found a baby in the supermarket

The day started as all other days. Absolutely nothing was different. Even the sky looked the same. Except that it was not. it had some blue in it but mostly shades of grey. The sun was not even there. As if it decided to take a day off, without letting anybody know of its plans to return. Better get going with it and start the day, thought Alexa, to herself, since nobody else was around her to share her thoughts with. Reluctantly, she stretched out her legs, pulled herself up and went into the kitchen. First activity of the day, of any day was pouring coffee into her mug and sparkling a cigarette, which she noticed, started giving her wrinkles. Along with the daily newspaper that usually waited on her doorstep, presenting the latest worlds disaster.

‘fuck, damn, why is it always so damn dirty’ she cursed, seeing her hands got dirty, yet again, from the damn newspaper ink. Almost every morning, she got the bad issue the one which before you can even start reading the newspaper, you need to go to the bathroom and remove the disgusting ink dirt. She tossed the newspaper on the ground and went to the bathroom. She scrubbed her hands till they turned red. She had a ‘cleaning problem’ as her close friends liked to call it. Luckily, she didn’t have that many friends or at all. It mainly consisted of her mother.

She did not like people, to say the least. Talking to a person was a waste of time, she used to say to anybody who would ask. Not that anybody really asked. Most people are stupid and can barely hold a decent conversation she would say. Thank god she was a work from home content writer. A job which required very little conversation with actual people, if at all, other than communicating through the email.

 While the kettle was heating up, she opened the fridge door to discover that she has no milk. ‘hell, I hate drinking black coffee’ she said. She looked around, but she was standing alone, as usual, in her pathetic little apartment, as she called it.  And why would she live with anybody. She was a 33-year-old woman, who had fallen for enough dumbass men in her life to understand that they were all dumbasses. So, she gave up on the whole thing. She has not been out on a date with an actual man in over 18 months, not to mention she does not remember the last time she slept with a man. She had resigned to live a life of solitude. Working and reading all day. Reading was her one solace in life. The only activity that allowed her to escape her gloomy, other wise sad existence and to communicate to smart individuals.

She went over to the window and moved the dark grey curtains. ‘of course,’ she said. ‘what else’. A blizzard was starting outside. She was debating herself what was more important, sticking to her routine and going outside to buy some milk and risking getting all wet or staying home, reading the today’s disaster without the proper support of a cup of coffee. She picked up the newspaper. ‘’ world pandemic kills over 600 million ‘’ was the front-page headline. She looked out the window again. Now it was pouring a bucket of rain. No doubt she will get wet. Non the less, she got out of her pyjama pants and into her jeans, put on her black ankle boots and headed to the supermarket three corners away.

Alexa went inside, directly to the dairy section of the supermarket. Locating the milk, she reached her hand to the back of the row to find the milk with the latest expiry date when she suddenly stopped midway, realizing it was just a bit too quiet. There was absolutely no one around her in the isle. In fact, taking a better notice and looking further around the store, she saw absolutely no one. She took a few more steps and turned into isle number 4. It was also entirely deserted. Further examination of the other isles confirmed it- she was the only person in the entire shop. 

‘That’s odd ‘, She said. ‘Where is everybody? What the hell is going on here?'. Not that she needed anybody, but she would at least like to pay for the milk and leave the strange and quite honestly strange situation. She does not like people, but this was extreme, even for her standards. She started for the exit when she heard a squeak. No, not a squeak, a cry. A baby’s cry. She must have imagined this, she thought for five seconds only to hear the cry again. She walked closer to the exit. she saw a sizable basket on the ground. Was it there before, she wondered? another cry came out of the basket. 'this is ridiculous' she thought. ' I must be hallucinating; it's some sort of a practical joke'. She looked around her again, hoping to see somebody in the store after all, but she was still all alone in a huge supermarket. And now, she was starting to freak out. What should she do? Maybe she should just go and somebody will come take care of it soon.

Cautiously, she took a few steps in the vicinity of the basket. A louder cry came out of it. She peered her eyes in the basket and saw big eyes staring back her. Unusually big eyes, she thought. They were deeper blue than sea and double the size of what you would expect from a normal human being to have. She could not stop staring at them. She was instantly filled with hope and an inexplicable, unfamiliar warm feeling that came from the depths of her gut. It scared her so much that she averted her eyes from the baby for a minute. But then, she could not help herself. She had to turn her eyes back to the baby.

The warm feeling came back. She bent down and picked up the baby. at that moment emotion took over. But not one. All of them. Happiness, sadness, fear, anger sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, hope. Who the hell leaves a baby alone?

As emotion closed in, tears came down her cheek. She wiped her cheeks and eyes, noticing theirs is a little, yellow piece of paper inside the basket. Placing the baby carefully and with care back into the basket she opened the paper and read:

 "To whom this may concern,

 This baby was sent from heaven (notice the wings on the back)"

 She put the paper down for a second, picked up the baby and removed the blanket. it did have wings! She picked up the letter again, still holding the baby in her hands.

"If you received this baby, you are in need everything this baby has to offer. Love, compassion, companionship etcetera.

Rethink your actions and get with the program.

The world is not as bad as it seems.

Cheer up!"

As she finished reading it, her eyes opened up widely and she exhaled and woke up.