There once was a boy who liked spoiled endings. It didn’t matter the content, it didn’t matter the story, but the boy enjoyed knowing how the story ended. Never once did he want to realize the wonders of the journey, he only wanted to know if the protagonist, the hero, the villain, or the antagonist “won” or “lost” in the end. Stories became a compilation of endings instead of the hardships and the glories of growing.
One fateful day, the librarian of the library that the boy would visit, noticed what the boy had been doing, and decided that she needed to take out “that” book.
The boy was doing his usual thing, visiting a new section of the library and spoiling the endings of each book. Learning nothing, but simply whether or not this or that happened.
A shiny book was glinting on a side of the shelf and caught the boy’s interest. He’d never seen such an interesting cover, and thought to himself that he must see the ending of this book.
The librarian smiled from far away and knew that the boy had finally found “that” book. With that in mind, she went on away doing her work and cataloging as usual.
The boy opened the book starting at the end, expecting to see words that would appease his curiosity.
Eagerness was apparent on the young boy’s face as the pages turned…but where were the words?
The lad was surprised, there was no ending. There weren’t even words at the end. Did the author just not write the story?
The boy decided that if he must see the ending, he may as well see what happens in the beginning. Thus, the boy turned to the first page of the book.
Out of the entire book, the first page was the only one with words. The boy was excited, he thought, At least I’ll get to know what this book is about.
With that, he read the first page.
There once was a boy who met a dragon.
Intriguing. The boy thought to himself.
The boy continued to read, not realizing that the pages were being filled with words as he was absorbed in turning each page, more interested in each adventure the boy had with the dragon.
Eventually, the boy reached the end of the story, and realized that the book had reached the last page.
The boy was extremely bewildered, as he had reached the end of the book, but he knew that the story was not over yet.
Out of curiosity, the boy asked the librarian if there was a sequel to the book.
The librarian smiled and took the boy’s hands and delightfully told him,
“My dear, real stories never have endings.”
The boy realized what the librarian meant at that moment.
Stories exist for the adventures and experiences whether they are real or not, the ending doesn’t matter if you never experience it together.
