thoughts between pages

he watched the sun set over the horizon, then took a deep breath and jumped the red light knowing she would be mad at him arriving late for the opening ceremony of their bookshop. hoping the icing hadn’t melted all over the passion fruit and coconut cake, reminiscent of their very first not so coincidental meeting

it was her idea, creating a space for people to hide their thoughts between pages and express them openly every full moon evening, a gathering for book and poetry lovers. they pitched together their savings and set up a cosy, serene literary haven somewhere in the middle of nowhere

there was a grassy patch area for a bonfire with a refreshments gazebo at the far end serving pink tea, milky coffee or even pistachio flavoured falooda

after scouring local markets and instagram pages she had selected colourful warm kashmiri shawls, rugs and short stools even managed to find space for a jhula, an indian swing to seat 3 or 4 fairly slim people

they had a deal, she would decide the location, of course she chose the most inconvenient place on earth, though the view was spectacular, and he came up with the corny name Split Pages & Speak Poetry

at last, nearing the venue and driving slowly up the narrow road surrounded by thick foliage he finally reached

the top of the mountain, only to find

that there was nothing there 😄

***

This short story was in response to Reena’s Xploration Challenge #307 where I selected the following two sentences to begin and end my story with.

He watched the sun set over the horizon, then took a deep breath and jumped.

He finally reached the top of the mountain, only to find that there was nothing there.

It was a great experience writing a short story, I just began with the first sentence and let my imagination take over, and half way through I thought to add the second sentence (which was optional) but it gave the story an open ended conclusion. Thanks to Reena for helping me step away from my comfort zone for a while💙

***

Inspiration for the bookshop name
https://splitspeak.wordpress.com/2023/09/13/felt-cute/