THE DUKERIES ACADEMY, 2022
Is it thinking of you immediately after waking up?
Is it thinking of you right before drifting to sleep?
I don’t know what that is.
When I go to sleep, I think of that book resting beside me.
I think of the character I relate to most.
I think of my favourite quote from the chapter I just read.
I think of my favourite character, who I wish were real, so I could talk to them – laugh with them, and
I think of how I know them better than I know myself… I don’t think of you.
No, I think of the characters that are there for me when no one else is.
I think of the books on the bookshelf that I haven’t read yet, and how my body relaxes when I crack one open.
Or the fact that I would rather cuddle with a book than with a person.
The fact that I keep myself alive for the unread books sitting on my desk, and the books that will be released in a week or in a month or in a year’s time that just may end up being my new favourite.
I don’t think of a person when I wake up in the morning and I don’t think of a person when I go to sleep at night.
No… I think of the characters I have fallen in love with.
You don’t even appear on the index page.
