Inky tentacles
Reach out of the book
Searching blindly
Until they find me.

My face hovering above the pages
Spell-bound by the lilting voice of a fictional character
And the world that I can never be a part of.

Harsh words melt
In the fictitious sun
And worries blow away
Thoughts on a wind in a different dimension.

They reach out,
Those strings of alliteration
The descriptions of beautiful places
The characters' internal struggles
Forming into tendrils of words and ink that stroke my face softly,
Then jab into my heart.

I am held captive till the very last page.