Ninjago Shorts

Secret Journals

A few readers have been asking about this, and I am sure others have been wondering, so I wrote a short story about it-

Lily walks beside the bookshelves as they smile under the weight of the books. She reaches up and runs her fingertips across the spines of the paper and hardcover, small, medium, and large, and the variety of color and styles of the books. The water drop pendant on her silver bangle bracelet glitters in the light angling into the monastery library from the window. Her eyes, blue as water, skim over the titles, looking for something to read. She wears a silvery blue long sleeve shirt, jeans, and black combat boots. Strands of her short, choppy, pixie cut hair fall into her eyes and she blows them away.
She pauses as she steps on the loose floorboard. Lily looks down and smiles as she remembers the hours she and her twin brother, Logan, would spend time pretending that the loose board would transport them to different worlds when they stepped on it and made it squeak. Lily steps back so she can step on it again, but half of the board pops up and the nails roll across the floor, the other end still firmly nailed in place.
Then something catches her eye. There is an object hidden under the board.
Curiosity gets the best of her.
Kneeling down, Lily pulls out a leather journal. She opens to the front page and reads what is written there.

-To whoever finds my secret journals
You have found the hiding place of my journals, the documentaries of my life, the doors to the secrets I took with me to my grave, everything I have known. I ask you, please do not destroy these. My family deserves to have them.

The message is not signed, but Lily doesn't need a signature to know who wrote it. The beautifully swirling letters that are not cursive, says it all and bring tears to Lily's eyes. These are her mother's. And she has been dead for six years. She was the first to pass of the original ninja team.
Hopefully Lily looks under the board for more. The message said "journals" and "documentaries of my life." That means that there's got to be more.
She pulls out one after another. When a stack of seven has formed beside her, she pulls up the other end of the board, shedding light on many leather journals, some severly time worn, others only slightly, and the rest in between.
Lily pulls them all out from under the floor with gentle hands, her heart beating with happy sorrow at the thought that her mother's hands where that last to touch these books. She counts them all, 46 in all. She arranges them in stacks of ten, that last one only six journals, left to right and top to bottom, oldest to newest based on the condition of the leather covers.
With timid fingers, she opens the first book and gasps. The words are written in blood, faded by time. The first 31 are all written in blood. All violently scribbled onto the pages. Every word depicting blood, death, murder, terror, and the race of joy for killing.
Lily snaps them closed, breathing hard. She pulls out the 32nd journal and her nerves ease. The swirling letters are there again. She reads,

I finally am starting to feel like part of the team. I know I probably should be going my own way,but I like it here with these five ninjas. And I think I may be developing feelings for one of them...

She skips ahead, at random choosing pages and reading adventures, secrets, opinions, worries and fears, and learning a side of her mother that she never knew was there. And loving her even more for it.
In the middle of the 35th journal she reads,

I still have butterflies flapping around in my stomach. I can't believe he asked me. Me of all people. To marry him. I love him dearly and can't imagine my life without him, but I can't get over the fact that he wants me, despite my past. But I know one thing is for sure. I will never regret saying yes.

Lily feels as if she has her own butterflies. She reads about the small wedding, remembering the old photos. Then the adventures begin again.
She reads about a little girl named Lucy, wise and strong beyond her years, who saved her mother's life before disappearing forever to a place called the Spirit Realm.