The Secret Meaning of Nothing

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Sonia Arthur is a 21 year old thinker who is always in a state of perpetual wonder. A person who finds herself in her words, she hopes you find something in them too. She also illustrates and posts her writings on her Instagram page.

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It’s four in the evening. You should’ve gotten back home by now, instead you’re walking on an empty road with a stranger by your side. You met him at a party a few days back. You were a little tipsy and the night was a blur of smiles and laughter. You noticed him but you didn’t try to make conversation, it was more of group interaction if you know what I mean. You didn’t manage to get a word in until after everybody’s Ubers had arrived and you were sitting on the pavement not wanting to go home. He said he didn’t want to go back home either. There was a warmth about him. It’s not often that you feel absolute comfort with a total stranger. It was like you could tell him anything - your weirdest of thoughts - and he would still find a way to make you feel like it was the most precious information he had ever heard. Or maybe you just liked him and he just liked you.

The road is strewn with tiny yellow petals that shift slightly every time a breeze blows by. He says something about soup.

“I don’t under stand soup, or the general concept of it. It’s just flavoured and/or spicy water.” “Oh no no no you haven’t had good soup if you’re saying that.”

“Is that so?”

“I will make you change your mind - you will then say that you were gravely mistaken.”

You don’t believe him, you don’t think you’d ever really like soup before anything - you're a straight starters person. But he seems to really like it and you like him. So you say okay and he scratches his cheek trying to hide away a shy smile.

You're looking forward to the time you go for soup together - looking forward to the together, not the soup. Now would you have to lie to him? That you don’t like the soup, because if you say that his efforts were in vain maybe he won’t find you worthy enough to spend time with.

The girl who doesn’t like soup - what a waste of time. You imagine him telling his friends.

You don’t want to lie, because then you’re faking it. You don’t understand why people feel the need to fake things - like faking accents.

He’s talking about trees now. They seem to be his thing, he tells you that he never runs out of stories about trees. That fascinates you. Trees are something that grow and don’t move. They watch the whole world go by and people put fences around them as if they are going to run away. Then there is the other kind. The kind that probably didn’t even exist in the form of a zygote when these trees witnessed whatever they witness and they just chain-saw them down in a minute without thinking about anything but their selfish needs.

The world is full of shitty people doing shitty things for shitty reasons. It’s like everybody is a Venus Fly Trap but this boy is a dandelion seed just casually floating by. The thought makes you smile.

“Hey. What are you thinking about?”

*smiles confidently*

“Nothing :)”

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A message from Let's take a Stroll:

A very Happy New Year!

With the advent of a New Year, we decided to start something exciting for this blog too! We reached out to our friends and family to be a part of our writing and collaborating journey. This post is a part of our first guest post series. We will be posting seven new blogs written by seven persons from January 1, 2021, to January 7, 2021! February onwards, there will be one guest post every month.

Thank you, Sonia, for this beautiful piece of writing; we hope to keep working with you!

If you want to contribute your writings for our blog, you can drop us a message in the Contact Us section.