"One Last Story"

 My sister and I huddled around as my grandmother pulled a book from her shelf of many stories. The book was a dark green and leather bound with gold trimmings and lettering that seemed to glow as the light hit it.

My grandmother was a master storyteller and my sister and I were obsessed with each story she would tell. She once mentioned a challenge she had done many years ago. One where she attempted to collect a new story every day for an entire year! That must have been incredibly challenging. I can barely keep up with doing anything everyday for even a month. A year is insane.

She called her collection three hundred and sixty-five horror shorts. I think she even mentioned getting this collection published. However, she had issues getting ahold of the person, or people, who wrote the stories. They are apparently incredibly hard to reach. Sometimes seeming to disappear off the face of the earth for months. But this writer's works, though fewer now, were always exciting to read.

As she drew nearer, she sat down next to us on the couch. My sister and I sat on either side of her. We looked at the book in awe and excitement. The stories she told were always so interesting.

She flipped the book open and began to read.

"This is the story of a man named Zac. Zac sat at his desk and would type furiously, searching for the right words to place upon his page. A wordsmith of sorts. He never really thought much of himself as a writer, yet he enjoyed the stories he got to tell all the same. He knew that though his audience was small, there was still someone out there who still enjoyed his work. That was something that made things worth while for him.

"But every so often, these terrifying demons would enter his realm of calm and wreak havoc. They'd play tricks on his mind and destroy things he held dear. These demons battled more often than he'd like. They'd always creep in when he least expected and do their worst for the day. After a while, he grew used to them. He figured there wasn't much fear left in him. The monsters had taken it all.

"One day, the demons raged inside and reared their ugly green heads and demanded even more of Zac. They grew bored of their games and wanted to burn his soul. Zac was appalled at the demand. His soul was the only thing keeping him grounded. Keeping him safe from the demons doing any physical harm to him. But instead of outright refusing, he sat down at his desk and typed away furiously. He strung together words that would make even God himself weep. He poured everything he had into this story.

"When he had finished, he showed the power of his story to the demons and, to his surprise, the demon was so drawn in by the story that the demon was vanquished. It vanished. He was free. At least that's what he thought.

"The next day another demon would come to take the previous demon's place, continuing it's torment. Zac wasn't having it. He sat and wrote yet another story. And the same thing happened. The demon vanished after the story was done. Then the next day, the loop continued. Day after day, he would write with every bit of his soul burned into the words. The passion behind each story was enough to destroy any evil in it's wake.

"But after the endless days had passed, he'd found something extraordinary. The demons were no longer coming by. The times they would come by were even rarer. But when they did, he always knew what to do. He wrote and wrote again. But then, eventually the time came. The day he knew would come, where he knew his mission was finished. There were no more demons to fight. He had won.

"And so, every story he ever wrote were posted online. He'd hope that those stories would help people battle their own demons. Either by reading, or encouraging them to follow in his footsteps and writing with their entire heart and souls. And though his readers were few, he was proud of his work. And anyone who stumbled upon his work, he knew they would find the people they were meant to find.

"Zac left this last story with his final words: If you've been keeping up with my writing journey, I hope you've enjoyed they stories that I've had to share. Some may have been great and some not so much. But I hope this encourages you to go out and find a challenge of your own. One that makes you feel alive. Go out and do that thing that you enjoy. And never be afraid to fail. Because it's not always about the end result, it's the journey it takes to get there. So go out there and do that thing."

"Is that the end?" I asked, looking down at the book.

In response, she snapped the book shut. And with a grin, she turned to us. "It is. For now..."