Das seltsame Buch - Académie de Nancy-Metz

Deuxième prix en anglais, catégorie première : Imen El Abdani
What we see is not always reality
Everybody started to buy it, compulsively. -A crowd like this has never been seen, even during Black
Friday shopping frenzy!- A reporter was speaking next to the people in lines in front of the biggest
bookshop of the city – The army has taken action to keep things in order: nevertheless, it is still quite
difficult. Sorry, we have to disconnect now, the store has opened its doors and it’s impossible to
communicate!-
Then everybody started to walk into the bookshop by pushing, to go in faster, and the reporter was
compelled to interrupt the connection with the studio as he was pushed too.
Their gazes were gleaming as if they were hypnotized; Jamie couldn’t believe her eyes: what in the
world was happening? She joined the people in the queue to see for herself what the book that
everybody wanted to buy so fast was like. When she arrived, she noticed that the book department was
oddly bigger than the last time she had seen it, then she twitched and rushed to buy the book too, all of
a sudden; she came round only when she stepped out of the bookstore.
A tramp who was sitting in the street talked to her when she passed by him –I see that you are still
lucid to think with your own mind, you absolutely must not open that book, or better still if you throw it
into the river and don’t think about it anymore! Listen to me young girl, this is a conspiracy of the
government to dazzle people with a new chemical substance and establish a new world order: I was
working at the research center on this before and when they learnt that I disagreed with their
methods, they kicked me out and intimidated anyone who gave me a job, in order to turn me into a
beggar. “This way, nobody will believe you” they said… I informed various people but they didn’t listen to
me and now it’s too late to do anything! Hey, where are you going…. hey!-
The girl was scared and curious at the same time when she was running away. Once she arrived at home,
her brother was entering with that book in his hand too. Shocked, she said before any greeting -Did you
see the crowd for this book? Someone told me that it was a conspiracy created by politicians, it’s a sort
of hallucinogenic stuff that blinds people – He suddenly replied -Stop saying foolish things and come
here, we’ll read it together! The shop assistant said that the more people read it together, the funnier
it is, I like having fun! If only mum and dad were here… It would have been better! I can’t wait, let’s go
to the living room-
Her curiosity overwhelmed her and she followed her brother. When they reached the end, they
suddenly started to have spasms all over their bodies; Jamie at that time remembered the beggar’s
words: he had warned her about the book. Now it was too late.
When she woke up, she found herself without any top wear and what was more incredible was the fact
that she had grown… wings!
She looked at her brother and he had wings too! The situation was unbelievable: everybody who read
the book found themselves with a pair of butterfly wings. Little by little, the society started to adapt
to the new condition, whoever had beautiful colors and a particular style of wings was considered a part