The Paper Child (a short story)
Here is a story Gareth Parkes shared in another group and agreed for me to make a flip book of it. He had one image and the story text. It is a very creative story. I am posting his text and then the flip book I made. See how his story comes to life. The Paper Child A short story by Gareth Parkes The child crawled from the torn edge of the page. Not metaphorically. Not in some dream. Right there - graphite fingers gripping real air, pulling forward, eyes wide with a question the artist never intended to draw: "Will you keep me safe?" He dropped his pencil. Because this wasn't about art anymore. This was about every child who ever asked that question and got the wrong answer. Every small hand that reached out and found nothing. Every voice that called for help into a silence that swallowed them whole. The paper child didn't know about headlines. Didn't know about the crimes hidden behind closed doors, the warnings ignored, the predators protected by power and disbelief. This child only knew what every child knows: I am small. The world is big. I need you. The artist's hands shook. Not with fear. With fury. Because children-real ones, breathing ones, laughing and terrified and trusting - were out there right now, asking that same question. And too many adults were looking away. "Not you," he whispered to the drawing. "Not on my watch." He signed the corner. Not with his name, but with a vow: See the vulnerable. Speak for the silent. Protect the small before it's too late. The paper rippled beneath tiny fingers. Not from fear. From the recognition that one person paying attention changes everything. The question is not whether you can save every child. The question is: will you protect the one in front of you? Now... the flip book: https://designrr.page/?id=476792&token=384173193&type=FP&h=3350