English Compositions

A Misunderstanding

  "We sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding. You looked similar to the culprit we are trying to track down. We mistook you for her. You are free to go now," the police officer, who had been interrogating me, told me with an apologetic smile.

The Great Singapore Sale had just begun this morning but there was already a sea of shoppers pushing and shoving to make their way to the cashier. I had come to the mall to loosen up a bit after taking my 'O' Level examinations. I made my way around my favorite clothing stores, admiring the ones I wanted.

Just as I exited Forever 21, I was shocked to see two policemen striding towards me. I was transfixed with horror. I stood rooted to the ground, at a loss about what to do. Since young, I had always been fearful of policemen. My hands turned clammy. Beads of perspiration trickled down my forehead. I had done nothing wrong. Why were the police coming towards me? Are they going to arrest me? Millions of questions mushroomed in my mind.

The two serious-looking policemen snapped a pair of handcuffs on me and escorted me into a police car. Within minutes, we arrived at the police station. As soon as I stepped into the interrogation room, my belongings were taken from me including my phone which I counted on to help me call my parents.

A tall, muscular policeman entered the room. "Where were you at 3.15p.m. yesterday? Do not try to hide anything from me. Where is your accomplice?" he bombarded me with questions I had no answers to. I tried my utmost best to convince him that I was not the person they were looking for but to no avail.

Finally after four hours of interrogating and getting no answers from me, a short fair-skinned policeman, who entered the room hastily, whispered something into the policeman who was interrogating me. He eased into a more natural facial expression. He explained to me that it was all a huge misunderstanding.

I walked out of the police station, heaving a sigh of relief. A grudge was something I did not want to bear as I believed that the police officers were merely trying to do their jobs and all they did was make a mistake in the midst of it. Who does not make mistakes unintentionally? After all, the most important thing was that I survived the ordeal.