The Book That Swallowed Me

Amanda is sixteen, and she has one rule in life: never get bored. She lives in New York with her mother and her little brother, Tobi. Their house is small, but it is always loud. Music from the street. Her mother shouting from the kitchen. Tobi playing football inside the house when he is not supposed to. Amanda is not the quiet type. She is bold. She talks fast. She laughs loud. She loves fashion, she loves music, and she loves to argue about everything. Her friends say she can turn a small thing into a big drama. But there is one thing Amanda hates. Reading. She hates books. She thinks books are slow. She thinks books are boring. She would rather watch a movie, or scroll on her phone, or go out with her friends, than sit down and read a book. "Books don't do anything," she always says. "They just sit there." Her mother always tells her, "Amanda, one day a book will change your life." Amanda always laughs. "Mummy, please. Let a book change its own life first." That morning started like every other morning. Amanda woke up late. Again. Her school uniform was on the chair, not ironed. Her braids were messy. Her phone was at 5%. "Amanda! You are late again!" her mother shouted from the kitchen, while she was making tea. "If you miss school today, I will seize your phone!" "I am coming, Mummy!" Amanda shouted back, while she was trying to wear one shoe and brush her teeth at the same time. Tobi was laughing at her. "Big sister is always late." "Shut up, Tobi," Amanda said, but she was smiling. On the way to school, Amanda was thinking about her normal life. Homework she did not do. A boy in her class she did not like. A new song she wanted to learn. She had no idea that this normal morning was her last normal morning. Because in her school library, on a dusty shelf in the back corner, there was a book waiting for her. A book that had been waiting for sixteen years. A book that knew her name. And by the end of today, Amanda would learn that books do not just sit there. Some books... swallow you.