Author Archives: lissa

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

Today’s topic is “Things to do before the year is out.” There are only a few things that I would like to finish before 2010. I don’t like to set goals, make plans or resolutions. I think it just adds pressure to rush to the finish line. I was a late starter. Even when I start projects early, I always seem to barely make the deadline. Sometimes I even miss the deadline and has to make up for it. When I think of all those unfinished projects, I wonder if I should have started them at all. But if I don’t start, how would I know if I want to finish? Below is just a few things that I would like to finish but I’m not sure if I need to finish before the end of the year.

Finish reading all those books that I brought but didn’t read
I have a long list of to-read books but somehow reading hasn’t been in my schedule.  I barely finish one chapter and somehow I get distracted to do other things. I would especially like to read those photography books that I keep meaning to read. Perhaps it would be easier if I stop buying books.

Learn to really use my SLR camera - which I think it will be a life-long goal
I’ve been using my point and shoot and somehow never got around to really using my Nikon SLR camera. I had it for a couple of years now but still haven’t quite got around to learning how to use all the buttons and settings.  I have taken a couple of really great photos with it. But that’s about it.

Finish at least one of the novel that I started writing
I would definitely like to finish one or two novels that I started. It’s always a challenge and a chase to the finish line. Even if I don’t finish, I can at least, get the story out. I might do this in November so I can participate in NaNoWriMo.

I wish there were more but I’m was never a planner and I can never quite see the future like other people. Whenever people ask how I see myself in five years, I never could come up with any answer. I suppose if there’s any new things coming my way, I couldn’t escape it.

Anyway, I decided to post a piece of fiction entitled, Solace. It is part of a novel that I worked on during NaNoWriMo in 2008. Even though I finished the story, I never got around to do any editing. But I’ve always like this part and so I thought I posted here.
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Solace

Grace woke up in the middle of the night, sitting in bed in the darkness. Her mind grew blank, unsure why she woke up. She wandered to the kitchen, yearning for tea but as she listened to the water pouring into the kettle, she stopped. She didn’t want tea after all. She left the kettle on the burner.

She sat herself down on one of the wooden chairs and just stared at the moonlight dancing on the shiny, mahogany kitchen table.  Her mind drifted off to uncharacteristic thoughts of sailing the sea. She couldn’t fathomed the reason why that came to her. Only that it was their favorite past time. He often took her on his small boat but she was always afraid of falling into the water and drowning without any one to rescue her.

The moon drifted away as the morning sun lighted up the kitchen. She sat there unmoving, wondering why she hasn’t gone back to bed. The sun fell on her, heating the back of her neck. She had been motionless for a while now still dressed in her pink nightgown.  When she started to move her legs, she realized she had developed a cramp. She looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall which had stopped at midnight.

It was the exact time that Aaron had left her. Right in between the big hand and the small hand while she slept silently dreaming of their future.  He packed his belongings in a duffle bag and instead of taking the truck, he had called for a taxi. He took it straight to the airport all the way to meet his mistress. All the while never once looking back. She had waken to the hallow sound of her beating heart. She knew even before she awakes, he had left. For someone older, more mature than she. It seem so ironic to her since he always prided on marrying someone so young as her.

All he left was a folded piece of paper, ripped from one of her date books, with “I’m sorry” written in his scrawny script. He didn’t even gave a reason or signed his full name. Instead it was just the letter “A” at the bottom almost looking like an “O.”  She crawled back into bed then, unable to cope with his leaving. That was two months ago. She still sleeps on her left side, unable to move any closer to the center of the bed.

Judging by the shadows on the table created by the sun now, she can tell it wasn’t lunch time yet.  She reminded herself many times to buy a new clock but she always forgets. So it always stopped working now and then. She couldn’t remember why she woke up so soon or why she still sit there with her legs cramping up, now with pins and needle shooting up and down.

Perhaps it was nothing, she thought as she got up to get dress. Sunday was always the easiest for her. She can be lazy and it would be justifiable to her and anyone who care to know.

In the closet mirror, she discovered a small streaks of white hair on top of her head. How had that happened?  Wasn’t it just yesterday she was still a brunette and just a week ago celebrated her twenty second birthday?  Yet, she could not easily dismiss it as she would like before. She slowly combed out her hair, blending the white with the dark.  She was certain stress had caused it. Or maybe she got old without her knowing. She set the comb on the dresser and went about her day as usual.
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Please visit Frances at my blog in which she is guesting for this week