Spreading Sunshine

Chapter 3

"Q-u-a-r-t-z. Quartz. That's 75 points. Booyah!" I gleefully exclaimed, pumping my fist in the air. Vincent groaned while Angie clapped excitedly.

"Fantastic! Just fantastic!" Angie praised.

I took a sip of my Coke and flashed Vincent a smug grin. Our scores were close, his just a few points shy of mine but with my last word, I was way out of his league, leaving him behind to choke on my dust. He simply narrowed his beautiful eyes at me. It was truly a task to take his death glare seriously when he had golden orbs for eyes. He shuffled his tiles with fierce determination and I stifled a laugh at his expression.

Leaning back on my palms, I relished the summer breeze caressing my face and cooling the afternoon. I thought about all the activities of the day and could not help the huge smile from overtaking my face, making my cheeks ache with happiness.

After fetching Vincent from the garden, he drove us all around town and finally, the all awaited beauty was right before my eyes. At first I could not believe it but then Angie shoved me out the car for a closer look. Only then my surroundings registered in my brain.

All around me, majestic glass structures sprouted up from the earth, twisting and wrapping around itself to form intricate designs, stretching towards the glorious sun that was beating down on us relentlessly. Light glinted off the windows, creating miniature rainbows which left me entranced. It was like nothing I'd ever witnessed before. Not that I had a lot of experiences to compare this too.

"Oh. My. God." A hand flew to my mouth as my feet shuffled in a slow circle, unable to settle on a particular direction. One by one, my eyes scanned each of the masterpieces before me. Some appeared to have a metallic - like rope coiled around its frame while others were as straight as a pin with layers at different levels, adding dimension to the high rise structures. From extravagant and brick built to antiquated baronial styled establishments, I was awestruck by their sheer magnificence and sophistication.

"Pretty amazing, huh?" Angie said, interrupting my daydream, that I was soon realizing was actually my very own personal heaven. All my brain could manage was a simple nod. For once in my life, I was utterly speechless.

I was actually here. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

Unshed tears burned in my eyes as I thought about my family and the village. For years people always laughed at me and mocked my dreams, saying that it was too far-fetched to ever come true, that I was wasting my time thinking about such things, that I was too poor to even venture out of my country. As I looked up at the sight before me, I thought about how wrong those persons were. Dreams do come true and it may sound cliché and fairytale-like, but all you have to do is believe. Believe in yourself and not let the negativity of other drag you down and diminish your spirit.

What others think of you should not be influential when it pertains to matters of what you desire the most. Dreams are what keep people motivated and keep them striving for success and betterment. Dreams provide hope, hope for a more promising future and a chance to be the living proof that every cloud has a silver lining. Dreams are the force behind us, encouraging us to move forward and enabling us to face each day with the same optimism and enthusiasm as the last, in anticipation for something amazing to happen. And right now, that amazing thing has happened. To me. My fantasy has become my reality.

For so long I have imagined this moment ever since I saw a picture of this in a book and I thought about everything I would do the very second I witnessed its magnificence. But now that I was actually within a reasonable distance of the skyscrapers, my mind went blank and all I could focus on was the fact that I was here.