Writing is like a 'lust, or like 'scratching when you itch.' writing comes as a result of a very strong impulse, and when it does come, i for one must get it out.
C.S Lewis
The children shared gleeful laughter as they opened their presents. Each of them was holding a shoebox with unexpected gifts inside. After the old women took their photos, everyone went on their way and opened their boxes hurriedly.
"Oh, this is what I've been praying for since then, this is a beautiful doll!" a young girl giggled to everyone.
But everyone seemed so unbothered.
A little girl mumbled at the corner, "I hope this would be a beautiful doll or something I would enjoy. I would open this at home."
"Let's go, my dear, oh why are you not opening your presents?" her mom asked confusingly.
"I wanted to open this at home, the other kids were too loud, let's go now!"
They went home and the little girl couldn't stop smiling, hoping that it would be something beautiful and adorable.
"This is the perfect time to open my present, no one is here anymore," she uttered cheerfully.
She unwrapped the box cautiously with her little fingers, surprisingly she found a white envelope, socks, towels, and to her surprise a book.
"What! Others got beautiful dolls, cars, and toys. Oh God! This is so unfair!" she complained.
She was very disappointed because she thought she would get some new toys.
"Maybe there's money inside the envelope, oh my gosh perhaps the surprise is inside this envelope. Oh God, you're really great God!"
She was crossing her finger, she prayed a bit, hoping that she would get better than the other kids, wishing there would be a dollar bill. But as she removed the seal of the envelope, she found a letter and a picture.
"Oh, it's kinda sweet, maybe these old man and woman are husband and wife, oh they were the ones who gave this box? What a sweet message yet I couldn't understand what they mean. There's another one, wow, a book?"
Kate's Choice by Louisa May Alcott?
"How could I understand this, a classic book? This would be hard cause it's written in English, it would be better if this is written in Filipino, hays! Jesus, why my gifts are like these kasi? Anyways, happy birthday and thank you pa rin." she mumbled unwillingly.
She wasn't really grateful for what she received. She just put the book in one corner and left all the presents on the floor.
The little girl loves to watch television. Every morning she would go to the front of their television and watch cartoons and anime. Her favorites are Little Women, Daddy Long Legs, Madeline, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, though she's also watching different anime series because of her big brother hence she still prefers to watch different adventure stories of different ladies. She loves to read too but she gets tired of reading old bible comic books and magazines.
"Oh, I remember the book from the shoe box, where did I put it? Hmmmmm, let me try to read this!"
In one sitting she finished the book and she constantly read it almost every day until she understand the story very well.
"Louisa May Alcott is an author, a writer? What a great person, how could she write a beautiful story? Why it feels like she's with me, why she's like a friend? Why I could understand her words though she came from a different time and space? Is she the one in the photo? She looked so so gorgeous! A writer seems quiet and beautiful, oh what a nice job! She's alive pa kaya?" she uttered.
She looked out the window, stared at the moon and stars, smiled naturally at heaven's gate, and uttered some prayers. Then, she falls asleep.
If all people fall in love with writing and glimpse into the literary universe, they will see how beautiful to live: add a few lines, verses, and stanzas to add meaning to this cruel world. It's so hard not to read and not to write. It makes sense now; why I felt so weary, I felt so lost before because I silenced all the words, the joy and agony, the happiness and sadness, and my desires and longings - the stories inside my soul, and now I let this come out and just let it resonate in the spaces it needed to be. Now words miserably failed surely this would lead to infinite bliss after death.
Merrel Ya
