Digital publication | Page 28

Slowly, ever so steadily, the spirits that were Liesel and Art ebbed into ink that slipped between

the recesses of the books’ pages. As their seats became empty once moreLeah gingerly

dusted off her beloved volumes. She carefully slid them back into their respective spots on her

shelf. She hoped to revisit them again. For now, they stood, under the light of a black wire

chandelier, watching with a warm gaze upon her passing in and out of her room cluttered with

green and milky white decorThe books were content with that for now- they truly were. Two

wandering spirits among a human. Two collections of pages, pulsing with words, among a girl,

pulsing with life. Two ghosts of a story among a real one. Two to be read, and one to read

them.  

21

The characters of this piece were inspired by two of my favorite books- The Book Thief and Maus- those with spirits that left a singularly indelible impact on me since I first turned their ethereal pages.