Lost Between the Pages

This book has not yet been published
But handed off to some volunteers instead
Please read and let me know
If you like what’s rattling round my head

The first draft has been rewritten
I was told no would want the first
It was written like a diary
Someone found hidden in the dirt

Now it contains proper chapters
With clever titles and the like
To keep the reader hooked
To keep them reading through the night

Wait until they discover
The darkness in between the words
The monster that waits just behind
All the fear that then unfolds

And just when you think it’s safe
Another comes to take its place

Will they hold their breath and wait
With anticipation as they turn
Each and every tear stained page
With perspiration that starts to burn

The suns gone down now
The shades are drawn
Still the pages turn
Time has marched off and gone

Will the book melt to your hands
Another chapter now complete
Will you beg, just one more page please
And profess, I’m addicted to its heat

Will the boy get his just desserts
Will the girl succumb and disappear inside a hearse

I will wait, fisherman with bait
While wondering just what it is
That gives the words their hefty weight
And if it’s too much for others to take

The manuscripts come in, flooding my inbox
Earlier than expected, I rip open the comments
They all confess they just got lost
And had to finish, had to read the entire contents

The story unglossed, her life at what cost
The volunteers all admit
They laughed, they cried
The effects permanent