This Is My Page!

THIS IS MY PAGE

… “Is that the last of it?” said Alexandria. “No, there is still one strange box I have never seen before,” replied Ambroysia. Ambroysia fixated on the box with curiosity and bewilderment. The box was black as the darkest of nights that Ambroysia had ever seen in her life. As she stared at the box, she could feel the box pulsating along with her heartbeat in her chest. For a split second, she had stopped breathing as she stared fixated on the box.

Alexandria yelled, “Ambroysia, Ambroysia!” Ambroysia was so drawn into the box that she had not heard her aunt yell her name. Snapping back into focus, Ambroysia looked at her aunt with a glazed look in her eyes. Her eyes looked as if her soul had literally left her body. Alexandria asked, “Ambroysia, what happen? Are you okay?” Ambroysia looked at her aunt, not able to formulate words. She then walked over to the box and picked it up as her hands started to shake. Alexandria stared at her niece and then at that box as a wave of recognization came over her.

Alexandria, trembling, said, “Ambroysia put that down, Now!” Ambroysia, so glued to the box, didn’t even register what her aunt was saying. Gently she open the lid to the box, and all the light in the room went out. A silence filled the room that was so thick that both women could hear their breathing as the room went into complete darkness.

Thump... Both women jumped when the light return, the box crashed to the floor, dumping out its content. A book as black as the box laid on the floor. Ambroysia eyes went directly to the black book transfixed. As in a spell, Ambroysia walked over to the book and tried to pick it up… Alexandria grabbed her hand furiously, which confused Ambroysia. Before Ambroysia could say anything, Alexandria looked at her dead in her eyes and said, “That book is death, Ambroysia!” Ambroysia looked at her with complete confusion and, without saying anything, yanked her arm out of her aunt’s hand and picked up the book.

Confused and stunned, Ambroysia watched as the book came to life in her hands. The book flew open, and it looked as if the pages were on fire as letters start to appear on the pages that Ambroysia had never seen in her life, yet she understood. Ambroysia flipped through the pages, and as each page turn, the letters grew brighter until she found a page with no writings on it. Alexandria stood there horrified as she saw the book gain life by feeding off the inner light within Ambroysia. She knew what was happening, and all she could do was watch as Ambroysia soul fed that empty book life. She had seen this once before in her youth with her older sister, Asuna, Ambroysia mother, who had done the same thing.

Tears began to swell in Alexandria’s eyes because she knew that book was the reason why Asuna had gained everything yet, at the same time, lost everything. Alexandria had watched as Asuna had used that book, gaining all her worldly treasure ultimately losing her soul piece by piece. Oblivious to the book, when they first discovered the box and book twenty years ago in their mother’s casket at her wake. Asuna had been drawn to the book just like Ambroysia. Alexandria couldn’t understand the words in the book than either, yet Asuna could. A couple of days after finding the book, Asuna started to come into money instantly. First, winning the lottery magically for 20,000 out of the blue. The next week, she won again for 40,000, and after that, it kept doubling every time she would win something. At first, it was exciting; however, as she kept winning money, she would lose something she loved. First, the dog she had since she was a child. Then after that, she start to lose her love for painting than her passion for singing. Lastly, one of the final things she lost when she was young was her best friend. She mysterious died under strange circumstances after Asuna had won for an enormous sum she ever won. It seemed that sadness and death attached themselves to Asuna because every time she won money, someone or something would die in her life she loved. However, after she lost her friend, she didn’t use that book anymore until…

Broken out of thought, Alexandria went to Ambroysia. She grabbed her by her shoulders and looked at her in the eyes. Ambroysia looked up into her aunt’s eyes. Alexandria said, “Ambroysia, the book you have in your hands is a curse. It is called, The Book of Emptiness. It literally drains your soul to fill its pages. It took your mother’s soul and your grandmother’s soul. This book has been passed on in our family from generation to generation, yet only the firstborn daughter can read it and use it. I don’t know how our family came into possession of that book, but I know it only appears to the firstborn daughter. My mother used that book to gain wealth, but it cost her all that she loved, and in the end, she had to make a choice. She chose a life of luxury and wealth that cost her the warmth and kindness she once had. It also cost the death of my brother and my father. Yet at the end, she didn’t care.”

Ambroysia looked at the book, and she turned it to the page by instinct that contained her mother’s story. Her eyes came to the end of the page where the strange writing had abruptly stopped! It wrote… NOT MY DAUGHTER! Ambroysia flipped to the beginning of her mother’s story, and she read how her mother had willingly sacrificed her dog, Pinky, to win 20,000 dollars. However, as she continued reading, she could tell her mother didn’t want to sacrifice other things, yet because she had used the book, a sacrifice had been made involuntary by the book. When Asuna had realized her best friend had died because of her, she had stopped using the book for years. Ambroysia stopped reading and looked up to her aunt and asked, “How do you know what the book is if you can’t read its pages?”

Alexandria replied, “Asuna told me after your father died. She told me how she read the whole book, and she learned that our father died because our mother couldn’t stop using the book. The last words our mother said to us before her death… What is your soul worth because I know what mines is worth. Your grandmother died alone in a big house surrounded by her earthly treasures. No one showed up to her funeral except Asuna and me. She was such a good person until that book found its way to her and drained her soul. Ambroysia, think about your mother and how she changed in the last years of her life. She had stopped using that book and was living a good life. She start using it again when your father had his gambling problem and consumed all of her money. She began to use that accursed thing again, and it took all of her, including your father’s life.”

Ambroysia retorted, “It didn’t cost her everything. The book wanted her to sacrifice me, and she refused. That is what cost her to die.” Alexandria was lost for words. Alexandria said, “Yet, here we are? That book has still found its way to you.” Ambroysia looked at her aunt, and then she looked at the book. She thought about the last words her mother had said. That was the last time she had seen her.

Her mother’s last words echoed in her head, “Honey, our life is a book, and each page is filled with our trials and tribulations. We don’t create life itself, yet some of us have the power to create the life we want to live. Sacrifices made in life have their rewards as well as their troubles. My pages in my book are full of mistakes that can’t be erased. Some sacrifices are not worth the rewards. Choose carefully what you are willing to sacrifice.” Ambroysia thought of that last meeting with her mom as her mother left that morning. She had wondered for the last few days what her mother was talking about. She also remembered how her mother had changed after her father’s death. Cold and detach with a bitterness that only left her eyes when she would look at me.

Ambroysia looked down at the book, and she turn to the last pages of her mother’s story in The Book of Emptiness. Ambroysia snickered to herself, thinking ironically how the book’s title was befitting her mother the last years of her life. Empty. Precisely what her mother was until her death. No! Ambroysia shook her head. No! She still had life when she looked at me. I could see it in her eyes. I saw it the last time I saw her. She didn’t give this book all her soul. Ambroysia knew that.

Ambroysia thought of that morning, remembering her mother’s eyes. At the time, she didn’t know where her mother was going. They had found her mother’s body at her father’s grave, holding a picture of my father and me. The coroner had told me that they could not find a cause of death. It look as if my mother had died of natural causes. She was healthy, fit, and only 42. At the time, she thought, how does someone die of natural causes at 42 that is fit and healthy? She shook her head as she thought to herself, I have the answer now in my hands.

Ambroysia, lost in thought, flip through the pages of her mother’s story. She read the last words on the page, “NOT MY DAUGHTER!” She flipped to the next page of the book. The page was completely blank except at the top, where it had her name. Ambroysia Rayne Ferguson. Alexandria gently grabbed her hand, holding the book. Ambroysia so lost in thought, jumped when her aunt’s hand had touched hers. Alexandria whispered, “Ambroysia!”

Ambroysia looked up into her aunt’s eyes. Her eyes were filled with so much love and concern. Ambroysia said, “THIS IS MY PAGE.” Alexandria looked at the page. It was blank. But at the top, it had strange words that look like they spelled three words. Ambroysia had followed her aunt’s eyes. She said, “It is my name at the top.” Alexandria looked up at her with tears swelling. Ambroysia gently closed the book. She grasped her aunt’s hand. She just held her aunt’s hand, feeling the comfort and warmth of her aunt’s hand circulating through her body.

Ambroysia said gently under her breath. “What is your soul worth because I know what mines is worth.” Repeating back her grandmother’s words. She thought of her mother’s last words on the page, “NOT MY DAUGHTER!” Gently she said to her aunt, “I know what my soul is worth.” Gently, she let go of her aunt’s hand, went over to the box, placed the book back in the box, and closed the lid. Then she walked to her aunt, grabbed her hand, and led her to the steps. Looking back at the box one final time and then looking at her aunt, they both walked down the steps hand and hand with smiles on their faces.