(miniflash story)

As the heavy door swung shut with a thunderous clang, the girl found herself trapped in a sea of books. The towering shelves, filled with countless volumes, cast long, ominous shadows. She’d only needed to find a Latin dictionary; it should have been simple. The towering bookshelves, reaching to the lofty ceiling, seemed to loom over her, their spines adorned with intricate gold lettering. The air was thick with the scent of old paper and leather, a comforting aroma that filled her senses.

The books, with their dusty pages and strange words, were like portals to other worlds. She could lose herself in the pages of a fantasy novel, her imagination soaring as she followed the hero on his perilous quest.

But she had never thought about that as the truth.

While trying to find the Latin dictionary, she entered an alcove. It was filled with even older papers, but there was something different about this room. In the center, on a small pedestal, sat a worn, leather-bound book. She reached out and touched it, feeling a strange warmth emanate from its pages. As she opened the book, the world started to change. The walls melted into darkness, and the outlines of the books pulsated, shimmering with the colors of nature. Gradually, this whirlwind transformed into an abyss of black nothingness, inevitably swallowing the girl into another world…