you here? I’m pretty sure you’re not here to watch a football game.” Kaia knew she sounded rude, but she doesn’t want to be another victim of those bets and truth or dares.

“I’ve always wanted to approach you actually…” Xander said, his ears turning pink, “I always see you alone and reading books… I thought you could use a friend.”

That made Kaia’s eyebrows furrowed, and she started to get offended. “I’m sorry but I don’t need a friend and I’m not some charity case, I don’t need your sympathy.” Xander’s eyes widened I surprise and quickly shook his head.

“No! no, it’s not that… I’m sorry if you got offended, that came out wrong. It’s just that… I like reading too and I’m a fan of your grandmother, the friendly part of me wanted to be friends with you.” He explained quickly while touching the back of his neck. Kaia don’t know what to say, there’s not much in her age that likes her grandma’s works, and he’s the first one to ever told her that.

Just then, they both heard someone calling Xander’s name, “well it was nice talking to you Kaia and I hope we could be friends… see you later” he said standing up to meet his other friends.

Kaia looked at his disappearing figure from afar, then suddenly she thought of something, so she grabbed her pen and a paper.

***

“Grandma! I just wrote a short story!” she said when she got home from school, flinging her paper in the air. She gave it to her grandma and let her read it first waiting for her reaction, “congrats Kaia, you did a good job!” her grandma said with a cough and that made her worried.

“Are you okay grandma?” she just smiled at Kaia, “I’m just a bit sick but don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Now tell me how you wrote this?” So, they sat down, and Kaia told her what happened awhile ago, “I know that young man, he’s always at the shop reading my books.”

He’s telling the truth… Kaia thought.

“Well, I’m glad you can make one already, I’m sure in the future you can make lots of stories and a lot of people would read it too” that made Kaia proud of her work.

The next day, Kaia was surprised when she entered the room, Xander was already there waiting for her, “morning! Here, I brought you strawberry milk” he said putting it on her desk. She was still awkward with him and don’t know how to act around, so she muttered her thanks. Xander sat beside her and told her what he thought about a book of her grandma’s and that did the trick, she began to loosen up and be okay with his presence and soon enough, they became friends.

After a few months, sadly her grandma was rushed to the hospital because of her sickness. Kaia was sad but her grandmother doesn’t want to see that, so she tries to be cheerful every time she visits her.

“I can’t think of anything to write” Kaia muttered, she always hangs out at the hospital after school, “ah writer’s block” then her grandmother started explaining about it. “When you’re writing a story Kaia, always think about what the characters would feel, you should always consider that, you need to feel their emotions and that’s when you’ll know what to write.” Kaia followed all the things her grandmother had taught her.

She was at the cafeteria, and she was almost done with her story, when Xander brought her tray.

“Here’s the chips that you asked, and some fries” Kaia mumbled a ‘thank you’ and grabbed some as she suddenly became hungry. “Hey, is your grandma alright? I haven’t seen her at the shop for months now” she looked at him sadly, “she is currently at the hospital right now, they needed to monitor her condition, her body’s becoming weak.” Xander nodded in understanding, so he tried distracting her by changing the topic, he doesn’t want to see her sad.

***

“Grandma, I’m done! I did it, I finished a story!” Kaia looked for her grandma, but she wasn’t in the room.

“Grandma?”

Just then, Kaia’s father went inside the room, “dad, where’s grandma?” Her dad looked sorrowful and that’s when she already knew what happened. “Dad… she’s okay right? Grandma is okay?” her voice broke at the end and her tears are already falling. Her dad went to hug her, “it’s alright, grandma is in a good place now…”

When she got home and went to her bedroom, she saw a box on her bed, when she opened it, she saw a pen and a notebook.

‘To my dear Kaia, use these to become a good writer in the future. Grandma always loves you’

That made her cry again, and she promised to only use those when she’s writing a story.