Theme 2

Theme 2

Ambling through the mall on our first date, we found ourselves drawn to the bookstore. It was your typical Borders, back before they went out of business.  The store was virtually silent, relieving us of the need to fill in conversation gaps with small talk. We wandered through, pointing out notable works to each other (Twilight? Are you kidding me? Who is ever going to read this horseshit?) We found our way to the Religion section. Lacking any witty retorts about St. Augustus’ Confessions, we began exploring what this remote corner had to offer. And that was how we found it.

There, wedged between C.S. Lewis and Oscar W. McConkie, sat sex-addict Russell Brand’s controversial My Booky Wook. After a shared chuckle, we sat in the aisle and began plumbing the book for juicy tidbits. We read choice selections to each other, growing more at ease with each salacious sentence. By the end of chapter six, the anxious stirrings of a first date had ceased. We bought the book and left Borders, hands clasped, inseparable.

 Fast-forward two years.  She is gone, and she has taken the Booky Wook with her. She left school overnight, and nobody seems to know why. After the initial pain and shock of being abandoned, I moved on. It’s been over a year. College is fine, but life lacks that luster that it had when she was there. The days bleed together in a vast grey haze.

And then, walking home from Microeconomics, I decide to check the post office. I haven't checked it for weeks, and it's been at least a week since the new GQ issue came out.

No GQ in my mailbox, but there is an envelope. No return address. I open the envelope with caution. I knew what would be inside.

Chapter 6.