Chapter 4

The book was even more beautiful on the inside than it was on the outside, if that was even possible. The first letter was done so wonderfully. It was big and inked in and decorated with many different bright colors. Elizabeth read the first chapter of the book at an amazing speed, and she took a break before she continued onto the second. So far, the book was centered on one girl, and so Elizabeth guessed that she would become the main character later, but right now she had only just been born. The story seemed to be just the average story of any baby, and it was mostly just basic generic information, but there were a few details that were added in that made it seem sort of personal. Elizabeth continued reading, and by the time the sun was beginning to go behind the horizon, she had gotten to when the girl was five years old.

So far, Elizabeth liked the book, as it reminded her of memories of her childhood. Although the book did seem sort of boring and normal and it made her just a little upset. She continued reading and soon got to a scene where the girl was with her mom on the playground. It was a day after her fifth birthday party. Elizabeth pored over the words. The girl was swinging on the monkey bars, and then she fell and skinned her knee. This reminded Elizabeth of when she had fallen at the playground, as every kid does at one point or another. Then the girl began to cry, and her mom picked her up and sang her a song that she would sing to her before bed every night.

At this, Elizabeth stopped. She could distinctly remember being at the playground and falling off of what she remembered to be the monkey bars. Her mom had come over and picked her up and sung her the song that she would sing to Elizabeth every night before bed. It was a song that she had made up with Elizabeth one night, just randomly, and that was the reason Elizabeth was freaking out right now. The exact words of her made-up song were written down on the page right in front of her face! 

Thoughts racing, Elizabeth flipped through the book as fast as the pages would turn. She briefly saw pictures of a girl blowing out a number eight candle on a birthday cake, with the same dark curly hair she had. Then one of an eleven-year-old girl on her first day of sixth grade at a school with same name as her old one. Suddenly, the book landed open on the page with the shimmery bookmark. Elizabeth looked at the last sentence on the page, and it is believed that her heart actually skipped a beat. For the sentence read “It was then that Elizabeth Polly, sitting in her office with the big windows and her husband making her favorite dinner in the kitchen below, realized that the book in her hand was the story of her life, and that her greatest adventure was about to begin.”  Elizabeth promptly stood up, made it the ten steps to her room, and then collapsed in a heap on the bed.

The next morning she woke up slightly disgruntled and still in her work clothes and shoes. Standing up she changed into comfy pajamas and brushed her teeth, thinking about a horrible dream she had had about a creepy magical book that was somehow telling the story of her life, including what she had been doing right that instant. When she walked into her office and saw the book still sitting on the desk opened to the bookmarked page, she just about fainted again. However, she was able to calm down enough to turn around and walk downstairs into the kitchen where Danny was already dressed and about to head off for work.

“Elizabeth, what happened last night? When I went to go to sleep, you were on the end of the bed still dressed!” As he asked this, his gray eyes were slightly clouded with worry, maybe wondering if she had become suddenly ill. 

“Um, I was just really tired, I think.” She answered him sort of tentatively and didn’t look in his eyes because she knew that that was not the truth. How could she tell him the truth, though, when it was that she had fainted from surprise after finding out her book was magical, or something very much like it?! Scarfing down her scrambled eggs, she contemplated whether she should read on in the book or not. After much deliberation, she decided to read on and see what happened or what she would find out. It was just too good an opportunity to miss. As soon as she had decided, she said goodbye to Danny as he headed off for work and went back up to her office.

The book was still open on the marked page, and so Elizabeth was able to continue reading as soon as she sat down. She had also fixed herself a fresh cup of cocoa, even though it was summer, and was sipping it slowly because it was piping hot. She didn’t read as closely as she had last night. Instead she was skipping around and even sometimes skipped a page at a time. There were not many pages left in the book, and she thought that was a little odd, but she kept her mind on the little snippets she was reading right then. Most of the things she read were normal things she would do every day, like “she made herself a cup of coffee,” or “then she said goodnight to Danny as she went up to bed.” Some, however, were weird and didn’t make much sense such as, “she wouldn’t accept the Gold…,” or “tears filled her eyes when she thought of him.”

Suddenly, the pages Elizabeth were looking at were blank, and she realized the book had ended. Her thoughts were quickening, wondering about how that couldn’t possibly be right. She had been keeping track of the days that had passed in the book, and it was only two days into the future. So she went backwards until she got back to the last page with text, and she began to read the last paragraph in her book. It went, “She was crying now, as she knew what was happening. She had failed to stop it. The wrath of the Gold Book Curse had affected yet another innocent curious mind. She looked down as her fingers started to turn a shade of grey, and she felt weaker than she had ever been before. Then, wishing she had never found that book in the library, she died.”  

Elizabeth slowly closed the book, and a single tear dropped onto the front, onto the cover that was patterned with gold. If the book really was magical, then she was going to die in two days. She went back and read the ending more thoroughly, wanting to know all the details that could maybe help her save herself. After a minute, she had figured out all about the curse, and she didn’t like it one bit. From reading ahead in the book, she had cursed herself, and so the ink in the book had seeped poison into her skin. She had two days, and then she would die. The book mentioned nothing of a cure. Again, she began to cry.

She picked up the book and threw it across the room and then broke down. A few minutes later, as she dried the last few tears, she felt better as she had come to a conclusion. She would not let the book rule her life, and frankly, she didn’t even believe that it could predict her death. Let alone cause it with this so called Gold Book curse. She decided to ignore the warning and go about her normal life. She ate breakfast and dinner with Danny, and had lunch in town, staying as far away from the library as possible. She came home and relaxed and fixed herself a cup of coffee and said goodnight to Danny as she went up to bed. It was the night before the second day as she crawled between the sheets. Suddenly shuddering when she realized that, no matter how hard she was trying to defy the book, she had actually ended up doing the two things that she had read. However, she just convinced herself that she was doing them because it was her normal routine. She fell asleep with the content thought that tomorrow a curse would not befall her and kill her, and her day would be completely average. If only that were so.