Delusional Happiness

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"Momy, Dady, look what I found."

Tina showed a 1 peso coin with so much excitement.

"You look so happy," I said.

"What are you going to do with that?"

My wife asked our daughter with a smile.

"No," she shook her head.

"I'm going to save it. I will buy a house if I will find many of these."

I hugged my daughter as I looked into my wife. I hid my tears from my daughter and said.

"My little girl is so nice. Don't worry, Daddy will be the one to buy for you."

I hugged her tightly and kissed her head. It has been a month since we have been living under the bridge after our house was destroyed by the typhoon. The flood washed out our house and there's no house we can shelter because all of us are experiencing the same.

"Okay, let's eat."

My wife interrupted the cold vibe that surrounds us.

"A rice porridge again Mom?"

My poor daughter asked and my wife just smiled.

"Don't worry little girl. It will make you grow fast and you can earn a peso coin fast."

I said diverse words to make my daughter love the food.

Luckily, our daughter listened and ate without hesitation. My daughter is kind because she always thinks about us. She doesn't want us to let our tears fall. She forced us to smile despite the hardships in life.

Even in the state of poverty. We still managed to make ourselves happy. We are not forcing it but we just want to have a positive insight into life. We thought nothing would change if we kept worrying. Instead of crying, we decided to have a cheerful way of facing life.

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"Father--- Father---," I can hear my daughter calling me.

"Tina," I replied.

I couldn't find her no matter how desperately I searched for her.

"TINA----!" I shouted because I thought this wasn't right.

I cried when it took so much time that I couldn't find her.

"Love, where are you?"

I called my wife because the surrounding was covered with darkness.

"What's going on?"

I feel like I can't breathe. I'm catching my breath because of the faster heartbeat. I began to be afraid and worried about what's going on now. I feel like I don't understand anymore.

"Jay----Jay----"

I woke up with such a strong heartbeat.

"What happened to you?" My friend Joshua asked me.

"Nothing," I stood up and left my friend.

I was just dreaming. Years passed already since my mother and daughter died because of an illness. It happened during the time our place was being called a state of calamity. A lot of people died because the air became polluted. I survived because perhaps I have a strong immune system. My two beautiful girl didn't make it.

"I miss them so much."

I said it with a low tone voice while the tears began to pour. I still can't accept that they were now gone. If I'm not dreaming, they came into my imagination about how happy we were back then. People think I'm stupid laughing or smiling alone. I never cared because in that world that never exists I saw them. I can touch them and I can feel them. Sometimes I just wanted to live in that imagination because reality just gives me pain. I wanted to keep on dreaming and never wake up where my happiness is there.

END...

mrnightmare



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8 comments
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This is a sad and touching story @mrnightmare.net. We can feel the sorrow of the father, and we mourn for the deceased because you introduced them to us. A time, of calamity. The strong survive and the weak do not, but survival is a heavy price when those you love are lost.

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Thank you and for reminding me as well.

A fiction story that can be seen in the real one is very painful. We never know who they are but we know it's happening.

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Hello @mrnightmare.net,

I remember when my son was a toddler he did something much like the young child does in the story. My sister was looking for an apartment and my son offered her his piggy bank full of small change. Your story rings true to me. I found the characters convincing.

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Your son was so sweet. It's not easy to find those young ones who understands the hardships in life.

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It is a story about poverty and absence, but it leaves a positive message encapsulated in a description of sadness:

I still can't accept that they were now gone. If I'm not dreaming, they came into my imagination about how happy we were back then.

The possibility of acceptance looms and the lesson of fully identifying happy moments and enjoying them remains.

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True because happiness can never be erased. It's meant to remember even though it hurts you. Time will never be back but there are lessons that we need to know.

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Reading the story, i felt it was real. So touching and sad. His happiness is the memories of his daughter and wife or being in a dream world with them.

Beautiful story❤❤👌🏻

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I enjoyed this story, @mrnightmare.net, even though it is very sad. The fact that your main character can see and experience his loved ones as if he has not lost them makes it a bit less tragic... at least when he's not having a bad dream.

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