a new volume

and she closed the book with a sigh, her mind reeling from its contents. it was a moderately thick book, bound in velvet indigo ribbons and hugged by thick, hard, black covers; its pages crisp. the book didn't have a title. none of them did. the time would come to give them a title, but this wasn't the time. no, not yet.

she leaned over to flip open the next volume and hesitated.

the previous volume had been full of darkness with rare spots of sunlight. what could the next volume possibly hold in store for her? more darkness? perhaps even death. but there was a slim chance that in this new book, the rays of sunshine would shine brighter and eventually pierce through the darkness that had enshrouded the contents of the previous book. her heart longed for that to happen, but logic kept her grounded.

with great trepidation, she gingerly shifted the book closer to her. instinctively, she shut her eyes. it was as if even her eyes did not dare to discover the contents of the new volume. almost carelessly, her hands, bound by years of flipping, flipped open the cover of the book.

she dared her eyes to open...