In my early years of high school—whenever teens learn about Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Lord Byron and Shelley. Every English class started with a stream-of-consciousness writing assignment. It was sold to us as a form of mental calisthenics—a way to ...
The oatmeal I ate had the pleasant mouth-feel of perfect mush—soft, yet varied enough to sense distinctness in each bite. It was generously dusted with cinnamon and two smallish nuggets of brown sugar that provided enough embellishment to elevate the ...
The calm, cool ocean of books beneath the desert surface rippled, disrupted by the movements of two tiny fish fleeing a school of sharks. The footsteps of the guards echoing nearby, we careened into a dusty corner of the underground bookstacks. In a ...
It had been a boring week since leaving the underground library. The desert’s shifting sands seemed to stretch infinitely towards the horizon. We followed the stars, and seemed to be heading in the right direction, but made no progress. Every ten paces, ...
We left our strange and delightful company under a full moon in a palace of sand, a place the cat called the Forgotten Library. Our farewell was brief and cordial—a few flowery words from our feline friend and a deep bow from the boy knight that ...
The talking cat was the first one to break the silence, after a few seconds of poking at the embers with a stick. None of us had decided to ask yet about the glowing number that hovered above his head: 2770. “I have found myself rambling through ...
Said the prophet: “You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,And all ...
“There’s no need to rush anywhere,” said the Hiker, who was by this point holding court in the conversation. “All you need to do is keep walking. Don’t run — you’ll get discouraged. Just walk. Bring enough water, and have some food ready to refresh ...
I stared crestfallen at the lifeless map before us. “That can’t be… I…” I said, tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, “There’s got to be more, right? This is what Walden was guarding? What kind of bullshit is ...
“I wish I had kept a journal,” I said to Romulus, looking into the fire. I winced, touching my sore cheek muscles. “But I’ll do my best to tell you what I remember.” “When I lit my candle with the Fiveflame I found myself in a prison as well. It was a ...