The Journal with a Mind

The Journal with a Mind

By Chase Willden

"A small and simple spark of light," declares Mayor Alexander, the mayor of this small hidden valley, while holding his top hat from blowing off. He continues, "can overcome even the darkest of all places." As Mayor Alexander concludes his declaration, small drops of rain starts to fill the village. Whispers breaks throughout the crowd while thunder explodes. Now the people are starting to get startled. The rain picks up, filling the wagon rivets with water. Thunder explodes again, startling the horses.

Mayor Alexander leaves the congregation of people, who were all dressed in black mourning over the death of Frederick Vilston, the grandfather of Jacob Vilston. Mayor Alexander walks over to Jacob, who is now hiding under the umbrella of his mother and says to him, "Your grandfather left you his journal, he was a good man." Mayor Alexander pulls out of his pocket a small, black leather journal. It has a small strap to hold the pages together. Jacob looks up and nods his head.

Mayor Alexander walks through the mud, trying not to get too wet and boards the carriage. The wind picks up and blows his top hat off of his head into a forming puddle. There's no reason to stop though, he's late.

Jacob opens the book, flips through the pages, and notices that they are all blank. Except, that is for one. there was one single line which reads, "7 Minutes." After he read it, the words faded away, almost as though it wasn't there before.

Two minutes pass when Jacob's and his mother approach their carriage. Three minutes pass when the horses start down the road. Then Jacob hears a faint bang from where he was, Jacob realizes that seven minutes had passed away and chills went throughout his body. Jacob pulls out his grandfathers journal and flips through the empty pages. Where are those words, Jacob thought, but they were nowhere to be found.

Creative Short Story