Starting a book is like falling asleep

You lie down and close your eyes
You read the first page
Still painfully aware of the real world around you

The smallest thing may distract you and pull you from the edge of falling
Into sleep
Into the story

You wonder if the world will ever fall away

And then, when you aren't thinking about it anymore, when you thought it would never come

You're asleep
You're on page 137

And the real world is gone
For some amount of time

Until you jolt awake
Until you are pulled from the story

Fold back the covers
Fold down a worn corner

And reenter the world