Thanksgiving

So, it's finally Thanksgiving, Have a great one everyone, and remember, this is the only chance you can stuff urself to death with food without having to give any excuses :)

A saga

So I'm in the process of writing a new saga, I'm thinking of naming it "Evil Saga" but not sure yet, anyway I'm really busy with college and stuff right now so it's coming along pretty slowly, but no doubt it'll be on here soon in around 2 months ^^

Cactus Rose

The rain is pouring down...heavily; cover the world in its sadness…as it cries.
“Zip it!!! Will you just shut up? Gosh! I’m tired of hearing your freaking stupid song for hours and hours!!!”
“But...”
“What? Just zip it, OK? Gosh! It’s already bad enough to have to take you to school on my beautiful bike, now I have to listen to your “pretty little” song for hours. How worse could it be?”
“…”
Stupid! What a stupid freaking unlucky day. His bike got broken and I am the one who have to get him to school. Man! It’s raining like crazy, and I have to go a lot farther thanks to that spoiled brat. There goes my uniform, and my stylish hair, how will everyone think of me when I step into the classroom looking like a beggar that was ragged on the street, my friends will definitely laugh at me. Gosh! And it’s your entire fault.
How can everyone say we are identical twin, and we even have the same name, Khoi, which literally mean handsome and talented!!! Right at the time we both were born into this world, there is already a separate between me and him. He, my younger brother, had a mental problem in which if I’m right, is mental retarded. He has difficult time learning like normal person. It’s so easy to recognize one from another - a handsome, intelligent, talented me and a stupid, ugly, retarded HIM.
I hate him; hate him since I start to recognize the differences between us. I feel embarrassed around him, I feel hatred when I look into his face, I wish he had never existed, never been born into this world, an ugly copy of me!
He always follows me around since we were young, and that really irritate me. Sometimes, I just kick him out of the way and yell at him with whatever bad and horrible words that I can find. At that time, he just remains silent and walks away quietly. Who knows what he is thinking in his mind. Well, I don’t care about it anyway. What a retarded!!!
And guess what?! On my birthday, well, OUR birthday, he gave me a cactus, loveless and ugly like him.
“Someday, it will bloom a really really beautiful flower….”
“What? Are you kidding?! Gosh!! Yeah, like it will actually “bloom”…..”
What a laugh! I don’t care about that stupid ugly plant. Why didn’t he give me some new game discs?! Didn’t he know that “Devil May Cry” is already out? Gosh! Or some new clothes, I’m running out of them right now and the next talent show in my school is coming up.
I have always wondered “Are we really from the same egg?” There is too big of a gap between me and him. And I have never felt like he is my brother, my identical twin. Look at my friend’s brothers and sisters, how cute they are, how delighted they are, why I don’t have any brother or sister like that instead of this stupid walking “chunk of meat”. I’m sick of him, sick of his way of following me everywhere, sick of his ugly voice….Why does something like “that” can even be born onto this world, and why does it have to be me to suffer this?!
It’s raining…….heavily, lay a gray curtain on the world.
I look back at Khoi with a look of threatening, order him not to sing again. Suddenly, I see his eyes, staring at me fearfully; rain is racing down his face…or is it tears…
Suddenly, lightning comes down from the sky, giving a loud and unpleasant noise. Brilliant flashes of light goes by, as quickly and cruel as its sound. Horn howling, people chattering…In a split second, I see me and my bike fly up high in the sky… 
Blacker and blacker…everything turns…blacker and blacker, and empty, and painful, and…warm, strangely warm.
Darkness…, I can’t see anything but darkness…, where is all the chattering… why I can’t hear anything…, so quiet…
From somewhere, the wind comes by; gently lift me up…higher and higher…
Suddenly, I see myself; quietly walk into the darkness…I see myself looking back at me…
…Wait!!! That’s not me, or is it?! I see my eyes…my brother’s eyes…cover in tears…the same as that morning…
He‘s still looking at me…Is he trying to say good bye? Am I already dead? I feel the seed of pain growing in my heart, stinging me with its vine…Is that the feeling of dead…
I look back at him…He is still standing there, crying…why am I the one who have to suffer this? Why isn’t it you, you spoiled brat? Why?! I kneel down on my knee…burst into tears…I want to see my parents, I want to say good bye to them…I want to finish my school, to make my dreams come true…I want to live…to live…
“Khoi, are you OK? Can you hear me? Answer me….Khoi!”
It’s just a dream, oh!!! Thanks God…It’s just a nightmare…Everything will be just fine…Oh!! It’s noon already? Where is that brat? He said he is going to wait for me to get him to school on my bike…What a shame, he’s always late, I wonder when he will grow up…Dare to let me wait…Someone is going to be yelled at…Wait for that…
Arghh…another headache…I’m sure not a morning person…Gosh!!! What did I do yesterday; my eyes are so heavy…Can’t believe I’m using all of my power just to open my eyes…
But wait…why is Mom crying…where am I? This is not my room…And why am I wearing these…weird…things…all over my body...Wait!!!…Am I in a hospital?!... What happen to me?!....Where is my brother?
My mom is still crying….Is she trying to say something to me???
“Mom! Where am I? What happen? Where is my brother?
“Khoi! Your brother…because of saving you…in the accident…”
Heavier and heavier…the rain is coming down…heavier and heavier…color the world in black and white…

I see I’m running, and running…..under the rain is falling…..
I see a room cover in white, I see my dad crying…..
Why is everything so blurry and dizzy…..Are they my feelings???
Out side it’s raining…..Howl the lightning……

I see him lying there on the bed, so white…..
“We tried our best….” Said the doctor, “….his body is crushed under the car, there is nothing else we can do….”And there he goes, walking out of the room, hastily….
I fall on the ground…is that really him, lying there….in red and white…..
I can’t believe that….I dare not to believe that…that is me, that is my face, my body….my brother….trying to breathe…..heavily

Somewhere in the wind, I heard his voice….singing, singing…..
I see myself pushing him off every time he tries to touch my new clothes….
I see myself throwing the cactus away, laughing…..
He is so different…..
I see him picking up the cactus; giving it his protection…..
I see him writing a song for me with his limited words……
I see him saving money to buy me a birthday present……

Why don’t you sing, my little brother, why don’t you?!?
I know you love to, and so do I……
Please just let me hear your voice, once…just once…
Please, strengthen him my Lord!! Don’t let him lose…

I hold his hand and hug his red body, rub my nose with his…
So warm, strangely warm, is this feeling people call love…
Wake up, my brother, talk to me, sing…
Remember what you want for Christmas…We already have a list…

And a miracle happens; Khoi tries to open his mouth to tell me something. He sees me, he smiles…and starts to gather all his strength…and sing…weakly…
I smile…and cry…I dare not to look at his face…I dare not to believe that…Please tells me this is just a dream…a bad dream!!!

It’s still raining…heavily…
I heard the birds singing at dawn, waking up the forest…
I heard the waves tapping on the sand, singing the sailor’s hymn…
I heard the wind touching every single flower on the prairie…
I heard the lonesome sad…of this sky…as it cries…
I heard my brother singing…smaller and smaller…

Somewhere…outside the window…there sits a small plant…
Ugly and thorny and loveless…
Within it grows a small rose…
Beautiful and lovely and glorious…


LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen

The adventure of a little mouse

Once upon a time, there was a little mouse
Who lives with his parents in a little red house.
Underground.

His dad loves him, his mom loves him, they all love him so much that
The little mouse doesn’t have to do any house chores, even pick up his own trash.
Mom does it all, 
All he does is eat, sleep and play around.

And time goes by, 
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, days and nights.

The little mouse gets bigger and bigger,
And the house seems smaller and smaller.

Soon, playing around the house is boring,
He needs something new to do, to play, to have fun with, something exciting.

Read books? Boring.
Play dolls? No, it’s girl’s thing.
Travel around the world? Hmm…Sounds Interesting.

But Dad always says the world outside is dangerous.
Going out there alone is too adventurous.

For a little mouse with the size of a pea,
Yes, just as little as you and me.

But the little mouse ignores his dad’s advice
He is so bored with his toys already, even the little kite
That never flies

In the little red house
Underground.

He sets up his mind
To sneak out and have some fun outside.

So, one day, when his parents are at work,
He packs up some food, some clothes and put on his lucky shirt.

Through the little door, he goes.
Up and up the stairs, he goes.
Father and father from the house, he goes.

Finally, he reaches the ground
His eyes are fill with light, and his ears are fill with sound.

The birds are singing, the wind is blowing,
The trees and flowers are dancing, the sun is shining.

The clouds are floating up high in the blue sky,
“What could be dangerous in this world outside?”
He laughs.

“I am going to have a lot of fun” He thinks.
And off the way he goes as he sings.

Just a moment later, he sees the most beautiful thing in his life
A white flower, no, a lot of white flowers under the sun shine.

One, he picks, two, he picks, three,
Soon he already has all the flowers from the tree.

“Oh! How beautiful they are” He praises
“They will look really good in my mom’s vases.”

Suddenly, a strange sound, he hears
“Buzz, buzz, buzz and buzz” in his ears.

He looks in front of him, no one is there.
He looks to the sides, and no one is there.

He turns back and looks, no one is there either.
But the sound, it keeps getting louder and louder.

He looks up, and … there it is.
A bee, the biggest one you can ever imagine, it’s a giant bee.
The bee looks really angry.

“Those are my flowers” The bee said “Give them back to me and leave.”
The mouse is really afraid of the bee,
“But those flowers are so beautiful, I don’t want to give”
So he thinks of a way to flee
From the angry bee.

He turns back and runs, as fast as he can, back to his little red house
Underground.

But the bee doesn’t give up that easily.
It chases the little mouse, and tries to catch him whenever it sees
Just a small part of the mouse is enough for the bee.

But the little mouse runs really fast.
The bee tries to catch him, but it always misses and just gives him a scratch.

The little mouse knows that the bee can never catch him with its speed.
So he turns back and makes fun of the bee, without noticing the rock under his feet. 

And “Bam”, the little mouse falls on the ground,
He rolls and rolls and rolls to everywhere around.

His body is full of scratches
He is afraid that the bee can catch him easily.

So he cries and cries
He wishes that he remembered his dad’s advice
He wishes that he didn’t go outside.

Suddenly, He falls into a hole.
Down and down the stairs, he rolls.
Into the little red house, he rolls.
Through the little door, he rolls. 

He is lucky.

And he sees his mom, he sees his dad, he sees his family.
He burst into tear, he is so happy.
He knows that his parents were worried.
He knows that he shouldn’t leave.

Now, the little mouse knows that it’s always the best to be with your family,
He knows that he will never get harmed by the bee.
Because the hole that lead to the stairs that lead to the little red house where he lives
Is just small enough for someone with the size of a pea,
Yes, just as small as you and me.



LilCookieJar~ Bao Nguyen

Rain

5:00 PM, it starts raining heavily just as I walk out of the office, wind blows.
"New baked, hot bread! New baked, hot bread!"
The sound starts to become louder and louder, coming toward my direction.
"Miss! Can u help me buy some bread please?"
"I want 2 of them."
The little boy carefully opens a nylon sheet that cover those hot breads in a basket, trying to protect it from the heavy rain, and gives me. That's when I realize he looks even thinner in his soaked brown shirt.
After paying for the breads, I give him one of my raincoats that I always prepare in my office.
"Here! U can use this for now"
Amazed, he smiles, and says as if he is whispering:
"Thanks a lot! Miss!"
That just make my day! His smile is just so innocent, and so little. Suddenly, Nancy, one of my co-worker, runs toward me and shouts:
"Are u crazy?! Lending him that raincoat is as good as losing it! Don't ever trust these kind of people!"
The smile vanishes as if it has never been there. He forces the raincoat into my hands, bows his head, and just goes, silently, into the rain. 
And down the rain keeps falling, he's just around my little brother's age, blows the heavy wind.
It's just another afternoon rain.



LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen

Blue

He is an only child, a good student, a talented and handsome young man. his family, his relatives put all their hopes in his university qualification test.
The day he knows his result, his face is covered in sadness, disappointment, embarrassment.
He failed, half a point short. If only he had been a little more careful, if only...
As if he is dead, he wanders everywhere with his soul-less body. With him, everything has collapsed, falling into the black, the darkness, as if it is devouring him.
Depressed, he stops by a girl, a disable girl, without any hands. She is using her small, little feet to draw many colorful pictures of life. Her blue sky, her pink kite, her dream, the little brush keeps dancing smoothly, gently on the white paper filling the whole picture with a shade of blue, a shade of hope.
He looks at her, tears racing down, he looks at himself, thinks.
Somewhere up high, the sky is blue, so blue, without a shade of cloud, eternal blue...


LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen

Mirror

A torn piece of time
Rotten
Busy days
Force wine to come down its throat
Until it knows nothing else
Drunk!

It, Spinning, around and around, in the whirlwind of work, of the busy market
And it ties itself into that spinning wheel
On its back
Different tattoos, different marks
Green bills, blue bills, red bills
The student table
Abandoned
It goes.
Many busy days and long nights
It runs into the whirlpool of blue and red and crowds...
Forgot that there is still some dirt on his feet
Love
Of its hometown...
One day
Suddenly
It comes back
Looks at the mirror, half-conscious
It sees
A faded ghost
Gray
Talking
Moving like an invisible robot.
Woke up:
"Where have myself been?!"



LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen

Grandpa

84 years old, his health is getting worse days by days. Although he can still thinks properly, and his memory is still good, but his legs are really weak already, he can hardly go anywhere without his walking stick, and even walking with his stick is a challenge. Out of his grandsons, he love Khoi the most since Khoi is the only one that graduated from a university.
Once, he wasn't feeling really well so he asked Khoi to give him a ride to the local hospital and have his health check. Khoi doesn't seem so happy about the whole helping thing, but he does it anyway since father would probably yell at him if he refused.
Summer, it's boiling hot outside, 38 or 39 degree Celsius. Khoi rode over speed limit, and flew to the local hospital since of course he doesn't want to stay outside when everything was microwaving by the Sun. At the entrance, Khoi helped his grandpa to get down from the motorbike, carefully not because he cares if grandpa was going to fall or not but to prevent any scratch on his brand new motorbike from grandpa's old sandals, which were made from wood. Khoi gave his grandpa the walking stick and told grandpa to stand there and wait for him. Khoi rode the motorbike to the parking lot, indoor parking lot so that it will not be damaged by the sun, not to forget to talk to some of his friends who are working as the parking lot's keepers. Then flirted with some girls who just happens to pass by to park their bikes.
Somewhere near the entrance, an old man is still standing at one place on his two legs, shaking, waiting for his beloved grandson.


LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen

Thirsty

Wander,
When the prairie cries itself to sleep under the scotching sun
When herds of goats lick the burning hills
Forgot their way home.

Praying for rain with withered hands,
Dreaming of brilliant flashes of lightning slice the sky.
Wander,
When the last goat gives up its stand and turns back to dust.
Parch the dry tears racing down on the weary face.
The blue sky, still blue, forever blue
Wander,
Drop a song,
Silence.
Drop a yell,
Silence..
Drop down on his knees,
Silence...
Complete Silence,

Black, then gray, 
The sky roars, breaks into million teardrops.
Rain!
Rain!
Rain!
But dry and thirsty still is the goat keeper's eyes.


LilCookieJar ~ Bao Nguyen