Short stories by Jade Crispy

Ashes Of Evil Part 1

The original plot and story the work of several people: Natasha Kong, Eg Zhong NIng, Ishika Patel, Nithin Daniel Sundram, Zackary Nathan, Cheryl Loh, Lim Jin Quan, Jas Per, Alisha Kyra and myself; winners of an ebook competition with the story of the same title. Please give credit to the other nine people listed also. Take note this is the edited version of the original.

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"Alright, that's it for the day. Don't forget to have your thesis on my table Monday morning. First thing. Don't forget." announced Professor Thomas. He was barely through when the shuffling of feet took  dominance to his monotonous tone. I grabbed my bag, began to leave and glanced at my phone. 4:05pm. I left the lecture hall as usual.

I had 30 minutes to get back to my dorm and started on that thesis before my roommate, Mia, comes back from the chemistry lab and decides she wants takeout. She always wants Thai, it's Wednesday. Sigh... Thai delivers in exactly 6 minutes from our on-campus restaurant and that leaves me practically no time to get a shower before dinner, let alone start that paper for Political Science. I glanced at my phone again. 

4:07pm. It's always around this part of my walk home when I began to run and reach my room at 4:09pm. Finally, I arrive at my dorm room at 4:10 and unlocked the door before flinging my bag on my bed to signify the end of the school day. I grabbed my clothes and take a quick shower to rinse the stress away. At 4:15pm, I grabbed my phone again and made my weekly call to Edna, my nanny for a regular pick-me-up, ignoring the several messages from Xavier, my boyfriend. He's a bit too... obsessive sometimes.

When I was 5, my father passed away for an unknown reason to many and my mother had to raise me on her own. It wasn't easy handling things on our own. Things got better financially when I turned around 7 years old when my mom got a promotion at work. I could afford new school supplies and new shoes that didn't squeak every time I made a turn. But this also meant my mom couldn't be there for me as much as I'd like so. When I was 8, she hired a nanny named Edna. Edna practically raised me; gave me weird pep talks when I was down, made me mango yogurt when I was sick, she'd even tuck me in at night. She treated me like her own, like the daughter she never had. 

Xavier and I met a year ago during a lecture on Political Science. To think it all started with skipping that same lecture that started our relationship. Ever since then, we have been extremely close. But since Xavier graduated last year, we haven't been able to see each other as often. But recently these days... he's becoming more obsessive. Telling me to call everyday, the constant messages, trying to find any free time I had to have a date. It often interfered with my regular schedule I was so used to doing. It was unnatural for me, but Mia told me it was normal. Maybe I'm exaggerating.

Unfortunately, Edna didn't have the best hearing and it took awhile before she answered the phone. 4:18pm, as usual. The phone call didn't last long, but I cherished every moment of it. When it ended at 4:25pm, I decided to start on my paper before Mia got home at 4:35 for takeout. I brought out my pencil case, emptied its contents on the table for a pen and finally began on my paper.