Love LITerally: Brighter Than The Sun

This piece was a favourite among my friends, also one of the few pieces that stood the test of time (better than the rest in the portfolio). The writing is exactly as I submitted it back in 2015, save for some grammatical errors I corrected (now) in 2020. Enjoy!

Dear Diary,

What is life? The philosophical question everyone asks at some point. Some people live for themselves, others for family and friends, which leaves a tiny minority of people who live for love. These people have absolute faith that along the way, Life will be nice to them and give them love. Well, I don't believe that. To me, Life is just that way too smiley, way too bright, way too happy guy on everyone's pedestal. Ugh, simply annoying. I never understood why mothers cry tears of joy when they hear the newborn babies take in their first breaths. That's just him doing what he supposed to do, giving away a part of himself, making the world a happy place like his father taught him. l, on the other hand, free people from the earthly shackles of pain, depression and loneliness, all from the goodness of my heart. People ask for me all the time, and l, being the nice girl that I am, grant their wish. But do I get smiles, gratitude or happiness? Nope, just mourning, tears and gloom. How nice.

Those people who have life in them simply do not understand me. My friends are so much happier now after receiving my help, they just don't live to tell the tale. Life's dad gets all the glory down on earth, with churches and worshippers and everything. My dad just gets shunned by everyone unless they're too weak to resist. But I think my dad deserves it, being the irrational teenager he was when he turned into a snake back then. Anyway, back to my story, my dad always told me that I should hate Life. And I do, for the better part of my time, it's just that he seems so nice... Witnessing that glow around him when someone falls in love, I can't help but wonder if I could glow too. That would be a nice change from my usual dark and dreary self. Maybe, it's my teenage hormones, but I think my heart beats faster every time I see him glow. Except that every time I try to get close to him, he starts to get darker and darker, until I can't take seeing him like that anymore and just run away.

So much for fatal attraction. All I can do is sit and stare from afar while he does his job, giving himself away, bit by bit. I stare at him in all his glory, until it gets too bright and I have to shy away. I think about Life's selflessness, his smile, his handsome self and wonder why wasn’t I made like that? Why couldn't I bring people happiness just like him? I can be good too, can't l? I want to experience love! Why doesn't anybody love me? Sure, I can cause sorrow and devastation with a snap of my fingers, but everyone deserves a chance to be loved, right? Gosh, I think I'm beginning to sound lovesick. That's pathetic. Life can glow all he wants, but I probably won't be able to afford my dad's wrath if my heart goes soft. When I grow older, I am definitely going to find a way to beat Life at his own game. What can I say? I'm pretty sure nothing can glow brighter than the sun...

Yours truly,

Death

Reflection (I had to do back then about the piece)

A friend of mine once said that among students, the three most common themes of literature to

write about are love, life and death. So I decided to include all three themes into one story. This

story is a fictional representation of what goes on 'up there', not to be taken seriously. Sometimes,

people take life and death too seriously, after all, this is the reason for our very existence in the first place, right? But I wanted to depict the idea that there is a bigger picture to it, other than people

living their own lives on Earth. The story also incorporates the mood swings of a teenage girl, how

the admiration she has for someone can turn into hatred in a matter of seconds.

Cover image from here.