"You'll spend your whole life alone if you keep living inside your books and never stick your nose out. Shut up and let me show you a world you've never even imagined." Her words sounded like a challenge.
I wanted to argue, but I knew she was right. Books had always been my refuge — a quiet place where nothing could hurt me. While the heroes I read about lived, fought, and changed their destinies, I stayed on the sidelines, watching from a safe distance.
For the first time, I wondered if my refuge had become a prison.
Her gaze was steady and free of judgment, and her words cut through every excuse I'd ever made. Maybe I'd been hiding from life because I was afraid of what I couldn't control.
That thought changed something in me. My story couldn't stay trapped on the pages of books forever. If I kept standing aside, I'd remain a spectator in my own life.
Still, I was annoyed. I didn't want her clothes, her world, or her attempts to change me. I only wanted to stay the person I had been before she appeared.
But it was too late. Her words were already stuck in my head, and I couldn't ignore them anymore.