I woke up to the sound of running water. Sitting up in bed, I realized that my mattress was soaking wet. Still in a daze, I flinched as a large cold drop of water splashed on my head. I tilted my head to the side and noticed that one of the windows was opened. So that explained the water drop that splashed on my head, I thought. I shivered as a draft of cold air blew past me, chilling me to the bone.
I glanced around the room. It was a weekend night and I was sleeping, or at least I was trying to at that time. I looked at my alarm clock; it was two hours past midnight. Oh well, luckily it was the school term break. Or else I would have to go to school with my "panda eyes" and get teased by other students.
So basically it was early in the morning now. It was raining cats and dogs outside, and I could not sleep. Besides the sound of a ticking clock, the pouring rain and the roaring of thunders, there was also the howling of the chilling wind that made me shook involuntary. I could ever imagine some horrible creatures waking up from their slumber to enjoy this dreadful weather. Dear readers, if you were in my shoes, would you be able to sleep peacefully to the sound of this "orchestra" playing in your ears?
Let's get back to the story anyway. Where am I? Oh yes, I woke up in the middle of the night because of the bad weather here. Since I could not sleep, so I sat up, stretched my hands, had a big mountain yawn, scratched my back, and went to the toilet. After I was done with my "business" (Ugh, I should not have ate too much fish curry special before bed), I went back and tried to get some sleep.
When I was at the hallway, I heard a faint, low and hollow voice calling my name over and over. "Hyen...Hyen...Hyen..." In a fit of horror, I ran back to the bedroom, covered myself under the blanket, and lay in the bed. I lay there silently, thinking that if I can't see him, he can't see me. My body shaking violently, goose bumps forming all over me, and I can even feel my heart was about to leap out of my throat. My mind started to imagine things. Things like "What will happen when 'it' comes in? Will my family be safe? Oh my, I can hear 'its' footsteps outside the door! What should I do, what should I do?!?"
I wanted to cry for help but my throat only managed to give out a half-wind, puny croak at that time. I wanted to go out to check what the "thing" was but the feeling of dread and fear overwhelmed me. At first, I was holding my blanket over my face, covering it, teeth chattering. The next moment, the darkness around had lured me into a deep and restless sleep.
~~~
Everybody knows that nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistake now and then, I am no different. On the next morning, I made a mistake by getting myself into a big trouble, thanks to my foolishness and my forgetfulness.
Back to the story. I was sleeping peacefully like a baby, curled up sucking my thumb. When I was having a nice, sweet dream, it faded away suddenly and instead I heard someone calling my name and felt something moving my shoulder. My eyes flickered, and then opened. I squinted to the brightness of the sun rays that shone through the windows. When I was about to drift back to sleep, a familiar voice woke me up, and it cannot be mistaken.
"Wake up, you sleepyhead!" spoke my mother loudly while she took my blanket away. I sat up and saw my mother looked at me angrily and I stared back at her blankly. We looked at each other for a while, a tense atmosphere surrounded us. Finally I decided to break the eerie silence.
"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked innocently.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! Do you know what time is it now, young man? And you ask me what's wrong?!" she yelled at me, hands on her hips.
"Sorry, mom. I still don't get it what's wrong." I stared at her, confused by her sudden entrust.
"Don't you have a class today? Although it's term break, but don't you know that you have a holiday intensive class for the term break? Now stop sitting there and get ready for school!" and she stormed out my room after she had enough of me and my mistakes.
And so, without a second thought, I rushed to the toilet. After getting myself ready, I went down the stairs two at a time and ran into the kitchen. I stuffed my mouth with a piece of bread and got out of the house quickly without saying goodbyes to my parents, the piece of bread still in my mouth, not chewed and soggy.
I was at the house gate when realized that the school bus had just driven off. So I had to run all to the way to the school. At the school gate, I was panting heavily, trying to catch my breath, feeling like someone gave me a good spear-punch at my stomach.
Uh oh, the school bell had already rung, and I'm going to be late for the class! I thought while being "welcomed" by the sudden quiet of the campus. I went to my class in a fast walking pace and I saw my form teacher had just walked into my class.
"You're late! Any reasonable excuses to explain why you are late for school?" barked Mr. Boris.
I shook my head and walked to my seat, ignoring my other classmates giggling and teasing, and sat down, cursing under my breath. Mr. Boris ignored my mumbling, took my attendance and started his lesson.
"Good morning, class" said Mr. Boris.
"Good morning, teacher" echoed the students.
"Today I am going to distribute the exam paper that I have marked during the weekend" then he cleared his throat and announced the students' name and gave them the papers.
I shuddered as he stressed the word. My mind wandered off suddenly and I found myself back in the past.
~~~
It happened a week ago and I can still remember it as if it had just happened yesterday. It was a Sunday night, and the school exam was just right around the corner, but still I was "hypnotized" by the addictive computer games. Even though my parents had nagged me to stop playing and studying instead, but I took their word like a mosquito buzzing around my ears. I played until the wee hours of the morning. In a heap of exhaustion, I finally fell asleep in front of the computer.
On the next day of the school, the school exam has commenced. I just sat on my seat, staring at the exam paper, trying desperately to rack my brain for some answers. During the whole allocated time for the paper, I was looking at the blank, plain white sheet of paper, while chewing on the tip of my pen, while brainstorming, trying to write something. As my pen tip was about to blot something on the paper, the examiner had already asked to stop writing and I handed in a piece of unwritten, clean sheet of paper to the examiner.
~~~
I got up as Mr. Boris called my name as I was thinking about that careless incident. I walked between my classmates and time seemed to have slowed down as I retrieved my paper from him. All I saw was a big, fat "F" on my clean sheet of paper.
"Our one and only 'fantastic' student who has the lowest mark," teased the teacher. A little smirk appeared on his face as the whole class burst into a fit of laughter.
I didn't let my parents know about my failure. It was a piece of cake making up stories for the absence of my examination results. Everything turned out fine until someone informed them and I was caught red-handed. I was like a criminal in peril when I stood in front of them. My parents had such a disappointed and somber look on their face that made me feel even guiltier. My dad's blood-shot eyes and his tombstone teeth baring at me like a tiger, crouching, getting ready to pounce on me and tear me apart. I stood there and faced the music, listening to all their naggings and lecturing. After a "long" ten hours (It was ten minutes actually, but it seemed longer than that to me), the "court" had dismissed and I was "sentenced" to being banned from playing computer games anymore, until they see improvement in my examination results.
I walked back to my bedroom and looked at the large table which my dear computer that once sat there being "dismantled" by my father. He glared at me and stormed out of the room with a grunt. I lay down on my bed, letting my crystal-like tears rolling out from my eyes like a string of pearl necklace, drenching my pillow case, as I kissing my computer gaming days goodbye.
