Today’s topic-free and we can post whatever we like. I decided to write a piece of fiction and also joining Three Word Wednesday. The three words are occur, ragged, tidy. I know the ending is a bit lame but somehow I couldn’t seem to write a different one. I hope you enjoy this little piece of fiction. I titled it “Finding Joy” but I am not sure of the title but it will do for now.

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Sofia’s eyes veered toward the boy just as she drove by. Her sneaker-clad foot pressed down on the brake firmly. She dashed out her car wearing a pink pajama top and white jogging pants. Her sneakers made a squeaky sound as she stopped in front of the boy.

The rain has left just a few moments ago. But it still clung to the pavements and the trees. His ragged, zebra-pattern pajamas caught a bit of rain but he was not soaked. He wore yellow rain boots over his pajama pants. The gentle wind swerved his curly gold hair about. He appeared too tidy to be without a home. Looking at him, at his long lashes and his clean skin, Sofia thought he might as well fell from the sky.

The boy sleeps as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. He was perhaps eight or nine. Sofia couldn’t believed her eyes. It was almost four in the morning and the road was clear of creatures of the night. If she wasn’t an insomniac, she might have never encountered him.

Looking down at the boy, Sofia wished she could be like him – asleep without a care in the world. She hasn’t had a good night sleep for almost a month now. She can’t even remember if she ever dreamt at all.

She searched around her for signs of life but there was no one. There was just her, the boy and her car. She checked her watch again – 4:10. She didn’t want trouble and she definitely didn’t want this kind of trouble. She wished she had stayed home. She looked at the boy again and without thinking, she picked him up and placed him in the back seat of her car. By the time she got to her house and laid him down on the couch, she didn’t have a chance to change her mind.

He didn’t wake, not even when construction work next door started in the early morning hour. Sofia checked to see if he was still breathing. She envied him – to sleep like that. She ran a hand  through his hair. It was soft, like cotton. She pulled the blanket higher to his chin. She wondered what it is like to be a mother.

By the time Sofia has to go to work, he was awake and sitting upright on the couch. Sofia didn’t know what to do. She has always been awkward around kids and now with this kid, she felt even more awkward. She offered him cereal but he didn’t know what that was. She decided to make him scrabbled eggs. He ate it with delight. He told her his name is David without being asked.

She didn’t want to leave him by himself and yet she couldn’t take him to work with her. What can she do? She called her boss and told him she needed to take a personal day. He reluctantly agreed but insisted that she works tomorrow.

All day, Sofia chased David around her house. It was the most fun she had in years. If her mother could see her, she would be speechless. Since last month, after Sofia turned thirty-five, her mother has been constantly nagging her about marriage and kids. But Sofia never quite know how to answer and so she always shrugged her mother’s word away. It was easier not to think about it.

Sofia instantly knew she wanted to have kids right at the moment when David looked at her with his adoring blue eyes. She drifted through the rest of the day in a dream-like state and wished David could be hers. How can such an idea occur to her? David can’t be hers. He has a family and she must return him to them. While David was napping, Sofia kneeled by the couch and watched.

A bright light appeared in front of her.  A woman all dressed in white and glowing like a candle materialized. Her gold hair descended down her back like waves of sunshine. Her large green eyes seemed to light up like the stars. Sofia jumped up and wrapped herself around David. She turned to the woman and then David, then to the woman. There’s something about the woman that was similar to David.

The woman introduced herself as the goddess of love, Areia. She is David’s mother and has come to take him home. Sofia turned to David and tears started to spill from her eyes. She knew David would leave her soon but it’s too soon. All day Sofia had wished David has no family and that he would stayed with her.  The goddess reassured her that Sofia will see him again some day. Sofia knew this to be true. She felt it even as Areia took David into her arms.

Areia then showed Sofia an image of a man with dark beard and blue eyes. “This is your true love,” Areia said. Sofia laughed. She did not believed her. It’s all an illusion she thought. Areia smiled gently and patted Sofia on the shoulder. Then she and David vanished.

Sofia laughed and laughed, thinking she must be dreaming. But how could she be dreaming when she can’t even sleep? She suddenly felt light-headed and could not keep her eyes open.

She didn’t know she has been sleeping until she woke up on the side of the road. A man with a dark beard and blue eyes lifted her off the ground. He seemed determined to help her get home. He told her his name is David. Sofia felt speechless. This man whom she was destined to be with, looked at her with his adoring eyes and she knew and finally realized she has found her joy.

3WW: occur, ragged, tidy

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Please visit Frances at my blog in which she is guesting for this week