Kentucky Stories of Loss
The Black Water
I collected every book I had ever read for an English class. Gathering Blue, Night, The Lightning Thief. They were like keepsakes to me. They reminded me of my favorite teachers, some who have passed and some who have left the state. When I opened the container my books were kept in, they were drenched in black water. Probably from the ink getting wet. There was one that had been my favorite in middle school; the last book in the Percy Jackson series. I had loved it so much and read it so often that I had put off returning it for years. When I realized I could not save it, I felt guilty that I hadn’t returned it. One day, as I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw that the library the book came from had also been flooded. I wish there was something I could do to replace everyone’s books.