#AtoZChallenge : Vellichor

It had been a few months in the new city, but she wasn’t comfortable. It still felt new, it was still unfamiliar. Though she’d always craved for the independence staying away from home provided, she missed the warmth of her home. Staying away from home hadn’t been all the good things that she had thought it would be. She felt lost in the city for she was a stranger to it.

Staying in her room and reading her a book would have been her way of spending the free time that she had. But there were often times when she was forced to go out for some fresh air, because even the room now seemed to her like a prison. She would walk with no destination in mind for it was all still new to her and without actually giving much thought to it, this became her way of exploring the city. Often she was surprised by what she had discovered. Ever so slowly the city had slowly begun to become a little familiar. It hadn’t been as comfortable as her home, but it had become more comfortable with each walk that she went on.

It was on one such walks, that had found a place of her liking. At the corner of the street, nestled amidst huge trees was a book shop. It seemed old and the sense of vellichor drew her towards it. As she entered it, she felt a sense of homecoming. Though the place seemed tiny, there were a lot of books- most of them old. There was something about old books that drew her to them over new, shiny and glossy ones. There was a charm in the ruffle of the old pages, in their yellowness and in the smell that only old books had.

She pulled out a book from the stack of books and sat down on the ground. As she opened the book, the delicate yellowing pages welcomed her and out dropped a tiny note in thin cursive handwriting – another thing that she had liked about old books. She kept aside the note for that was story to be thought of later because now the book welcomed her. She began to read and was lost in a world of her own. This felt like paradise, this felt like home.

I’m participating in the A to Z Challenge again this year. This is my third time participating in the challenge. I’m going with the theme of  “Rare, unusual and beautiful words from various languages”