"Letter to the Reader" by Dynamite June (Sagadahoc County)
Dear Girl Reading Under the Lamp,
I am ever curious for you to turn the page and find a secret, an invitation, a whisper that carries music in the autumn wind. Your dreams are glittering, tenuous spiders’ threads. You hear the soft whistling of a train. You know not where it’s going, but you must jump on the train! First, make your way over the graveyard wall to the tracks. JUMP NOW!
The train transports you to a place where bears speak and tiny men are spun from glass, where devil children procure flame in the palms of their hands, and you fly among the stars. You meet an old queen full of malice who wishes to be immortal. The castle magician lets you look through the eye of the dragon to spy on the king in his study. You get lost in the endless corridors of the castle as an escape from the confines of your bedroom.
I know you will follow me on hot summer nights as crickets chirp and a breeze blows the poppies. When moths flutter around your lamp to seize the light for the firefly princess, turn the page and you will have your chance to catch me before I leap over your lonely garden wall to places unknown.
My heart ticks like the watch in your pocket. It’s only a matter of time before I disappear. Relish being consumed by the terror of the house on top of the hill and what might happen to the quiet town below. You think you hear scratching at your window and fear that evil will crawl out from beneath the floorboards. A clawed hand almost touches you but vanishes with the last word. You do not want to turn out the light. Even when your mother tells you it’s late and hands you a glass of water, you’re still trying to catch me and the feelings of the stories I gathered up and swung on my back.
Don’t be sad–we’ll meet again.
The Writer
DYNAMITE JUNE is a freshman in high school in Bath. She wanted to capture the feeling of reading a book and how quickly the imaginary world slips between her fingers. She aspires to animate her own art pieces and combine her love of writing and drawing.