"Don't believe every story your read about, dear," my elderly grandmother Mrs. Treat said. It was getting late. She tucked me under my pink comforter and kissed me on the forehead. And took my fairy tale storybook out of my hands. And sat beside the bed table, next to me. Finally, she turned off the night light.
I screamed, because it was dark everywhere in my room. Mrs. Treat then, quickly turned back on the lamp light. She saw how frightened I was about the stories we read in English class with our teacher, Mr. Glow.
Taking a look at the fairy tale book about secret goblins living in a treehouse from our school library, my grandmother looked at the title and read it out loud. "'Goblins Want to Be Your Best Friend'," she read. "'By Ned Believable'," she read the author's name on the book cover title.
"Goblins are real, grandma," I whispered, taking the storybook from my grandmother in her frail little hands. Taking the book from grandma, I looked at the breathtaking fantasy cover artwork of the new picture storybook for fourth grade reading level.
Grandma laughed. "You don't believe such creatures exist, do you child?" Mrs. Treat asked, fluffy my cotton white pillow under my head, to get me comfortable. "If they were alive and everybody could see them, we would all be afraid of them," grandma said. "Because they are make-believe creatures to pretend everything is what it seems to be," Mrs. Treat said, smiling.
Stroking a hand of hair out of my eyes, I smiled thoughtfully at my grandma. I couldn't stop looking at the cool cover art on the storybook I found in my school public library the other day. I pointed to the goofy-looking goblin holding a scepter and wearing a red crown with glowing purple jewels on his head. He wore a big scar on his right cheek.
"The leader of the goblin clan in Supernaturalville wants to prove they are real to everybody who needs to have a friend," I explained. "His name is King Of Everybody. And wants to get the young people to have goblins come into their lives to make them have a good time," I said.
My grandma laughed. "That's nice, dear," she said, kissing me on the forehead. "Get some sleep, Emma Heart," Mrs. Treat said. "Or I'll let the goblins come and take you away to their fairy kingdom to make you their permanent worker," Mrs. Treat explained.
Taking off my glasses, I put on top of the children's storybook. I couldn't take my eyes off the cover. "Remember, the only thing you have to believe in is yourself, child," Mrs. Treat said. "Once you get that through your head, you can do almost anything humanly possible," she said, smiling. And turned off my desk lamp.
"I follow you, grandma," I said, resting my head on my pillow in the darkness. "It's just a make-believe story. I just want you to know I believe in doing what's right from wrong. They're only stories, I get that, grandma. Love you," I said, snuggling under the covers of my comforter.
Grandma smiled in the darkness of my bedroom. She walked over and closed the draped window of the curtain in my bedroom. "You'll grow-up and forget about such childish stories and learn real life is just going to get harder if you don't believe in real life changes to get life going for you," Mrs. Treat said.
She stopped at my half-open bedroom door, and let in the hallway light. "Good night, Emma. I love you, sleep tight," she said. And closed the bedroom door. Leaving me in the darkness of my bedroom, alone in the cold fan turning on. I looked up at my empty ceiling as shadows danced around the walls of my bedroom.
I couldn't stop thinking about the goblin story I'm supposed to do a reading book report assignment for our English class this month with Mr. Glow. I didn't want to be the last person in my reading/English class to turn in the book report for my teacher. Because I couldn't put the storybook down.
I wanted to ask the librarian at my school, if I could have a copy of this fascinating children's scary fable book for myself? To have in my storybook collection. I wanted to read everything there was about ugly goblins with a bad attitude. Goblins are rude and annoying and have loud and obnoxious behavior.
If only I could explain to the grown-ups in my life. How important is it to learn about these fairy tale monsters who like to pretend they are real? only when they come out to make-believe in my imagination at night.
I never would get any of my friends to read the book I borrowed from the school library. They just laughed at me, because they thought it was funny. I liked to read children's literature for fun. If only Becka Sparkle and Genie Gloom from middle school understood why reading was an important thing to do. They didn't want to take the time to even bother looking at a beautiful book cover on the print edition of a paperback book that could grab my attention.
Understand the story and you can have the knowledge to prove what it means to have the power of a make-believe imagination to tell great fictional stories to go on for a lifetime. But my two best middle grade friends who were interested in shopping at the mall and gossiping about teenage boys.
I knew I wouldn't be able to regret how reading these fairy tale books meant to me. They opened a world of make-believe power beyond anything imaginable. I didn't want the stories to stop. Because if authors didn't use their gifted imagination to give their readers what they need to crave their mind with, there would be nothing to get excited about.
Suddenly, as I struggled to fall asleep. With the sound of a tree branch tapping nosily against my bedroom window, I thought I heard some voices coming from inside of my storybook I was reading.
Sitting up, I turned on my desk table lamp next to my bed. Grabbing my glasses, I grabbed hold of the storybook. And looked at the book cover again. I couldn't believe I was hearing voices! It was all in my head. They just didn't want to sleep. To keep me reading the storybook until I knew more than enough to understand it's all make-believe.
But if I wanted to prove to my friends there wasn't any real magic of believing in a world where anything was possible, then it wouldn't be make-believe. I knew something was going on in the Goblin Underworld Kingdom. Opening the storybook, the title page on the first page in the book, started to glow.
"Emma Heart," I heard the male voiceover say in my head, grabbing my attention. "You are about to take your imagination flight into a dark place. Where words are more powerful than you think than having a make-believe imagination. I want to make you a promise we will show how to believe in our Goblin Underworld Kingdom. Turn the page, now. Start reading about our world. It will take your mind out of the gutter. And into goblin territory…" the narrator male voiceover in my head trailed off.
I turned the page slowly in the storybook I was interested in reading about. When suddenly, my finger slipped on the side as I turned the page too quickly in the storybook. And got a little papercut!
Blood leaked from my forefinger. I sucked on my bloody finger. I grabbed some tissue from a tissue box on my table beside my bed. Blood dripped on the first page of the storybook. Blotching out words on the first page. Making it hard to read the words on the page of the book in my hand.
"No!" I tried dabbing the tissue paper in my hand over the bloody page storybook in my hand. My cut finger didn't stop bleeding from the papercut. It was making my finger sting from the cut. "This can't be good!" I cried.
I dropped the storybook out of my hand, and I dropped it out of my reach. And fell onto the carpet floor next to my bed. I didn't know how to stop the bleeding on my forefinger. It was just a silly little minor papercut. That wouldn't stop bleeding!
Then, before my very eyes at the foot of my bed…! Was the Goblin King Of Everybody before me! He wore a robe cape and threw his hands in the air, with his scepter glowing in his right arm, to grab my attention.
The next moment happened so suddenly. He snatched me out of the bed. Grabbed my storybook of "Goblins Want to Be Your Friend" off the floor. And crashed out of my bedroom into the darkness of the gloomy unknown night ahead of me…