When Harry met Sofie

When Harry met Sofie - Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I smile sadly at the little girl in my arms, hugging a ratty teddy bear. Behind me is a box full of brand new toys, slowly I reach behind me and grab a plump new teddy bear. I hold it behind my back as I whisper to the girl, "I have something for you. But you have to promise me you'll take care of him because he means a lot to me." She looks up at me with sad eyes and my heart breaks. She nods and I pull the bear from behind my back, handing it to her. Her eyes light up and she drops her ratty bear, squeezing the new one tight to her. "Thank you!" She leaned forward and hugged me. I hold back tears as she runs back towards her ill mother.

Three days ago was the day I came up with my plan, but honestly, this is getting to me. The kids I have seen all break my heart and make me realize just how lucky I am. Yesterday Harry and I arrived in Africa and today we are in a small village that is badly infected with Aids dieases.

"How are you holding up, Sofie?" Harry came up to me looking concerned. I turn around to him and wipe the tears from my eyes. He gives a small smile and pulls me into a hug. "Its hard, isnt it?" He whispered. I nod into his chest as I try to stop my tears from coming.

"I dont know how you do it so calmly. It just so sad to see this. It makes me rethink a lot about how I live, like I dont deserve all the riches when they have nothing." I tell Harry, pulling away from him. He puts a hand on my cheek and wipes my tears away with his thumb.

He leans forward and gives me a small, soft kiss. "Are you sure you want to keep going? We can stop for the day. Were here until Tuesday. Thats four more days." I nod and he just laughs and shakes his head.

Harry goes back to speaking with the adults and I go back to the children. A group of little girls swarm around me and start talking so fast, I cant help but laugh. I sit down on a small blanket on the ground and play dolls with the little girls as the boys play with toy trucks we brought them. "Are you famous?" A little girl with no hair suddenly asked, tugging on my shirt sleeve. I laugh and hug her.

"No, I'm not sweetie. My boyfriend is." I tell her. She frowns and tugs at my shirt again.

"You should be. Your so nice and pretty. Why is your boyfriend famous?" She tells me. Tears threaten to leak out of my eyes again at the girls sinerity.

I lean down and whisper into her ear, "Personally I dont know. He's a bit of a weirdo in my opinion." The little girls around that over heard all started laughing and so did I. The little girl I was talking to smiled so big, spreading happiness throughout my heart.

For another hour or so I played with the kids and joked with them, making them laugh and smile. I gave them piggybacks and we played tag. But after awhile everyone got quiet and watched as the few reporters that were around ate their lunch. My heart starts breaking again as I realize they're hungry but dont say anything because they're not used to having food all of the time. I look around to see Harry watching me. I frown and tell the kids I'll be right back, getting up to talk to Harry.

"They're hungry." I tell him as I approach him and a group of other voluenters. They all look at me as if I'm speaking another language but Harry looks over at them, sympathetically.

Harry puts a hand on my arm. "We dont have food for them, besides what we gave their parents." He informs me, sadly. I glance at the people around me who are eating away at their delicous food while the children starve. I go over to where Harry and I left out lunch for the day and grab my bag of food.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked as I turned back to the kids.

I shrug and glance back at his stunned figure. "To feed the kids."