The crowd rushes by with me in its midst.
I am surrounded by swarms of people, enveloped in cacophony, but my soul is isolation and my world is silence.
I AM alone.
the people run around in the sun, laughing, playing and having fun. I watch them with interest, but my eyes are darkness and my smile is abandoned.
I AM afraid.
Boys and girls fall in and out of love and decide of their course in life. I yearn to live and laugh freely, to love without regret, but instead my laugh is parched and my heart is famished.
I AM unsatisfied.
Teenagers and peers talk to friends on the phone. They have gossip to spread break-ups to cry over. I listen to this and pretend to understand, but my feelings are vacant and my thoughts are idle.
I AM deprived.
Instead, I read, eyes fastened to the pages of a romance, thriller or fantasy. I look at the words and watch as they develop the pictures from novel pages. Through theses compositions gifted by creative minds, I have unleashed myself.
My soul has a companion, my world is flooded with music.
My eyes see the light, and my smile is found.
My laugh is quenched, and my heart is full.
My feelings are renewed, and my thoughts are purpose-filled.
All of these things have become true through characters who love, cry, hate, laugh, kill, mourn, and hurt, just like me. I read their story, see them, feel what they do as if I were them, and I temporarily become them.
The fulfillment of reading contains the blessings of each character, and the gifts from each author. I am me because of them, and I change with every page turned.