A Day's Journey into Heaven

Hello!

This is my first time posting something on Wattpad. "A Day's Journey into Heaven" is a short story- essay, really. It was my entry for the Commonwealth Essay competition 2012, thought I would share it here.  The topic I chose was: The day i wore my best clothes. 

Hope you all enjoy it. Feedback is welcomed. In advance, Thank you for reading it! 

- Dead_Poet

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         “Ma, I met Aunty and Uncle at the shop just now,” I said, as I walked through the front door carrying half a bag of rice.

         “Really? Did you greet them? One must be polite.”

        “Do not worry, Ma, I did. They asked if we would like to have lunch with them at Hotel New World tomorrow. Ma, can we go?”

         “I- I think we should just stay home.” Ma replied, to my disappointment.

         “Why not? We have never been to such a place before. It would be such a new experience.” 

        “There is a lot of work to be done. You have to get ready for school on Monday.  Besides, we are too poor to afford lunch at a hotel, you know that.”

         “Aunty and Uncle will not mind paying for us!” I protested.

        “Enough,” Ma snapped. “It is not polite to ask others to pay for your meals. Besides, what have we to wear to such a place? Stop asking and go do the laundry.” After saying this, she walked to the kitchen, leaving me standing at the door, with my head down. “I will find a way to go tomorrow”, I thought to myself. “This is too good an opportunity to miss. There might not be another time.” With that, I walked to the kitchen to help Ma wash the clothes.

          I threw my body onto the bed as soon as I entered my room. A day of going to the shops, doing the laundry and cleaning the house had made me tired. As I thought of a plan to get out of the house tomorrow, I suddenly remembered what Ma said about not having appropriate clothes. I looked at all my clothes and realised what Ma said was true. My clothes were a pathetic lot. They consisted of only five shirts, which were tattered and torn, and would not be wearable had Ma not been able to sew. I only had two pairs of shorts, which were dirty and were getting worn out. I sighed, as I started to change my mind of going. At that moment, I spotted a clean shirt and a pair of shorts, and it dawned on me that it was my school uniform. We had always been too poor to provide education for me after Pa passed away. With Ma working in the morning and at night, she finally managed to save enough money for me to go to school, which was to start on Monday. After spotting my new school uniform, I decided that that was what I would be wearing.

        Waking up at the break of dawn is easy when you are excited. I looked out of the window to admire the beautiful sunrise before heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. “Morning, Ma,” I said, like every other morning. I poured her a cup of tea and a cup of water for myself and sat at the table with her. After breakfast, I washed the cups as Ma prepared for work. She works at the nearby shop, which sells Chinese medicine, which is why she has to leave the house so early. She then comes home to make sure I am well, before leaving for work again. Fifteen minutes later, I heard Ma say goodbye, and the shutting of the front door. I proceeded on to sweeping the floor and dusting the little furniture we had. After doing the housework, it was nine o’clock. I went into my room and took my school uniform. 

        The shirt was as white as paper, without a single hole or stain. Not a single wrinkle could be seen on it, as it was perfectly pressed. It had a collar, which did not have wrinkles as well, and stood on its own. There were six buttons, which were no bigger than the tip of my last finger. The shirt also had a breast pocket on the left. To me, the shirt was a work of art. It was so clean, so neat and so detailed that it contrasted with all my other shirts, which bore stains of hard work and suffering. After admiring my new shirt, I looked at the pair of school shorts. They were light brown, like the colour of the paper bags Ma puts the Chinese medicine in. They were neatly pressed as well, and unlike my other shorts, they had a buckle at the front and back pockets. It looked just as fascinating as my shirt. I quickly put my uniform on and looked into the small mirror beside my bed. I had never worn such clothes in my twelve years. It was the first time I felt so clean and not afraid to let other children see me. They were really the best clothes I ever owned. I continued marveling at the sight I saw reflected in the mirror, until I looked at the clock and realised it was already half past ten. I looked at the mirror, smoothed my clothes and brushed my hair a last time before leaving the house. 

          Walking in the streets to get to Hotel New World was not as easy as I though it would be. Firstly, I was afraid of getting caught. Being the polite and helpful boy Ma had raised me to become, I was well liked by many of the people on the streets, especially shop owners and locals who frequently shopped there. To avoid being spotted and reported to Ma, I had to constantly look around to make sure that there was nobody I knew who was walking in my path. Secondly, everybody whom I passed seemed to be staring at me. Whenever I turned, I always found that the passersby were always looking in my direction. I did not know the reason why at first, but then I realised that I was the only one in the streets wearing a uniform on a Saturday, when there was supposedly no school. Also, students were hardly seen in the streets in the morning. With so many people staring at me, I felt very uneasy and had assumed that they were looking down on me. Suddenly, my “best clothes” did not seem very nice at all, and I found myself wishing for better clothes, although I knew we would never be able to afford them. With all the staring from various directions, avoiding people I knew became a harder task, so I quickened my pace and almost ended up running in the end.

           I finally reached the building at eleven o’clock. However, the stares did not end there. They followed me all the way until I went up to room 13, Aunty and Uncle’s room. After knocking on the door twice, I was yet again greeted by the bewildered stares of my relatives. “Why are you wearing your school uniform on such a day?” they asked, as soon as they saw me. After explaining my sticky situation about my clothes, they invited me into the room with warm and understanding looks. The room was bigger than any other room I had ever seen. It was easily twice the size of my own bedroom. I looked around the hotel room, and as soon as I saw the bed, which took up almost a quarter of the room, I went over and sat on it. It was so much more comfortable than the bed I had. The mattress was so soft and clean. After spending about fifteen minutes lying on the bed, Aunty and Uncle said that we had better go down to the restaurant before all the seats are taken, so we quickly made our way down.  On the way down, I felt a slight tremour, but ignored it, thinking that it was nothing important. Nothing could destroy such a beautiful day like this.

           We finally managed to get seated down at a table after queuing for about five minutes. After looking at the menu and deciding what to eat, we placed our orders and started to talk. Just then, Aunty sprouted the most dreaded question, “Why is your Ma not here with you? I thought she would have loved to come as well.” For a moment, I was dumbstruck, as I did not want to tell them that I disobeyed Ma. As I opened my mouth to answer, the whole ground started shaking all of a sudden, and the furniture started moving vigorously. In the blink of an eye, the whole building was down, and I found myself pinned under all the rubble, unable to move my body.

           A wave of panic swept into me as soon as I realised I could not move. I tried pushing the concrete, which was on top of me, but pain shot up the moment I tried moving my arms. It was the worst sensation I had ever felt in my life. The pain was unbearable. My head was hurting as well, as I felt as if my skull was cracked. I could feel warm liquid running from my head to my temple and down my face, and knew at once that it was blood. As time went by, I felt more and more giddy and soon, I was numb and could not feel anything, and I knew I could not hold on any longer. As life slowly seeped out of me, I was filled with regret over not obeying my Ma. If only I had listened, I would not have ended up in this situation.

           “Sorry Ma, I should have obeyed you and stayed home. I am sorry that I will be leaving this world soon. I cannot take the pain any longer. I am sorry that I will be leaving you behind, on your own. I guess I am leaving you like how Pa left. After all, as the saying goes, ‘like father like son’.” With that thought in mind, I slipped into the empty void of darkness, never to experience light again. Today is 15 March 1986. It was the day I wore my best clothes.