Skimming Through A Book Novels & Stories

I say. "That... kinda sucks," he admits. We fall into silence again and read for a while. After reading up to a hundred rules, (actually skimming my eyes over them, leaving the unimportant ones), I look at Micah. He is too engrossed in the book to feel or know about my stare. So I take my time watching the way his eyes move line after line, the way his lips sometimes curve to whisper a word or two, and the way his fingertips touch the pages of the book.

I flipped through the pages of the book, looking impatiently for more clues. There was nothing else. Just random pictures of some creatures and scribblings. Quickly, I dropped the old book. Looking around impatiently, my hands went to the sides of my head. I was pretty confused. I just had no clue of what to do.

I pointed at the table. “What!” His eyes widened. “You read that? How?” I giggled briefly. “What do you mean? I read it the way everybody else reads it. I held it with my hands, skimmed with my eyes, and read in my mind.” I was more concerned about his reaction than anything else. Did he think I wasn’t literate enough to read a book? He took the book from the table, eyes wide and mouth open. “You really read this? Are you sure?”

I haven’t heard of any of them. How did Justus learn to read? Can everyone in Last Pack? I was always told that they can’t. I flip through the book with the sun on the front. The font is small, and the paragraphs are long. I skim the first page, but none of it sticks. My eyes slide along the words like they’re buttered. I’m about to put it back when someone whistles outside the den. My fingers fumble, and the book falls, wide open and face down.

Lost in contemplation, a sudden gust of wind whipped through the library, rustling the pages of the book I held in my hands. I looked up, puzzled, searching for the source of this unexplained force. The wind danced and twirled, a mischievous sprite teasing the edges of my curiosity.

Like the story is more than ink and paper. I find myself leaning a fraction, not enough to be obvious, just enough to watch how her eyes move across the page. Little darts when something makes her smile inside. A longer pause when a line lands with weight and she lets it sit there a heartbeat too long. My head, as always, starts sorting. Why a book instead of a phone? Why that one? What’s the bookmark for? The storm in my skull wants to dissect it all, wants a neat file labeled Explanation. But my mouth betrays me and twitches into a half smile before I can stop it.

I added, placing the book back onto the table, open on the correct page, now, and facing Kathrena. She traced her finger over the words, her mouth moving too quickly for me to read her lips as she muttered them aloud to herself. Skye had flipped up the pages that Kathrena wasn’t reading, his head tilted to the side so that he could see the handwriting, even looking at it side-on as he was. His eyes were narrowed, and I shrugged to myself. Kathrena and I could fill him in, anyway.

You can read the book for curiosity's sake but not reading the book will not disturb the flow of the story so enjoy ! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *