Why do some people’s lives get stuck in limbo?
“Where is my baby!?” shrieked the hysterical mother as she opened her eyes with bewilderment and confusion. For all around her were an infinite number of books that formed the towering walls of a grand and ornate library. The glass dome ceiling stretched thousands of storeys into the sky.
Monkeys leapt playfully from gold chandeliers. Knights galloped valiantly through the hallways. And colossal 2D fountains sprung out from majestic pop-up books.
“Mrs. Martin! Please calm down!” scurried over an old mousey man. “My name is Theodore; the caretaker of the Interlude.”
“The Interlude?” questioned the frazzled woman as she scrunched up her face in confusion.
“Yes. It is the holding space for all characters in books that come to wait until the next chapter of their lives begin. The person who spoke you into existence, must have just finished the first chapter of their book. That is why you were here for the first time.”
As Theodore was debriefing Mrs. Martin, he carefully riffled through the shelves until he pulled out a large leather-bound book. He flipped to chapter 2 and then handed it to her.
“While you are in the Interlude, you have to read the next chapter of your story out loud. When you read the final word of the chapter, you will be instantly transported back into your story. You will live out exactly what you just read.”
But as Mrs. Martin read her next chapter out loud, she gasped in horror. For she discovered she was going to be in a terrible car accident with her newborn baby. But before she could read the last word, she stopped herself and slammed the book shut. She refused to go on and live out that reality.
Even though she saw countless princes gradually become kings, lovers become soul mates, and even hobbits become heroes, she was always transfixed in the same spot in the Interlude. For those who are stuck in limbo are usually the ones who need help accepting and embracing the next chapter of their lives.
