Hello,dear readers.I'm Yoona, the author of the book "Sally's Story". Many of you may not know me before, so , let me give a self-introduction first. I'm from Tongreng, Guizhou Province, a place where is beautiful. In my daily life, I would like to doing exercises, such as riding a bike or go to the gym. I think it is a good habit, which will make me healthier.
Some of you may curious about why I wrote this book. Actually, Sally is the girl that I want to be in real life. I put my expectations and good wishs on her, hoping that she can live a woderful life in the book world. I want to live in a peaceful village, live as a librarian with comfortable life. So is Sally. In my life, I am shy when meeting strangers and afraid of trying new things even though I want to try it, because I am frightened of making mistakes. But in this book, Sally is not a girl like me. She is brave enough to fight against evil power and save villagers. No matter how difficult, how dangerous the situations are, she never goes back, and just challenges them with her friends. I wish I could be her one day, brave enough to do some challenging things, and solve these problems in a proper way.
All in all, the book is not just a wrinting task to me, but also a place where I put my expectations.
Chapter 1: A Normal Village
This story happened in a small and normal village, Willowdale Village. A girl named Sally was a librarian in this village. Because living far from her family, Sally's mother often called her to encourage and comfort her. The library where Sally worked was small, filled with books of all kinds, such as mysteries, romances, history, and even some old volumes that no one seemed to read.
Everyday morning, Sally went up early to go to work.And she would stay in the library for more than eight hours. Alhough this work seemed a little boring and tiring, Sally still loved it because she could read many books when she was free. Sally’s daily routine was simple. She would clean the shelves, help villagers find books, and read books during the lunch time by the window. The villagers were kind. Mrs. Henderson, the baker, would often bring her a warm muffin. Mr. Thompson, the blacksmith, would wave to her when he passed by the library on his way to the forge. To Sally, Willowdale Village was a place where nothing exciting ever happened, and she was content with that.
One day, when Sally put books in order as usual, an old book fell down from the top of the bookshelf. Sally never saw it before. The book was small, with a blue cover that looked old but not dirty. There was no title on the cover, just a strange symbol that looked like a combination of some creatures.
Curious, Sally picked the book. It was lighter than she expected. She brushed the dust off and opened it. The pages were yellowed, but the handwriting inside was neat. It wasn’t in English, Chinese or any language she knew. The symbols were intricate, almost like a mix of drawings and letters. She flipped through the pages, confused but excited. There were no pictures, just page after page of these strange symbols.Suddenly, Sally fainted. When she woke up,it was one hour later. Sally felt confused and could hear many voices from far away, but she just thought it's because of her fully sleep.
She tried to recall if any new books had been added to the library recently, but she couldn’t remember. The library’s records were kept on a table, and she decided to check it later. For now, she sat down at her desk with the book, turning the pages slowly. When she did it, she felt a strange sensation. She shook her head, thinking it was just her fantasy.
When closing time came, Sally hesitated. She wanted to take the book home to knowbmore about it, but the library’s rules said that books couldn’t be taken from the back section without proper permission. She looked around to make sure no one was watching, then put the book into her bag. She would bring it back tomorrow, she told to herself, after just one night of trying to figure out what it was.
That evening, when she had dinner in her small house in a corner of the village, she took the book out again. The symbols seemed to glow in the light. She tried to copy it on papers, but once her pencil touched the paper, the symbol seemed to change shape. She dropped the pencil. When she looked back at the book, the symbol was back to normal.
Sally’s heart began to beat. She had always thought Willowdale Village was normal and simple, but now, holding this mysterious book, she wondered if there was not just a village. She spent the rest of the night staring at the book, too curious to sleep, too nervous to look away.
She didn't know that this secret book was the first step into a world of mysteries that would change her normal life forever.
Chapter 2: Secret Power
The next morning, Sally woke up with the mysterious book. The blue cover seemed to be a little more light as if it had a heartbeat of its own. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes, and opened the book again. The strange symbols on the pages were clearer than yesterday, almost as if they were speaking to her.
As a librarian, Sally had always loved reading, but this was different. She placed the book on her kitchen table and began to focus on one of the symbols with her finger. Suddenly, a warm sensation spread from her fingertip through her entire body. She pulled her hand back, staring at the symbol in shock. It had glowed for one second, then returned to its normal.
“Was it… real?” she whispered to herself. She took a deep breath and reached out again, this time pressing her hands flat against the page. The little sensation was stronger now, like an insect walking on her skin. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, she could swear she heard a soft sound coming from the book.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed something odd. A small plant on her windowsill, which had died for days, suddenly lived. Its leaves turned a vibrant green, and a tiny bud bloomed into a beautiful white flower. Sally was shocked. She had done nothing but touch the book and think about wanting the plant to live.Could the book have granted her that wish?
She spent the entire morning experimenting. She traced a symbol and thought about the half-eaten muffin on her plate, hoping it would taste fresher. When she took a bite, it was as if she’d just pulled it from Mrs. Henderson’s oven. She traced another symbol and imagined the sunlight streaming into her house.Instantly, the room brightened, even though the sky outside was grey.
“This is impossible,” Sally said, but the evidence was in front of her. The book was giving her power,the power over small things. She tried to recall what she knew about magic or ancient artifacts, but her mind drew a blank. Willowdale had never had any remote thing like this.
That afternoon, she went to work at the library, with the book in her bag. Her hands were shaky as she unlocked the door, and the familiar bell seemed to ring louder than usual. Mrs. Henderson came in, carrying fresh muffins.
“Morning, Sally!” she said, setting a muffin on the desk. “You look a bit unwell. Everything okay?”
Sally smiled to her. “Just a little tired, Mrs. Henderson. Thanks for your muffin.”
When Mrs. Henderson browsed the new romance section, Sally’s eyes darted to the back corner where she’d found the book. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her, or that the book was calling her. She took a deep breath and focused on her tasks, but even so, she’d catch a sense of something strange.
Once, as she was shelving a book on local history, she thought she saw a black thing move across the floor, but when she turned back, there was nothing there. Another time, wind seemed to blow through the library, even though all the windows were shut. She tumbled, realizing that these weren’t just her imagination,and they were the “abnormal things” the book’s outline had mentioned.
During her lunch break, she went to the back room with the book. She traced a symbol and thought about Mr. Thompson, hoping he’d have a quiet day at the forge. Just then, the bell above the library door rang. It was Mr. Thompson, looking harried.
“Sally, you won’t believe it,” he said with a surprise. “My forge was in wrong all morning, but just now, everything went back to normal. It’s like a miracle!”
Sally’s heart beating. Had she done that? She smiled to Mr. Thompson. “Glad to hear it, Mr. Thompson. Do you want to check out a book on history? It might give you some ideas.”
As the day went on, more strange things happened. A child’s lost cat appeared at the library door. A villager who’d been complaining about a cough suddenly felt better. Each time, Sally had been tracing a symbol in her pocket, hoping for a positive outcome.
By the time she closed the library that evening, Sally was excited. The book’s power was real, and it was growing. But with great power came great responsibility, and great danger. She knew she couldn’t tell anyone about the book. Willowdale was a normal village, and its people might not understand.
That night, as she sat in her cottage, with the book open on her lap, she noticed something new. One of the symbols had changed. It now looked like the strange bird-tree symbol from the cover, and it was glowing brightly. Below it, a new symbol was slowly forming, as if the book was writing itself.
Sally realized that her life would never be normal again. The secret power had chosen her, and whatever came next, she would have to face it—alone, or with the help of a mystery she was only just beginning to unravel. The abnormal things in Willowdale were just the start, and she had a feeling that the worst was yet to come.
