When the sun is shining high

Where the rose blooms

And as the earth shakes

I'll meet you soon. 

Jared stared at the couplet he had created for a long time. And he still found it shitty as he did the first time.The homework was to create a couplet with words sun, rose, earth and soon. He was defeated in the end by its sheer stupidity. But it will do. He thought for a long time and couldn't come up with a better one. Mrs. Grunt was right, he had the talent of bird in water when it came to poems, or for that matter, anything literary. He had good grades in subjects which required reasoning, like maths and science but was a walking fish in other subjects. 

He closed his notebook and had a long stretch. Ah! That felt better. He went to the windowsill and felt the night air gently caress his hair through the open window. He stared at the open skies and fell into a daze. He saw the starry sky and three moons staring back at him. As if telling him again that this wasn't his original world. As if telling him to do whatever he wanted. But nah! That couldn't be true, could it? Moons couldn't talk or suggest or do anything for that matter. He was having delusions again, or 'daydream' as his mother called it every time he went into a daze. How could he daydream at night, or was it a night dream. Ah shit! He got into silly mind numbing  questions again.Nothing ever good came when he was in daze. He had many episodes where his daydreams had cost him an embarrassing moment. Like the time he had unconsciously told his teacher that she was too hot and spent an entire weekend in detention. Or the time he had told his aunt Niya that her lips are the most beautiful if they enveloped a….. Thankfully, he caught himself in time, otherwise his innocent aunt would be shocked to her core at his brazenness. 

When he first opened his eyes in this world, he was seven years old already. As days passed and he adjusted to his environment, he learnt that he had an accident when he was coming downstairs and hit his head. He didn't tell this family that their son was already dead and someone else occupied his body.

Jared's days passed by in a predictable rhythm. The sun would rise, casting warm rays across the room, signalling the start of another day. Yet, it was the nights that held a certain allure for him. As the day transformed into night, the world seemed to soften, embracing a mysterious aura. The moonlight would stream in through the window, casting ethereal shadows on the walls, and he would find himself lost in his own thoughts.

Tonight was no different. Jared found himself drawn to the window, the cool breeze whispering secrets only the night could share. The moons in the sky – each with their unique shade and size – seemed to be a constant reminder of the strangeness of his situation. He gazed at them, pondering the idea that perhaps this world wasn't quite what it seemed.

The thoughts of his accident and the mystery of his existence played in his mind like a haunting melody. He had questions, so many of them, but no one to ask. His parents, his friends – they all believed he was the same person, yet he knew he was someone else entirely. It was as if he was living in a borrowed body, navigating a life he didn't quite belong to.

With a sigh, he pulled himself away from the window and returned to his room. He looked at the notebook lying on his desk, the couplet mocking him silently. He knew he wasn't a poet, but he had to admit, even he couldn't have come up with something as contrived as that. He picked up a pen and started to doodle absentmindedly, letting his thoughts flow onto the paper.

As he drew random patterns, his mind wandered back to his accident. The fall down the stairs, the impact that had led to his current situation – it all seemed like a distant memory, yet so vivid at the same time. He wondered if there was a way to reverse what had happened, to go back to his own world. But how could he even begin to find answers to questions that defied logic?

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on his door. "Jared, are you awake?" It was his little sister, Lily.

"Yeah, Lily, come in," he replied, setting the pen down.

Lily entered, clutching her stuffed bunny tightly. "I had a bad dream," she whispered, her eyes wide with innocence.

Jared smiled gently and patted the empty spot on his bed. "Come here, sis." She climbed onto the bed and nestled beside him, finding comfort in his presence.

"What was your dream about?" he asked, his voice soothing.

"I dreamt that the moon turned into cheese and everyone started eating it," she giggled.

Jared chuckled softly. "That sounds like a delicious dream."

Lily yawned and snuggled closer. "Will you tell me a story, Jared?"

"Of course." Jared began to weave a tale, his imagination taking over as he described a world where the moon was made of cheese and adventurous children set out to explore it. Lily's eyelids grew heavy as his words carried her into the realm of dreams.

As Lily's breathing steadied, Jared's mind began to wander again. He glanced at the window, the moons casting a serene glow over the room. In this quiet moment, he felt a strange sense of connection to this world, as if it was trying to communicate with him through the moonlit night.

With a sigh, he gently brushed Lily's hair off her forehead and whispered, almost to himself, "Maybe the moons do have something to say."

He closed his eyes, allowing the night to envelop him, his mind open to the mysteries that the moons might hold. In this fleeting moment, he felt a sliver of hope that he wasn't entirely alone in his journey, that there was a purpose to his presence in this strange world.

And so, Jared drifted into his own dreams, where the moons whispered secrets and possibilities, promising a path yet to be discovered.