• New York City was never quiet. There were always cars on roads in the distance and bright neon signs flashing their light at me. However, this street was always empty. It was not the place to be. Dark alleys, rundown tenements, and danger lurking in every shadow. It was especially not the place to be when it was dark. It was about 10 o’ clock now but I was walking down the sidewalk anyway. I was alone, no friends and no strangers as far as I could tell. I passed an old rundown gas station. There was no sign to indicate its name and the place looked like it could come crumbling down at any moment. However, to my amazement the place was packed with people lined up at the register. A few people walked out and I could see words on their body. The light from the gas station was dim and for a second I thought I was seeing things. I blinked a few times but the words were still there. Some of them would even move. Curious, I went into the gas station. People were buying books. I found this odd and looked around to see if I could find any books for myself. I searched over half the store and I only found cold drinks and snacks. Then, I came across a small shelf full of books. I went through a few of them and found one that sounded quite interesting. I walked up to the register and waited in line to buy my book. I had not really thought about money until that moment. I searched my wallet frantically. Luckily, I had a lot of cash, way more than enough to buy the book.

    Finally, it was my turn to buy my book. I was excited and quick to hand the man my money. I strode out of the gas station with my book open, ready to read. As I walked down the sidewalk by an alley between two tenements, I felt a petrifying presence. It was as if eyes were watching me. I had not been paying much attention to my surroundings because I had been so busy reading. However, still I did not let my eyes leave the pages, the book was too intriguing. That is when I realized words floating down my arms. I stopped walking, stopped breathing. I gasped for air as I tried to calm myself. I reminded myself this was what I wanted. I tried to read the words on my arms. The light was not very good but I could barely make out incomplete sentences. I pulled up my shirt just enough to see my stomach. There were was a short paragraph I remembered reading in the book. The book was appearing on my skin! Now how would I get it off? I continued to read as I headed to my tenement. I walked in and felt the carpet beneath my feet. It was dirty and needed to be cleaned. The dishes stank to the heavens and there were creatures living on my ceiling. I went into my room and saw the bed that I left messy and my old computer that hated me. I turned it on and it booted up as though I could wait for it all night.

    When my computer was finally ready for me to use it, I wrote a poem. I let random words flow onto the page and closed my eyes when I was done. I waited a little while before looking down at myself. I went into my bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. It smelled like the crap I had taken that morning but I did not really care now. I saw my poem written across my body. I smiled and sat back at my computer. My cell phone rang suddenly, startling me. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was my mom. I thought about the last time I saw her. It was 7 years ago when I was 12. I answered the call quickly. “Hello.” She said.

    “Hey mom! How have you been?” I asked excitedly.

    “I’m good, thank you sweetie. I was wondering if you wanted to come to my party tomorrow. It’ll be at my house and all my friends will be there.” She replied. We continued to discuss it and I decided I would go. Then she hung up and I went to bed.

    My attempts were futile. It had been a restless sleep. I got up and grabbed at my aching back. I hobbled over to my closet and picked up a few clothes from the floor that I could wear. I searched the house for my shoes until I realized I had left them by the computer. I sighed and began washing the dishes. I vacuumed the carpet, made up my bed, and cleaned my toilet. It still looked like crap but at least I was not choking on the air. I pulled a comb through my hair. Well, I tried anyway. I ended up combing the comb out of my hair. I sighed and shuffled into the kitchen to have a small meal before the party. I opened the fridge, nothing. I opened one of the cabinets, nothing there either. I came to the last cabinet door in my kitchen and when I opened it I found a small bag of chips. I sighed and began eating them slowly in front of my computer.

    I shuffled out the front door, got in my junky car, and tried to start it up. It took several tries but I finally got a little sputter out of it instead of a constant grinding. I bounced down the road to mom’s house.

    All the guests were already there by time I arrived. I felt sorry for being late. I entered the house shyly. I did not know anyone except my mom and I had a feeling I would have to talk to at least one person I did not want to talk to. Mom served me some fruit punch and I sat on the couch with everyone else. I could hear something simmering in a pot on the stove. Someone began speaking about books. She was tall, slender, and pale. I could tell she took great pride in her blonde hair. She wore a tight pink dress and matching pumps. She sounded very knowledgeable and I figured she might the one to ask the question that had been bugging me for a while. “Why do words from books appear on our skin?” I asked shyly. I was afraid she would call me stupid, but actually she received the question quite well. “It’s because your soul loves that book. It might find it interesting or maybe it can relate to it. There are several reasons why your soul would adopt a book into itself.” The woman replied. I smiled and thanked her. Everyone talked for a long time. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Mom was tending to dinner so her friend answered the door. I leaned over from my position on the couch to look out the door. I saw two men, one was short and the other was tall. They dressed in black clothes and had not shaved their faces in a while. They looked suspicious but they seemed like nice people. “We’d like to make books for all of you.” One of the men said. Mom’s friend got excited and admitted them into the house. Then I noticed the short man was carrying a big bag. He took out a weird looking machine and set it on the counter in the kitchen. He put some paper in it and away it went. They were indeed making books. When the pages were bound into a book, the tall man handed it to me. “Draw something on the cover.” He instructed. He handed me pencils and I started drawing. I drew a beautiful red dragon with a tattoo on its stomach that read Koolest. I thought it was a funny thing to write, especially on a dragon, but I figured it was also unique. I looked up from my drawing. I was so absorbed in what I was doing; I had not noticed the chaos going on around me. No one was at the house anymore, just me and a bunch of books on the ground. The men were gone and their machine was gone too. I looked around at the books and I saw the tall, slender, pale woman on the cover of one of the books. Then I saw the face of a man that had been at the party too. Suddenly, his lips moved. I was terrified and I stumbled backwards. “If words appear on our skin because our soul likes the book, if we put our soul on the book, will it absorb us?” I wondered. Suddenly, I felt sick. It was not like having a cold, I felt like a different person, perhaps not even a person at all. The room started spinning and I felt sicker. I closed my eyes. Then, I felt like I was falling. I looked down and saw that I was indeed rapidly falling from the sky. I was not sure what to do. I flailed around for a few seconds. I felt like I had a new appendage near my butt. I looked behind me and even though the sun was bright, I could make out a red tail. I freaked out and flailed more. At some point, I put my arms out as if I was flying and, for a while, I stayed steady in the air. Like a dragon. I tried to land in the canyon below me. Landing was certainly harder than it looked in the movies! I spun out of control and hit the ground. My red tail wagged about furiously, which made it hard to move. I crawled over to the wall of the canyon and grabbed onto a few roots that were sticking out. I could feel this burning sensation throughout my body and it was making me weak. I no longer felt human. “Please be a dream, please be a dream!” I pleaded. That was when I heard someone shuffling about the ground near me. I looked around. I saw a young woman dressed in a brown dress. Her hair was short and curly. She had wings coming from her back. Like an angel. As she got closer, I realized she was my mother. “Mom!” I cried out. She smiled and stood in front of me. She held my waist to keep me still. “You need to get out soon or you’ll be stuck here forever. I wish I could help you but I can’t even help myself. The damage to you is too great, I don’t think anything could reverse it.” She said as tears ran down her cheeks. I looked at her curiously and she pointed at my stomach. I looked down and saw Koolest burned into my stomach. Red scales erupted into my face. I no longer felt sick, but I was no longer human.