Colours of Life_A Book of Short Stories_Ebook

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU
KAMPUS IPOH

INSTITUTE OF TEACHER EDUCATION IPOH CAMPUS

COLOURS OF LIFE:
A BOOK OF SHORT STORIES

Edited by:
Kee Li Li

INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU
KAMPUS IPOH

INSTITUTE OF TEACHER EDUCATION IPOH CAMPUS

COLOURS OF LIFE:
A BOOK OF SHORT STORIES

Published by
INSTITUTE OF TEACHER EDUCATION IPOH CAMPUS
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia
Tel +605 533 1311
Fax +605 533 2743

Published 2021

e ISBN 978-967-2863-04-5

DISCLAIMERS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business,
events and incidents are the products of the authors’
imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

NO AUTHORISED PHOTOCOPYING
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of INSTITUTE OF TEACHER EDUCATION IPOH CAMPUS

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Table of Contents

The Editor’s Note i
Message from the Director of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus ii
Message from the Deputy Director of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus iii
Message from the Head of Language Department of Institute of Teacher Education
Ipoh Campus iv
Message from the Deputy Head of Language Department of Institute of Teacher
Education Ipoh Campus v
Message from the Head of English Studies Unit of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh
Campus vi
Faces of U5 vii
Faces of U6 viii
Faces of U7 ix
Faces of TESL Lecturers of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus x
Faces of Invited National and International Writers xi

No Title and Author Page
1 The Interloper 1
2
A’fifah Wazir 3
2 Passengers 4
5
Ahmad Faris Hakimi Abd Jamil 6
3 The Reaper’s Scythe 7
8
Alice Tan Xin Gee 9
4 Rachel’s Journey 10
11
Amira Rosnini Sharizal 12
5 Sacrifice 13
14
Anis Safiah Mohammad Zamri 15
6 Saudade 16
17
Ling Xin Yi 18
7 Second Chance

Lutfil Hadi Abdul Razif
8 Realisation

Mahfuzah Ibrahim
9 Dreams

Muhammad Azri Mohd Sobri
10 The Devil

Noor Zubaidah Mohamad Ismail
11 Silent Pain

Nur Iman Nabila Mohd Sakri
12 Nekropolis

Nurhayati Mamat
13 Hot Chocolate

Nurul Farhanah Nazri Shaharuddin
14 Last Seen

Peh Hoe Yen
15 Magical Forest

Rabiatul Anis Solehah Mohamed Rusli
16 Gone

Tan Li-Anne
17 Memories Last Forever

Wong Jia Xin
18 Dream

Afifah Husnadia Abdull Khalil

19 Darkness Arise 19
Aiman Safwan Nahrul Ulum 20
21
20 Faded 22
Amrina Rushada Maizatul@Maizatu 23
24
21 The Truth Untold 25
Athirah Dzulkifly 26
27
22 Peter 28
Catherine Tiong Wei Ling 29
30
23 Friend Zone 31
Faiz Arbain 32
33
24 Superhero 34
Mohamad Syamil Ibrahim 35
36
25 Lady “Bird” 37
Nur Arisya Aqilah Ismail 38
39
26 Our Times 40
Nur Khairina Halim 41
42
27 That Girl 43
NurHusna Syuhada Mohd Saidi 44
45
28 304A 46
Nurul Hamizah Mohd A’seri

29 The Dancer
Phan Chei Lie

30 Gone Days
Seina Nursyahirah Mohsin

31 The Neighbour
Tan Jin Hua

32 Le Rêve
Tan Shi Ying

33 The Expected Response
Aisyah Radhiah Mohd. Nasir

34 Prologue to Cinderella
Amar Iskandar Fuad

35 My Real Treasure!
Anis Aiesya Qasandra Amir

36 Life of A Young Woman
Chin Tze Yie

37 75 Years of You
Farah Yusrina Mohd Yunus

38 Beneath The Surface
Lee Zhi Yi

39 Déjà Vu
Muhammad Akhtar Iskandar Mohamad Noor

40 The Cheese in the Trap
Muhammad Khalis Azfar Khazin

41 Swallowing Written Fate
Nik Nur Ain Farhana Mohamad Fadli

42 Kiete Shimau
Nur Farhana Ahmad Shukri

43 Boy Next Door
Nurin Syafiqa Fatahaiariffin

44 The Moon
Nurul Yasmin Suraya Rosli

45 Again
Shahida Annisa Mohd Suffian

46 Dark Escape
Tan Yu Jing

47 Guided by Unseen Stars 47
Teh Syndy 48
53
48 Hope 55
Dr. Kee Li Li 56
59
49 Excursion Into Special Education 61
Besira Bibi Mohd Ali 62
64
50 She’s No More! 66
Dr. Kanakambal Velusamy 67
68
51 Mek 69
Wan Ziraiza Wan Ismail 70
72
52 Red 73
YM Raja Ismail Edham Raja Othman 74
75
53 Gratitude 76
Raguna R. Arumugam 77
78
54 A True Educator 79
Ahmad Masdil Fazli Mohamed 80
81
55 Three Days Before My Birthday 82
Hadzrawiah Abu Kasim 83
84
56 Dexter 85
Tan Loon Sim

57 Alice’s New House
Dr. Norhafilah Abdullah

58 The Power of Sharing
Muhamad Yusni Mohd Junos

59 Reckless
Suraya Harun

60 Umi
Umaimah Mohd Idris

61 One Step Forward Two Steps Back
Dr. Suliana Wan Chik

62 War Ghosts
Truong Thi Nhu Ngoc

63 An Unfortunate Marriage
Sania Memon

64 Luck in the Midst of Epidemic
Shi Lulu

65 The Bridge of Fire
Dr. Yee Bee Choo

66 Accidentally In Love With ‘Pariban’
Dameria Magdalena Sidabalok

67 Kisses, Cuddles and Hugs
Norul Rafidah Redzuan

68 Tony, My Cat
Dr. Syamsina Zahurin Shamsuddin

69 Jonny the Dog
Dr. Junko Kambara

70 Beluga
Pan Zhuoyan

71 Angels
Kee Li Nah

72 Vir-World
Mohamad Nur Al Hakim Hamdan

73 Unforgettable Dream
Entesar Algburi
Epilogue

The Editor’s Note

Colours are one important notion in our lives. Without colours, life would be dull and bored. With
different colours in our foods, we get the right nutrients for our body. Hues of colours on the clothes we
wear make us feel differently every day. People from all walks of life that we meet every day colour our
lives as they evoke all kinds of feelings within us; the feeling of happiness, sadness, agony, regret and
many more.

Everyone has a colour preference. One likes to dress in blue more than the other colours. Others
like to mix primary colours to illuminate the secondary colours in their paintings. Some animals have the
privilege to change colours in blending with the environment. Whichever situations, colours seem to stand
out at all times.

On a similar note, the collection of short stories penned by pre-service teachers, in their fourth
semester for the course of TSLB3252 Creative Writing, TESL lecturers as well as invited national and
international writers, are “colourful”. The stories cover a wide range of genres such as fantasy, adventure,
romance, contemporary, mystery, horror, thriller and many more. Hence, the collection of all short stories
emerges with the name, Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories. Varied short stories in the collection
display pre-service teachers, lecturers and scholars’ diverse interest and abilities in producing creative
writing entries for readers of different age, especially for young adult learners.

I am hopeful that the creation of these short stories will bring colours to the readers’ hearts and
minds. Reading the short stories, one after another, fills me with great surprises and wonders, and I hope
that all the writers’ creative minds and their short stories will amaze you too. Cheers!

Dr. Kee Li Li

Editor of Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories

English Studies Unit
Language Department
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

i

Message from the Director of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
I am truly grateful to be given the opportunity to convey my message in Colours of Life: A Book of

Short Stories, which is produced as one of the final products of TSLB3252 Creative Writing. This publication
marks the success of the English Studies Unit, Language Department at the Institute of Teacher Education
Ipoh Campus in further utilising the readily available materials (i.e., pre-service teachers’ coursework) to
produce publication to be shared with the targeted audience.

It is truly a long and tedious process, ranging from giving the necessary input, practising writing the
different genres, providing ongoing and constructive feedback, editing numerous drafts before finally
reaching the final product. When the process is taken care of, the final product would be catered for, how
true it is. This wonderful notion is being realised when we get to witness numerous writings being compiled
into a great book of short stories. And what is more wonderful here is that not only the pre-service teachers
are writing but also the English lecturers and invited national as well as international writers from all over
the world.

Well done to all English lecturers at the English Studies Unit, Language Department, fourth
semester pre-service teachers of Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching (TESL) programme of June 2019 intake,
invited national as well as international writers. Your commitment in producing short stories of various
genres to be shared with all of us is highly appreciated.

Finally yet importantly, I take the opportunity to congratulate everyone and all who were involved
in this production for successfully writing and publishing short stories with much originality, which are
intertwined with creative illustrations. I hope that this immense effort in writing and publishing short stories
is able to motivate the pre-service teachers to write more, especially short stories, which will improve their
writing abilities and thus contribute to the better provision of their writing instruction to our future generation
later on. Thank you.

Dr. Yahya Osman
Director
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

ii

Message from the Deputy Director of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to all English lecturers at the English Studies
Unit of Language Department, TESL pre-service teachers as well as invited national and international
writers for the success in writing and publishing this great piece of work, which is entitled Colours of Life: A
Book of Short Stories. Thank you so much for your dedication in writing short stories, in which all of us can
enjoy reading them, especially during our leisure time.

I am also incredibly happy for the opportunity given to share my message in this publication. The
publication consists mainly of pre-service teachers’ creative writings from TSLB3252 Creative Writing final
projects. This book demonstrates the effort of English Studies Unit, Language Department at the Institute
of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus in creating a publication for distribution to different audiences.

How true it is that if the writing process gets the attention of writers, the ultimate product will be
produced excellently as what we can witness in this great compilation. This excellent idea comes to life
when we see a collection of works being combined into a fantastic book of short stories. What is more
amazing is that not just pre-service teachers, but also English lecturers and invited national and
international writers are writing for this compilation. There are numerous international writers from all over
the world such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Japan, Iraq and China. This forms a wonderful
collaboration between the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus and many universities worldwide.

Finally, and most importantly, I would want to congratulate again everyone who is engaged in this
project on successfully creating and releasing short stories with a lot of uniqueness that are interlaced with
imaginative visuals. I am hoping that this massive effort in writing and publishing short stories will inspire
all writers to write more in future, which will help them polishing their writing skills to produce more and
more amazing reading materials for all of us. Thank you very much.

Mr. Mohd. Khadri Fazil Rahman
Deputy Director
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

iii

Message from the Head of Language Department of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

I would like to extend my deepest congratulations to all English lecturers at the English Studies
Unit, Language Department of the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus, our TESL pre-service
teachers, as well as national and international writers, for their contribution and success in producing and
releasing Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories. Thank you so much for taking the time to write short
stories for this wonderful book. I truly appreciate this immense effort put forth by all writers.

I am also ecstatic to have been given the opportunity to convey my message in this publication.
This book displays the efforts of the English Studies Unit of the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
in producing a publication for dissemination to various audiences, nationally and internationally.
Congratulations once again to all of you who have made the publication a success. The amazing notion of
transitioning from process to result becomes a reality when we see a collection of works combined into a
lovely book of short stories.

In this wonderful compilation, we see the participation of not only our students and lecturers’
writings but also numerous international writers from countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan,
Japan, Iraq and China who contributed their short stories. This is an excellent effort to accomplish because
it establishes a fantastic link between the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus and many
universities all over the world. It is hoped that the strong partnership between the Institute of Teacher
Education Ipoh Campus and universities or colleges abroad would continue to strengthen in the future,
allowing more opportunities to collaborate on future writing projects.

Finally, I would want to congratulate everyone and all who are involved in this project on
successfully writing and distributing short stories that are rich in originality and interlaced with inventive
images. I am hopeful that this incredible effort in producing and publishing short stories will inspire all writers
to continue writing short stories in the future, and that they will be shared with audiences all over the world.

Mdm. Suraya Harun
Head of Language Department
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

iv

Message from the Deputy Head of Language Department of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh
Campus

I would like to convey my heartfelt congratulations to all English lecturers at the English Studies
Unit, Language Department of the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus, TESL pre-service teachers,
and national and international writers on the publication of Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories. Writing
a short story is more difficult than I anticipated, but also more satisfying. None of this would have been
possible without the help of all of authors who contributed their short stories to Colours of Life: A Book of
Short Stories.

Taking an idea and turning it into a short story is as difficult as it sounds. The experience is both
difficult and rewarding on the inside. The world is a better place because of authors who want to write and
share their works. Even better are the people who spare their time to create something so meaningful that
we can all appreciate in this great book of short stories.

Thank you to everyone who puts in the effort to write short stories and helps others do so too. What
is more amazing is that this collection includes contributions from not only our TESL pre-service teachers,
but also English academics at our campus and invited national and international writers. Numerous
international writers such as from Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Japan, Iraq and China have met to
contribute short stories with various settings, cultures and practices to be shared with all of us. We are
flattered by these kind gestures.

Finally, and most importantly, I would want to congratulate everyone engaged in this project on
successfully creating and releasing short stories with a lot of uniqueness that are interlaced with imaginative
visuals. Your efforts are greatly appreciated, and we anticipate many more publications like this in the
future, which will benefit many people.

Mdm. Tan Loon Sim
Deputy Head of Language Department
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

v

Message from the Head of English Studies Unit of Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt congratulations on the publication of
Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories to all English lecturers at the English Studies Unit, Language
Department of the Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus, TESL pre-service teachers, and national
and international writers. A short story is a piece of prose fiction that can usually be read in one sitting and
focuses on a single incident or series of linked incidents in order to portray a single feel or mood.

For this collection, Colours of Life: A Book of Short Stories, we witness numerous authors, who
have come together and mustered their efforts in writing and publishing many short stories for their targeted
audiences. We are so glad to be given the chance to indulge in all the short stories, especially of different
genres, setting, cultures and customs in this collection.

Thank you to everyone who works hard to write short stories and encourages others to do so as
well. Furthermore, not only do our TESL pre-service teachers contribute to this collection, but so do English
academics at our campus as well as invited national and international writers. Some of the international
writers come from Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Japan, Iraq and China, they have gathered to contribute
their works to be shared with all of us. We are delighted to see how well our cooperation has turned out for
this fantastic collection of short stories, and we hope to collaborate again in the future.

Finally, and most importantly, I congratulate everyone who is engaged in this project on
successfully writing and publishing short stories with a lot of uniqueness, which intertwined text and images.
I am hopeful that this incredible effort to create and publish short stories will inspire all writers to continue
writing them in the future, and that they will be read by audiences not only at our campus or in our country
but all around the world.

Mdm. Umaimah Mohd Idris
Head of English Studies Unit
Language Department
Institute of Teacher Education Ipoh Campus
31150 Hulu Kinta
Perak
Malaysia

vi

Faces of U5

Afifah Faris Alice Amira

Anis Ling Lutfil Mahfuzah

Azri Zubaidah Iman Nurhayati

Farhanah Hoe Yen Rabiatul Li-Anne

Jia Xin

vii

Faces of U6

Afifah Aiman Amrina Athirah

Catherine Syamil Faiz Arisya

Khairina Nurhusna Hamizah Chei Lie

Seina Jin Hua Shi Ying

viii

Faces of U7

Aisyah Amar Qasandra Tze Yie

Farah Zhi Yi Akhtar Khalis

Ain Farhana Nurin Yasmin

Nisa Yu Jing Syndy

ix

Faces of TESL Lecturers

Umaimah Mohd Idris Suraya Harun Tan Loon Sim Muhamad Yusni Mohd
Junos

Dr. Suliana Wan Chik Wan Ziraiza Wan Ismail Hadzrawiah Abu Kasim Dr. Kanakambal
Velusamy

Ahmad Masdil Fazli YM Raja Ismail Edham Dr. Kee Li Li Dr. Norhafilah Abdullah
Mohamed Raja Othman

Besira Bibi Mohd Ali Raguna R. Arumugam

x

Faces of Invited National and International Writers

Truong Thi Nhu Ngoc Sania Memon Shi Lulu Dr. Yee Bee Choo

Dameria Magdalena Norul Rafidah Dr. Junko Kambara Dr. Syamsina Zahurin
Sidabalok Redzuan Shamsuddin

Pan Zhouyan Kee Li Nah Mohamad Nur Al Hakim Entesar Algburi
Hamdan

xi

The Interloper by A’fifah Wazir
It was a cool, breezy night. Darkness had engulfed the magnificent sun, paving the way for the
moon to show its sight. Alone at home, I was, as my parents had gone to attend the wedding banquet of
my elder sister. I was down with a bad flu and was unable to join them. All I could do was sitting by my
window and waiting for my parents to return home. All of a sudden, a moving object caught my eyes almost
instantly.
I looked down from the window and under the mellow and radiant moonlight; I could see a man
climbing over the front gate into the porch. With solely the moonlight to illuminate the surroundings, I could
only catch a glimpse of the person; hence, I was unable to identify how the intruder looked like. The next
moment, I heard the sound of a key turning swiftly, the intruder obviously attempted to open the door to the
living room.
The hinges creaked loudly as the door opened. I wondered how this intruder actually got his hands
on the key to my house and I concluded that he found it under the flowerpot where my father always left
the spare key, in case he forgot his. I crept out of the room as quietly as a mouse, trying so hard not to
sneeze or even sniff, as I was afraid of alerting the intruder.
The intruder made his way slowly through the maze of chairs and tables in the living room.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash! From my hiding place on the stairs, I could see that the intruder had
tripped on one of the chairs and fell.
He then slowly picked himself up from the pile of chairs he had tripped on and continued to make
his way up to the dark staircase. I quickly ran into my room and armed myself with a baseball bat. I could
hear the floorboards of the staircase creak as he approached.
The intruder was now standing in front of my parents’ room door. He turned the knob slowly, opened
the door, and entered the bedroom, which was supposed to be my parents’ private domain. Almost
immediately, he began to rummage through the drawers and wardrobe looking for something valuable.
I decided that if I did not stop him, I would never get a chance to do so. I plucked up my courage,
standing right behind the intruder who was apparently too engrossed in his search to notice me standing
behind. I raised the baseball bat, brought it crashing down on the intruder’s back, and knocked him out.
I ran over to the light switch and flicked it on. To my surprise, the intruder, whom I had knocked out,
was actually my father! I looked up at the dressing table and saw a box, which was supposed to contain
the present for my elder sister and right next to it, was my father’s house key.
Now everything made sense. My father had forgotten to bring the present and came back to get it
and as he had forgotten the gate key, he could not open the front gate. I looked at my father as he began
to regain consciousness and braced myself for the scolding he was going to give me.

1

Passengers by Ahmad Faris Hakimi Abd Jamil

Years and years ahead, in 2050, the civilisation had progressed, resulting in numerous scientific
projects mushroomed and explorations carried out. Many new explorations had been done and in progress
to benefit humankind.

Concurrently, humankind had also exploited the earth so severely that it had been nearly at the
end of its age. The poor earth had fallen so sick due to various inhumane acts caused by the selfishness
and greed of human beings. In those years, humans had no choice; but to find alternatives for a living as
the earth would no longer be able to accommodate the current mass population of nine billion people or
more.

The genius and rich surely were one-step ahead than anyone else. They developed many
alternative projects, even from 10 years back then. Among all the projects, one of the most outstanding
one, “Passenger”, had caught the eyes of the people, especially the rich. The project was about the
transportation of passengers on a specifically built “space hotel” for the people who could afford to have a
vacation away from the earth. Known as “Galaxytel” journey, the passengers embark on the path to reach
the space hotel. The developer of the project, Telsa Cooperation, built a rocket named “Apollo 619” to
transport all the passengers there. In fact, the space hotel was not static; it was actually more like a gigantic
ship, which wandered around the galaxy so the people going there were “passengers” instead of “guests”.

The trip of the vacation usually took around two weeks, including the time of passengers’
transportation from the earth. The two weeks’ duration was a leisure for the passengers, as the people who
could afford the vacation were surely rich, it would not matter even if they were not working for two weeks
or more and spending more than USD 25 million for the trip.

Telsa Cooperation actually developed the project since 2038, years before its launching in mid-
2049, where the developer transported its first passengers’ trip of that time. The trip was very limited due
to the necessary safety precautions and other crucial aspects such as the limitations of the transportation
rocket, as well as keeping its elegance and prioritising the privacy and comfort of the passengers. The trip
had been regular for months as it was safe and comforting, it was suitable for the people who would like to
take a break from the massacre on the earth.

However, shockingly after many successful launches, on one unlucky day in 2050, an unexpected
storm of meteors had struck the outer space, where sadly it hit the space hotel. In the irreversible incident,
the meteors smashed the hotel into pieces and everyone perished. The storm was unexpected as the
developer built the hotel on a safe region based on thorough research done. Right after the fatal incident,
the United Nations (UN) banned all outer space projects. Therefore, all humans, regardless of rich or poor
had to just stay on the earth; struggling to survive.

2

The Reaper’s Scythe by Alice Tan Xin Gee

The eyes of a demon those were, two black orbs, like bottomless pits leading to the underworld; the
pupils red, like spider lilies blossoming in the depths of the unknown.

I felt the warmth in my mouth. I licked my cracked lips as I took in the sweet scent. It was so, so,
so sweet. I yearned for more but my mouth was already full of it and it kept splattering out and trickling
down, leaving delectable rivers of crimson on the ground. How I wished I could devour that pathetic, writhing
figure at my feet in just one gulp. Then, I savoured good food with each taste, bite and sip; hence, I should
not put my prize to waste.

Grinning, I stooped down and scrutinised the struggling man under the moonlight. What a prize, I
thought, satisfied for having hunted down a beautiful prey. He was not tall, but he had quite a distinctive
feature. What more, he strode out of a pub with girls flocking around him like a brood of chickens while his
pitiful fiancée waited for him at home, all the more reason for me to have him all to myself.

My lips barely scraped the smooth skin of his nape when the stench of a ghoul invaded my senses.
Sighing, I shoved the man against a wall and wiped the blood off my face. I had a reputation to care for, yet
my notoriety preceded me. The man let out a final, muffled whimper as he slid down the wall, painting it a
brilliant dash of red with the innards spilling out of his gut. His skull ruptured and his head lolled sideway
before he laid motionless on the ground. Shaking my head, I stared longingly at his stiff body. I had not
even started.

“Give it to me, girl” the ghoul spat. His voice was hoarse and he looked as if he had not eaten for
weeks. Despite being some distance apart, I could smell his rancid breath, which almost triggered me to
puke and spill whatever human flesh my insides were only starting to digest. It was all I could do, not to gag
and look like a fool by throwing up right there. “This is my hunting ground!” growled the ghoul. “Mine!”

All thoughts of his nauseating breath fleeted. I cocked an eyebrow, amused by his advancement
on me. The joy of a duel did not come from starting one, but in ending one, I mused, preparing for the
inevitable. He was a hair’s breadth away from me…

There was a sharp hiss of steel and I smirked at the familiar touch of worn leather in my grasp. The
silver blade gave off a malicious glint, and the splatter of blood sounded like a gentle drizzle on a still night
as it sprayed in all directions from his severed head. The ghoul did not anticipate his death. All he saw was
wisps of black fumes that dissipated almost instantly; all he felt was that of cold steel against his neck,
which lingered until the eternal darkness consumed him entirely.

I furrowed my brow in disdain at the gruesome sight. I preferred things quick and neat. My hair,
matted with blood, clung to my face. Scowling, I walked towards my meal and took a sniff, then kicked at
the severed limbs, ruefully deciding that I had lost my appetite.

From the corner of my eye, a human child stared, wide-eyed, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
An unpleasant scent permeated the air, I realised that he had wet his pants. His unintelligible stuttering
began to annoy me so I thought it best to take my leave. Abruptly, I halted in my tracks, for my name left
his trembling lips. I tried my best to fix him with my gentlest gaze. Still, how gentle could it be, especially
when it came from someone who bathed in the blood of others? I forced a laugh; an explanation was
mandatory.

“I was once just like you,” I swallowed, suddenly feeling a lump in my throat.
“But they cursed me,” I continued, “and I became the Reaper’s Scythe. Something
slid down my cheeks—they tasted of blood, but a tad salty. Was this mine, or his?
After a feeble attempt at a smile, I turned and left.

The child looked on as the girl’s silhouette, merging with the shadows and
vanishing into the night. Her eyes were penetrating, unfathomable. Her words had

a tale to tell, and her ghost of a smile seemed strangely heartfelt.

3

Rachel’s Journey by Amira Rosnini Sharizal

On one fine evening, Rachel took a stroll down a street. On her way to a beautiful lake, the radiant
sunflowers along the street surprised her. She decided to pick the sunflowers to make a bouquet and put
in her room. Rachel liked the sunflowers very much.

While she was plucking the flowers, she did not realise that she had strayed too far away from her
path. In front of her, she was shocked to see a big cave. Out of her curiosity, she walked slowly into the
cave. Without realising it, she was already in the middle of the cave.

She was very amazed to see a small river with shiny and bluish water. The marine life in the river
was also very attractive. All of the fish were different from what she once saw in real life. “What kind of fish
is this?” asked Rachel weirdly. Some fish had their hair and crown.

All of a sudden, she heard a very sweet voice echoing in the cave. Rachel searched for the source
of the sound. She saw a couple of bats singing in harmony. Rachel rubbed her eyes, disbelieving what she
saw. “What did I see just now? Am I dreaming?” asked Rachel while pinching her arm. “Ouch, I’m not
dreaming. This is real. I saw a couple of singing bats.”

The stream led to a pool. The water in the pool emitted a brilliant shine. She went closer to the pool
to see what was inside. Rachel was surprised to see that the pool, full of gems! “Wow, I would like to own
all of these for a long time!” The wonderful sight amazed Rachel.

“If I own all of these treasures, I could be the richest person in my village. I can also pay for my
mother’s treatment at the hospital. Well, I think these treasures had no guardian, so I can have them!” said
Rachel happily.

“Hey!” A loud and rough voice echoed in the cave shaken Rachel. “I am the guardian of these
treasures. You can only take what is needed and not out of greed,” said the voice.

Rachel took the gems just enough for her and for her mother’s treatment. “Thank you, guardian.
I’m sorry for my greed just now.”

“Never mind, my dear. I knew that you’ve faced a hard life without your father. Moreover, your
mother is paralysed. You always pray for your father’s prosperity and try to give your mother the best
treatment. You’re such a good daughter,” the voice said at length.

“But…but how did you know that?” questioned Rachel.

“This cave is always there though you’ve never seen it before. If you want to come again next time,
just pluck three sunflowers behind the big and oval stone. Then you’ll see the path towards this cave. Do
remember, keep this secret to yourself”, remind the guardian. “You can come here whenever you want and
whenever you need. This cave is always open for you,” added the guardian.

Rachel walked to her home; she kept thinking whether the
situation was just a dream. After she got out of the cave, she looked
back and saw nothing behind her. The cave was missing but in front of
her, she saw a big and oval stone and some nicely arranged
sunflowers. She smiled and walked towards her house with a precious
and odd moment hovered in her mind.

4

Sacrifice by Anis Safiah Mohammad Zamri
“You want me to die, but I want to live on.” Those words echoed in my mind as I watched Emily
writhed in pain. I could not take my eyes off her; her screams were piercing my ears. All I could do was to
watch in horror. The kidnapper injected her with a type of black liquid, and his sinister laugh cut through
me. I was so distracted watching Emily that I did not notice he had moved. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on
my shoulder, and seconds before, I felt my entire body on fire. I screamed until my voice gave out. It was
hours before the pain stopped. Leaving behind an empty, dirty cell with only Emily and me, the kidnapper
could not be seen anywhere.
I crawled to Emily’s side. “Emily! Please wake up, don’t leave me, and please stay alive.” I
frantically whispered to her. I felt a sense of relief as she stirred with a groan of pain. My heart shattered
when I heard her begging to end the torment. “Please, I can’t take it anymore, I just want to die.” All I could
do was whispering reassuring words, telling her someone would rescue us that we could not give up. A
traitorous part of my mind was scoffing at the idea; it has already been months, who would save us? I
quickly shook the thought out of my mind, I had a family to get back to, and they must be hunting for me.

I did not know how much time had passed by since that day. As I sat on the cold, stony ground, I
reminisced on the day the kidnapper approached us. It was right after graduation, Emily and I had gone on
a vacation to Columbia. We had a great time visiting popular tourist sites when a stranger bumped into us
and spilled Emily’s drink. We had assumed that he was a local based on his tanned skin. He apologised
and to make up for it, he said he would show us a place where only the locals knew. I was skeptical, but
Emily was excited to experience something new. I tried to convince her but she kept saying, “Come on,
Amara. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Besides, he looks nice, what could go wrong?”

I came back to reality when the door slammed open. Emily caught her breath in a startled gasp of
pain. Beside me, she started trembling in fear. I held her hand as we listened to his footsteps approaching
our cell. We kept our heads down, begging in our minds that he came down just to taunt us, not to torture
us. A glint of metal caught my eyes as he stood in front of our cell. My eyes widened as I saw he had a gun
strapped to his belt. At that moment, a reckless plan emerged in my mind. “Would you look at that; it seems
like I have two lambs that should be put down,” he said with a sinister grin on his face. I whispered to Emily,
“On my count, I want you to run as fast as you can, do you hear me?” She nodded her head.

As he came closer, I counted down, “3, 2, 1. Now!” I charged straight at him and tackled him. I tried
to reach for his gun but obviously, he was overpowering me! A gunshot rang through the room before a
sharp pain emerged from my abdomen. Emily screamed frantically before running out of the room. The
kidnapper immediately chased after her. As I lay bleeding on the ground, I thought, “I guess I die for you,
and you live for me”. I prayed that Emily got out safely. That should have been the end of my suffering, but
my kidnapper came back and locked the cell door. The last thing I heard before blacking out was “You’re
lucky, I was a vet.”

5

Saudade by Ling Xin Yi

I woke up from a weird dream to the sound of my alarm clock. With half-conscious mind, I wiggled
my arm, searching for the clock to stop the relentless ringing sound. It was a little earlier than the usual time
but I could not sleep anymore. In my dream, a blonde man was hugging a motionless body. The ashen
skin, the awful sad stares of hopelessness, and the onslaught of sobs and tears were still haunting me.
Turning on the table light, I reached for the photo frame, which was resting on the bedside table. The smiling
face etched in the frame was still the same. “Good morning, Taylor.” Raising up, I opened my wardrobe,
searching for an outfit to enlighten my mood. A high waist cigarette pants, long sleeve white top, and
Taylor’s favourite tailored blazer, these were what she would be wearing when she was in a bad mood.

The time was still early. Sitting on my balcony, looking at the bonsai brought back the memory
when Taylor was sitting beside me while styling the bonsai. It was surprising how the pain of living without
someone you loved could make you felt like you had lost everything. The mental pain I endured was not
the same as the usual physical pain. For a long time, I felt like a zombie, with no other sense of emotion. I
would not see the charming smile again or hear the word “I love you!” anymore. However, the life sentence
of living without Taylor ended one day when I turned on our wedding song. The bubbly feeling was so
refreshing. From that moment, I knew how much I loved her. I would love to be with her forever. I decided
to “resurrect” Taylor, and back to life, she was.

“Are you crazy? Taylor is dead!” I continued to polish my nails as if the critique fell on deaf ears.
My family, friends and acquaintances had disregarded me. Nevertheless, I had never regretted the choice
I made. I did not care about their judgement since my “everything” was back. With that, I pruned the
branches that had outgrown and started my make-up routine. Taylor liked shimmer make-up. I ought to try
it again.

The rising sun shone softly on the city streets; the fluffy clouds decorated the rosy hue across the
morning sky. I walked to my car, trying hard to ignore the two figures who were standing two blocks away
from my house. I caught glimpses of Mrs. Brown and Madam Joe. My eyebrows tangled in a confused
frown. Why did they keep talking behind me after Taylor’s death? Yes, it was undeniable that she had left
me forever. However, I was not going to waste my time mourning when I could live. Taylor would not like
it. Probably because they did not acknowledge my existence but they had no right to judge me. I went into
my car, readjusted my feeling, and drove straight to the office.

The endless meeting was finally over. Coming out of the meeting room, I received a new message.
“ETA is 4 pm. Cya at the entrance - Sandy.” My daughter! I started to realise how lucky I was when I finally
had the chance to see her again. It had been two years since I met her last time during Taylor’s funeral.
Without wasting any time, I quickly grabbed my car key and headed straight to the airport. Luckily, I arrived
at Wellington Airport just in time. From the moment I got off from my Mercedes-Benz, I could sense the
glance from everyone. The silent, stunned crowds were gaping at me as I strutted past them with my newly
bought 4.7-inch Gucci stilettos to the meeting spot. With the mouth a little drawn back at the corner, I stared
anxiously at the empty entrance, legs shaking. I could not hold back my excitement.

The clouds were escalating up the window. I took off my AirPods to feel
the racing heart. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Wellington International
Airport. The local time is 4:15 pm...” It had been two years since I was in New
Zealand. “From now on, I am a fresh graduate law student from Melbourne
University.” The fresh air of Wellington blew pass my tightened face. “Dad, I am
back,” I whispered. Pulling my luggage to the entrance while searching for the
familiar face, I heard someone calling me, “Sandy!” I turned around. A woman with
shimmer make-up was waving her hand furiously. A flood of tears was gushing
down her cheeks. I stopped at where I stood and peered intently at the woman. I
was confused, so I took a step back. An unsettling feeling began welling inside
me. I could not believe what I had just seen. With a shaky voice, I squealed: “Dad,
is that you?”

6

Second Chance by Lutfil Hadi Abdul Razif
Today marks the fourth day, where she has been waking up in a dream that feels real like it is a
duplicate of reality. At first, Sarah does not notice anything and she enjoys waking up to know that the time
would not change because tomorrow will be another repeated day of her life, but deep in her heart, she
wants this to stop at once. Her day always goes through the same dull routine where she even experiments
to revolve on the situation differently every day in hopes to make her day go differently tomorrow.
Feeling suffocated from repeating the same routine, one day, she plans to rebel against everyone,
including her parents. That day, when her only best friend asks for her help, she spurts nonsense of how
her best friend has been a burden to her all this time. Knowing that her days will be repetitive, she even
breaks her own rule, which is no smoking and no liquor drinking.

In the dark of the night, she sneaks out from the house where this is the starting point of her
becoming the most rebellious person that she would ever be. She knows that one of her friends in the
school is throwing a wild party at her rented house. Showing up in front of the house dressing flirtatiously,
everyone inside the party looks at her differently and even from the entrance, there are some boys trying
to hit on her. Her appearance and behaviour, before and after, are now poles apart; she is not her usual
self anymore.

At the party, she is feeling incomplete and uneasy because she realises how bad she has treated
the people in her circle. Just because of the one rebellious day that she has longed for, it has almost caused
her to lose everyone who is precious to her, especially her loved ones. Then comes a thought in her mind
saying, “What if today is the last day of her repeating dream or somewhat repeating life?” That thought
lingers in her mind like a series of smoke signals. Maybe this repeated life is a way to show her what life
could offer to those whom need a second chance in their lives, but more often than not, people are always
yearning for more.

At this point, anybody could get a second chance, but would you rather give up the first try that life
has offered or grab all that life has offered and be grateful for it? Would Sarah get the second chance that
would wipe every wrongdoing that she does in only a one-day time or would she have to bear the
consequences for her entire life?

7

Realisation by Mahfuzah Ibrahim
Hi, my name is Merilda and I am 25 years old. A boring introduction it is, but what else is there to
know about me. My life is dull and uneventful. I work a 9-to-5 job with a boss who keeps on tailing me,
trying to get my attention. He is 55 for God’s sake! And what makes it more shocking and disgusting is that
he has a wife and five kids who are near my age! Ugh! Just thinking about him makes me want to puke my
lunch out.
Now, you must think that I am a goddess or Megan Fox’s doppelgänger since my stinking rich boss
is chasing after me. However, I am sorry to disappoint you because I am the literal definition of Plain Jane
and Ugly Betty. Okay, I might be over-exaggerating but there is nothing special about me. And I think that
might be the reason why I have never had a boyfriend in my 25 years of life. Oh! Can you hear that? That’s
me crying in seven different languages.
Well, that’s enough. Let’s be serious. I know people say not to compare your life with others as
everyone has their own timeline, but I want to experience what others are experiencing. Imagine waking up
one day to a room full of chocolates and flowers. Feeling loved and pampered, you start your day with
breakfast in bed feeling ecstatic and excited to begin your beatific day. Ah! How nice it would feel to love
and be loved.
At this point, you must be saying, “Merilda, you are single because your standards are way too
high.” I hate to admit it, but that is true to some extent. However, let’s be honest, who in their right mind
would like to spend the rest of their life with someone that they do not like? Obviously, we all want the best
person to be the love of our life and the father of our kids, right?
Sighing, I think about the ungodly amount of hours I used to spend on dating applications like
“Tinder” and “OkCupid” trying to find ‘The One’. Astonishingly, although I look nonchalant on the outside, I
used to go on innumerable dates and an excruciating amount of small talks where we only talked about our
favourite colours. Oh, how stupid I was. I can’t believe I used to think that men are the key to my happiness
and by having a man by my side to make me happy, my life will be complete.
I wouldn’t want to return to my old self as now that I have overcome my desperation and need for
a man, I realise that I can make myself happier than anyone else could. I am the key to my happiness. I am
what completes me. I am what makes me, me. Why do I have to settle for less when I do not need a man
to feel beautiful, wanted and happy? I am enough. “Ting!” I unlock my phone and see a notification from
“Tinder”. Hmm, who might this be? Wow! He’s cute! His eyes are dreamy, slicked-back hair, perfect teeth
and most importantly, he is tall! Well, I have a date, bye!
P.S. In case you’re wondering how I look like, here’s a picture of me!

8

Dreams by Muhammad Azri Mohd Sobri
Bobby was a 15 years old boy and had problems with his weight. Bobby had obesity at a young
age. When he went to school, most of the students did not want to be friends with him. He only had two
good friends, John and Jessica. John and Jessica always supported Bobby; they encouraged him not to
look down on himself. All people are special. Bobby had a desire to join the school’s football team and he
kept it to himself and friends.
Bobby always drew himself in a national football jersey, but one day he forgot to bring the drawing
home. When he arrived at the school the next day, all his classmates made fun of him because they found
the drawing. Bobby was sad and told it to John and Jessica. Both of them were furious and told Bobby that
they had to do something about it. They asked him to start dieting and exercising to get a better body so
he could prove it to his classmates. Bobby started to eat a proper diet and did exercise every day with a
strong will to be a football player and prove to his classmates that he could change himself to be a better
person.
After 6 months of hard work, he successfully obtained his ideal body but it was not enough. His
classmates were amazed with his transformation but Bobby wanted more. Bobby went to play football every
day and practised alone to improve his skills. Bobby did not care whether it was raining or too hot, he kept
training to achieve what he wanted. He also injured himself many times but he did not give up and kept on
training. The time for football team selection for his school came and Bobby participated and easily got a
slot in the team. Most of his classmates asked for forgiveness from Bobby. After that, Bobby had many
friends and most of them want to be his close friends, but Bobby did not forget who were with him when he
had nothing. They were no other than his two good friends, Jessica and John.
Bobby was very happy that he could play football for his school but when he was back home and
looked at his wall’s room, he realised he could not just be satisfied with what he just had because he still
had a long journey in front of him. Bobby wanted to play for his nation and make his parents and best friends
proud of him. He joined the best soccer team in town and kept training with a coach who could teach him
all about football such as strategies that he did not have knowledge about because training in school was
very different.
When Bobby was 17 years old, he joined the national team, which was under 18 years old. He was
very excited and happy. He delivered the happy news to his parents and best friends, and they jumped with
joy because Bobby went from zero to hero!

9

The Devil by Noor Zubaidah Mohamad Ismail

On an icy-cold night, under the light of the gibbous moon, a man-faced devil lurked around the
town of Sleepy Hollow waiting impatiently for the perfect moment to embark on a killing spree to quench

his thirst for vengeance.

The cold weather seeped through my skin as I shivered terribly in the morning. I blew my trembling
hands and soon felt my breath carried the energy to warm my near-frozen hands. Perhaps, the trembling
had nothing to do with the chilly day. Two corpses found lying in a pool of blood were the main culprits. The
predator slashed both victims numerous times on their chests and dug holes to take the most precious
organ of the human’s body, the heart. Along with the bodies, laid a note that said, “The DEVIL and his
ANGEL.”

The killings were premeditated with no fingerprints to be found, and the predator’s weapon was
missing. I analysed the blood splatter closely, and eventually found footprints that led to the back door. I
quickly measured the footprints and obtained the approximate height of the ruthless murderer, a vindictive
six feet tall man. I sent a sample of the footprints to the laboratory for further analysis.

Autopsy reports showed that Anna and Marley who worked at Hollow Hospital received anesthetics
and their hearts extracted forcibly using a scalpel. They both died due to heavy blood loss. I read the note
again because the predator highlighted deliberately the words “DEVIL” and “ANGEL.” I activated my
Sherlock mode, tried to decipher the words and had a strong hunch that the words indicated people’s
names. If he considered himself as a “Devil”, so I have to look for his “Angel”.

I drove my convertible car to the Hollow Hospital and searched through the staff records. “Aha! Got
it!” I exclaimed. I investigated “Angel” among the staff and discovered that she was Anna and Marley’s best
friend. Halfway through the inquiry, I received a phone call from the Forensic Department. Traces of
Adirondack soils found near the mountainous areas were evident in the footprint samples. I called up my
team and drove straight to Hollow Mount, the vampire-white mountain in the town.

The dark, gloomy atmosphere engulfed the Hollow Mount. As I stepped down from my convertible
car, I had a queer feeling of someone watching me. “Bang!” A blow hit my head and my sight turned blurry,
thus I fell down to the ground. I woke up to find a pair of amber eyes locked on me. In the silent world, time
fell forward one click. A glimpse of a six feet tall man stood in front of me.

“Who are you?” I asked while struggling to set myself free.

“Me? I'm a Devil. I took the hearts of inhumane women who killed my
Angel,” he said while giving me a sinister laugh.

He pressed the scalpel to his throat. I could see his fearless amber
eyes shone brightly, as though he was preparing himself for this moment, to
die in front of me and to mock the police for being incompetent to capture
Angel’s killer.

The blaring red and blue sirens distracted him. In the meantime, I
untied the rope around my wrist using a piece of shattered glass. I reached
for my Glock 22, pulled the trigger and fired him at his left leg. As he fell, I
kicked the scalpel away from him and handcuffed him. I said, “Angel would
never want you to be heartless.” Tears rolled down his cheeks and he
screamed hysterically as if he wanted to escape from the hell that he created
for his own.

10

Silent Pain by Nur Iman Nabila Mohd Sakri
“Dad, help! Mom, there’s blood in the kitchen!” The phone call ended. Ahmad woke up with sweats
running all over his body. The nightmare kept on appearing every time he wanted to sleep. Even though it
had been five years, the incident had never left him. He looked at the time and saw that it was 6:00 a.m.
He decided to take a shower and get ready to perform his Subuh prayer. After praying, he spent another
moment in pensive silence before he rose. His beloved son and wife's faces appeared in his mind. He truly
missed them. Trying to distract himself from remembering that tragedy, he went to get ready to go for work.
Ahmad was a hardworking police officer who was always fully committed to his work.
He went to the police station to perform his duty. It was almost lunchtime. One of his colleagues,
Raju, approached him and said, “Let’s eat lunch at the restaurant across the street.” Ahmad agreed to join
him. They left their office and walked towards their favourite restaurant, which was of a short distance away.
They had a delightful lunch. As they were leaving the restaurant after finishing their meal, a motorcycle
flashed in front of them, and a woman shouted at the crossing.
Both of Ahmad and Raju ran to get the woman to see if anything bad happened to her.
Unfortunately, they could not chase after the thieves because they were already speeding up their
motorcycle, and Ahmad and his colleague did not have their cars with them. How fortune did not favour the
thieves! A few minutes later, Ahmad’s phone rang. They received information on an accident involving a
motorcycle and a car near their place. The two men, thrown into the air, collided with a car before falling on
the road. They were lying motionlessly on the road. Deeply shaken by the entire incident, the victim was as
though remained in a trance. Cuts and bruises covered many parts of her body. They brought the woman
to the closest clinic to get treatment.
Ahmad sat on the chair, surprised, while waiting at the clinic. What surprised Ahmad the most was
that the woman reminded him of his late wife the first time he saw her. Their faces were almost identical,
which surprised Ahmad even more for a brief moment. Ahmad almost lost himself in his thought but he
reminded himself that his wife was no longer alive, and the woman was merely a doppelganger. Raju
approached Ahmad and asked, “Are you all right, Ahmad?” “Nothing. I'm fine,” he replied.
Yet, deep down inside, he longed for his late wife and son. When Ahmad was not at home due to
work, five years ago, a thief broke into their house. His wife and son lost their lives in the robbery. He rushed
home when his son suddenly called him. He heard his son saying, “Dad, help! Mom, there’s blood in the
kitchen!” He returned home to find both of them covered in blood and lying motionless in the kitchen. Since
that day, he had lived with regrets, and he had promised himself that he would always help people in need
so that they would not suffer as what he had experienced.

11

Nekropolis by Nurhayati Mamat

One Christmas Eve, a German boy who was not even 12 years old, stood next to a glistering
restaurant. Elegant women and lavish men stood, chattering and clinking their glasses in celebration.
Despite the fact that each table was traversing their own conversation, it was like an unspoken rule to keep
your voice as murmurs or as one could mistake as whispering. Even their voices sound delicate, the boy
thought bitterly. This was their life. The boy could not help but felt as if the wall of the restaurant was acting
as a barrier; a reminder that he was not one of them. He was aware of the distaste in their eyes when they
met his, but he took no notice of them.

He was just another poor boy wearing rugged clothing with dull blue eyes. Indeed, he was.

The country at that moment was not how he envisioned it would be. From the recent election, the
boy thought the king’s claim on world peace and ending poverty was plain pathetic. He knew someone
worthy should be in power, especially since the immigrants had been too comfortably settling in his country.
Plastering a blank face, he walked back to where his kind belonged. The isolated lower class street reeked
of smoke and urine as the wind whipped through his brunette hair. Grasping the knob of the shabby house,
he unlatched the door as it shook under its weight. The smell of alcohol wafted out from the building and
coursed through his nostrils, but the child hardly even batted an eyelid. “Sweet, sweet home!” He
contemplated grimly.

Breathing in the faint foul smell wafting from upstairs, the boy felt a rush of adrenaline as he recalled
Cissy. He reminisced the feeling of choking his sister’s cat using the knitted scarf, wrapped around its neck.
The boy could not understand the cat’s fascination with his favourite wool scarf, but that unfortunate
morning, he decided to do a little experiment. As expected, his lack of remorse amazed him immensely.

Diverting his attention to the present, the boy shook the memory away. Glancing at the coffee table
in the middle of the room, the boy took note of the plans his father had been working on. The dim living
room illuminated his father’s recent assignment, the Yertsi raid, an airship designed to carry approximately
1800 lbs. of bombs. The boy knew his father had a career that could land him a free ticket to jail, but you
could only do so much without money, which was exactly why he could not let this opportunity go to waste.
The boy had been patient, stalking, and waiting to strike. He had an insatiable hunger for power, an
excessive hunger, which is untamable by merely taking a measly cat’s life or shaving off his sister’s golden
locks of hair. Thankfully, one of the benefits of his father’s job was it guaranteed there would always be
explosives scattered around the house and a smart boy like him was bound to keep some as souvenirs.
Tonight, he decided, would be perfect. Not knowing it would be the last night of their life, the boy’s father
as usual blacked out after one too many drinks, whilst his sister settled after a night of crying.

Hitching up his backpack, the boy crumbled his father’s lifetime work he
had stolen before running off into the night. Unbeknown to him, the exact moment
he arrived at his destination, he heard the sounds of a shabby house far away,
blown into pieces. The proud building stood before him, a military academy
known for its high profile students.

“Who are you, boy?” a bearded man came after the boy’s fierce knocks.

“My name’s Stefan, Sir.”

“Stefan what?”

“Just Stefan, Sir.”

12

Hot Chocolate by Nurul Farhanah Nazri Shaharuddin

I was busy organising some new books on a shelf when suddenly a man in a blue hoodie entered
the bookstore with water trickling down from the tip of his hair. I stopped organising the books and walked
towards him.

“Hello. How can I help you?” I said to him in a welcoming tone. Upon hearing my voice, he looked
straight into my eyes. I could see his lips trembling and they had taken on a pale bluish tint. Before he could
answer my question, I walked to the counter, took a dry towel from my bag and gave it to him. “Thank you,”
he mumbled in a deep husky voice.

I looked through the glass door behind him and I could see that the rain was pouring heavily. “I
think the rain isn’t subsiding, and if you don’t mind you can stay here for a while,” I said to him nervously as
there was no one else in the bookstore at that moment. Except for the total stranger and me, there was no
one else.

“Sure,” he said with a gentle smile on his face. Apart from his deep husky voice, I could feel that
there was a sense of genuineness in the smile that he gave me and it actually helped in easing my
nervousness.

I walked towards the pantry at the back of the bookstore to make a cup of hot chocolate. While I
was stirring the drink, I looked from the corner of my eyes and I could see that the man was looking at the
books in the romance section.

“Here’s a cup of hot chocolate to warm you up. You can pick a book from that shelf and read it
while enjoying the drink.” I said to him while placing the cup on a table. “It would be great if you can
recommend me a book from this shelf,” he suggested, while shyly pointing towards the books in the
romance section. “Recently, I have finished reading the novel called ‘All The Bright Places’ and I think it is
a story worth reading,” I answered briefly as I was too shy to talk to him longer.

I could see he was struggling to find the book that I mentioned so I went to him, grabbed the book
and put it in his hands. He thanked me and started reading the book. We both stayed quiet for the whole
time to the point that it felt like the silence was deafening.

After some time, the rain stopped and the man stood up from his seat. He walked towards me and
said, “Thank you for recommending me the book. Actually, I’m not really into romance novels and the only
reason I asked for your recommendation is because I was trying to talk to you. If you wouldn’t mind, can I
meet you again? I’m interested to know more about you.”

Flustered by his words, I was unable to answer him immediately. He let out a chuckle and said, “It’s
okay, I’m not forcing you to give an answer right now. This is my number. I hope you will message me later
and we can grab some hot chocolate together.” He grabbed a pen on the counter and started writing down
his phone number on a piece of paper.

He turned around and walked towards the door.
As his figure gradually faded away from my vision, I
snapped back to reality. Without realising it, my hands
were already holding tightly to the piece of paper that he
left on the counter.

13

Last Seen by Peh Hoe Yen

“Where is he?" I asked, annoyed. Just as I finished asking the question to myself, a silver Myvi
stopped in front of me. “Hey, sorry for being late,” YJ apologised in a careless manner. “Uh-Huh, are you
though? I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes. Not to mention the time I lost waiting for a reply. Are you going
to take responsibility for my lost youth?” I crawled into the front seat and grumbled while giving him the eye-
roll.

It had been ages since I last met him. The first and only time we met was in October 2020. I
happened to be in KL to shop with my friends that afternoon, but since I lived further, I had to catch the train
to the city much earlier. Then, I thought of YJ, an acquaintance whom I met through Facebook. It turned
out that he was from the same town as me, so I asked him if he wanted to meet up, and I could take him to
some spots in the city that he had never been to. We had a great time. I brought him to Kwai Chai Alley
and had brunch in SS2. He paid for the food I ate, which I told him I would pay for his when we met next
time. I looked forward to hanging out with him again. He was a nice person. However, it had been harder
and harder to get him through texts, and my messages were left unread.

Finally, I managed to trace him after those months, and he finally decided on a date to meet up
instead of telling me “See how” and “I have to check out when my break is.” I found that unacceptable since
it took months for him to “check when his break is.” It was not as if I was desperate for company; I just
wanted to repay his favour since I felt like I was “in debt” but I would love to hang out with him too! I meant
he technically owed me that.

“So, where are we going this time?” he asked. “How about the new Arabica outlet in Pavilion? I’ll
treat you a cup of their famous cuppa. We can also check out Donki to see if there's any fancy Japanese
items to buy later,” with that, we began our shopping trip in Bukit Bintang. The coffee at Arabica was
delightful, and we had some Japanese Dons at Donki. In the end, it was time for us to go back. I stopped
by YJ's house before sending me to the nearest MRT station since he had to pass some old bicycle
equipment to a buyer.

We took many photos to commemorate this hard-to-achieve get-together. I was sure he also had
a great time! As usual, I was going to post them on my social media and tag him. “One moment, why is this
happening? Why can't I tag him? “He doesn’t unfriend me, does he?” I wondered. This came as a strange
occurrence, since there was no valid reason for him to do so.

I checked his Facebook, Instagram and even WhatsApp, there was nothing at all! I checked his
other social accounts, even made numerous attempts calling him but to no avail. It was as though he just
vanished, without a single trace. That was unnerving! How could one remove his traces like that all of a
sudden?

“Ping!” A familiar sound came from my phone. “Could it be him?” I asked myself. Turned out, it was
not him; it was my friend, Stella. “Wow! I can’t believe you didn’t invite me!” she texted. I could tell that her
eyes were green with envy because she had wanted to go to these places ever since the shops opened for
business, but could not since she lived further. One thing weird, she asked me if I went there by myself.

“Huh? No. Can’t you see my friend over there, literally in the picture?” I asked.
“What friend? I only saw you in the picture.” “What? What do you mean? He fetched me
from the MRT station. Or how do you think I can go to SS2 and Bukit Bintang by simply
riding the bus?” “Well, I don’t know how, but I’m pretty sure that no one but you are in
the picture,” she countered. No way, there was no way that something this ridiculous
could happen. I saw him, and was there with him. There was no way that he did not exist!
There was no way I had been spending time with a “spectre” this whole time! Something
was wrong. There was no way he could vanish from the earth just like that. I did not know
the reason behind this, but I was going to find out what happened to him, since I was the
last person who saw him, for the last time.

14

Magical Forest by Rabiatul Anis Solehah Mohamed Rusli
The growing shadows across Bella’s wall indicate the day’s closure, and as she stands to close
her curtains in preparation for the night, she stares longingly into the darkness and her heart sinks. She
thinks about when will humans and elves stop fighting with each other, and she says, “I wish there’s peace
somewhere in this world, a place where everyone can embrace each other’s uniqueness.” She sighs sadly.
Bella is halfway to wakefulness and halfway from the dreams of the night before she finally falls asleep.
“Bella, wake up, you’ve to attend the Magical Academy, it’s already 7:00 a.m. in the morning!” her mother’s
voice is an unwelcome alarm reverberated noisily in every morning. Bella is struggling to wake up but she
has no choice since today is her final test for her magical chemistry paper. Yes, she lives in a world where
everything revolves around magic and the humans and elves are fighting for power on this magical land.
This drives her to dream of living in a world where everyone can watch the sunset blossoms into red and
gold under the same blue-tinted white sky in serenity.

Bella has a toast of bread with peanut and a glass of almond milk for her breakfast. She is one-
step away from the door before her mother requests her to send a bouquet of fresh white roses to Aunt
Alicia. She nods and chooses to use the Eternal Forest in order to get faster to Aunt Alicia’s home and her
Magical Academy. The trees in this old-growth forest are Triassic-tall with heads as thick as megaflora.
Even with arms outstretched, Bella knows it was impossible for her to reach the tall bark trunks with her
small hands. She could see a cute pileated woodpecker making its home on the tree. Stepping carefully
into the mystery woods that lead her pathway, Bella listens to birdsong and the melodies sound of the wind
in the trees, a wish to melt in with it strikes her. The magical soul of the Eternal Forest has fully captivated
her. Now, she knows why most of her people forbid them to use the road often. The magical elements are
so strong and enchanted that they can really put her under an eternal spell. Under these boughs, she could
feel the breath of Mother Nature itself. Bella keeps walking until all of sudden, the forest becomes foggy
and she could feel her heart beats rapidly and anxiously. “I cannot see anything aside from this fog!” Bella
yells and her eyes become watery.

All of a sudden, she could feel the thick snow crunching beneath her feet and the sight of fluffy
snow coating everywhere. Bella is shocked because she just enters a rainforest and not a snowy forest.
Nevertheless, the snowy forest too is enchanted and keeps attracting her soul until she forgets her main
purpose. Upon the rise of the sun, the forest is so snow-white and the light of the sun glows brightly despite
the winter season. It has a pristine aura that begs the soul to stop for a moment and lets the sight enter her
soul. The presence of many fairies fly happily and greet her excitedly as if they know Bella would come to
make her feel at home. A scene of four seasons exists in one forest during the learning of a magical forest
at her magical academy replays in her mind. Bella says to herself, “Now, that would make sense, which is
why it’s called Eternal Forest!” Bella smiles happily because she finally finds a place where she could feel
at home and view a starry night peacefully. Behind the snowy pine trees, a pair of blue eyes as deep as the
ocean is staring at her with solace and unstoppable heartbeats.

15

Gone by Tan Li-Anne

Pain, the only feeling overwhelming me, right before my soul left my body.

It was 11:26 p.m. at night. I dashed out of my house regardless of the repetitive wailings and
pleadings of my wife. I had a bad day and Hailey’s constant clinging was not a big help either.

The main reason for my bad mood was my dad. My dad, Sam, was never fond of the idea that his
son was marrying Hailey. It was not because she was bad or anything else. Dad loved me more than he
loved anyone. I was his best friend. That was until I met my wife. Dad said I changed too much after meeting
her; I was not how I was before. Most importantly, I was not how my dad wanted me to be. Today, my dad
again talked bad about Hailey, which caused me to burn with anger.

As I sat on the park bench, Dad called. He said he was sorry and was slowly starting to accept
Hailey after seeing how happy his son was with her. I turned around to see my dad across the street,
smiling. I got up and went towards him. In that moment of bliss, I forgot my surroundings. A speeding car
took a wrong turn and went onto the side grass lawn where I was. At the last moment, I saw it, the bright
light. Then, silent. When I opened my eyes, all of a sudden, I felt as light as a feather.

I was very happy that nothing happened to me. There was no pain, no bruises and no fractures. I
immediately ran towards my dad to give him a hug, but only to find myself walking right through him.
Confused was an understatement for what I was feeling. “I’m here, I’m fine, and why can’t I touch him?”
Then the realisation of the earlier events hit me. That was when I saw him, who was lying down in my dad’s
arm. “It’s me! I’m dead!”

The passer-by took my body to a hospital. My dad and my brother, Vince, burst into sobs. Not long
later, Hailey came. She asked Vince for me, to which he replied with a light headshake. Hailey nervously
smiled and said, “No, you’re lying, you don’t know him. He loves to play pranks; he’s probably just asleep
from the anesthesia.”

The doctor led her to my body and removed the white cloth covering my face. With one hand on my
chest and another holding my hand, Hailey crouched. She looked up at my brother, sobbing. “Why are you
crying, I told you he’s just playing, right, darling?” Looking at my pale face, her tears start pooling her eyes
too. At that moment, my father came, gripped her shoulders, and said loudly, “Why can’t you get it? He’s
gone! He’s no more! He left us!”

After that, just like coming out of a trance, she looked back at my body. This time her eyes could
not hold her tears anymore and dropped. She started sobbing while holding my hand, clenching onto the
white cloth. “Wake up, you jerk! Stop playing! You promised to stay with me and take care of me! You
promise to take me to that restaurant across the street! Who’s going to do that now? Who’s going to take
care of me and our baby?”

My eyes went wide. “She’s pregnant? Why didn’t she tell me? Was she planning it for my birthday
next week?” Now I really did not want to die. I prayed and begged the gods to let me return to my body. My
life was just starting. “Who’s going to take care of Hailey and our baby? She can’t do it alone!” Regardless
of how hard I cried and begged, nothing changed.

A few weeks later, Hailey returned home from staying with her parents. She entered
our home looking dazed and tired as the memories of our time together came running back
to her. She went straight to our room and took out a box, our box. Memories from our first
date, the first kiss, the first vacation, the proposal, the wedding, and everything were inside
it. She smiled and took out a letter. It was the first letter I wrote to her. She read it aloud for
our baby. She finished reading with tears in her eyes.

Without even noticing, she placed the letters to her side and closed her eyes. That
night, and every other night, she read the letter again and again, letting her tears fell onto
the wet pillow. If only she knew, her husband was always be right by her side.

16

Memories Last Forever by Wong Jia Xin

One day, the weather had turned chilly and gloomy in the afternoon after a day of sunshine, and
the winds were howling as well. The massive downpour began to fall out of nowhere after the strong wind.
Everyone ran helter-skelter and fled to the spot where the roof was covering them.

Holding the umbrella tightly to keep it from flying away, I waited patiently for the bus at the bus stop,
overlooking my office. However, I could not even see the shadow of any public bus. Soon after ten minutes,
a charming young man in white shirt appeared, driving a premium branded ruby BMW and halted in front
of me. He removed his sunglasses and turned to face me. His smiling and beaming eyes instantly captivated
and fascinated the hearts of all the girls present. Although he wore a mask, it still could not hide his attractive
features.

“Wong!” Waving his hand, he called my name. I was astonished as to how he knew my name. I
tried but to no avail to recall whom he was even though he looked familiar. Although in that current pandemic
situation and we had to wear the mask, I could feel that attractive person smiled kindly and cheerfully at
me. I felt a little bad for not knowing who he was.

"Wong! I am Tan. Do you still remember who I am?" Tan? “Oh, my goodness! “You’re Tan! Long
time no see!” I finally realised he was Tan, my high school friend. I sighed in relief, luckily, I did not ask for
his name. He asked me whether I had any free time so that we could have a teatime together.

He drove me to the posh café with a very beautiful garden that was just a breath away from the
bus stop. He ordered a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice. I was flabbergasted that he remembered
well that I loved drinking orange juice. He asked, “Do you still remember that you’re the one who always
day-dream during the class lessons?” I tried to recall the sweet memories at secondary school back then.

I remembered, one day, as I went into a house, it was very dark inside. The walls were bare, except
for a cracked mirror hanging near a grimy window. All of a sudden, the door banged and closed tightly. I
tried to open the lock but was in vain. Walking around and feeling my way, I tried to find another way to
escape. I could hardly breathe, as the air was musty and smelt of cockroaches as well as rats. I could not
bear the smell anymore. I felt that I would vomit soon if I stood rooted to the spot. I covered my nose and
mouth with my left hand, sneaking and leaving the house as well as walking towards another room.

All of a sudden, a big cold hand caught my shoulder. I could strongly feel the great force applied
and it shook my shoulder vigorously. Feeling frightened, I turned my body back slowly and carefully to see
a woman in white with long hair. Her sharp red eyes were looking at me and showed me her bloody tongue.
Thinking that was a ghost, I quickly ran helter-skelter out of the room. “Help!” I shouted my lungs out. I ran
as fast as I could, but I knocked onto a door.

“Ah!” I fell to the ground and moved backwards until the wall. Her evil smile was frightening. She
opened her mouth and wanted to swallow me. Thinking that the day would be the last day for me, praying
hard to God for bringing me along was the one thing I could do at that moment. A light suddenly came into
my eyes. Thinking that it was God coming, I opened my eyes. Many pairs of eyes looked at me with curiosity.
My English teacher was wondering what was wrong with me. My desk mate, Tan said he had called and
woken me up umpteen times. It was nothing but a nightmare.

“Hey! You still like to build the castle in the air.” Tan’s voice
brought me back to reality. I laughed, “I remember that day I fell asleep
and had a nightmare.” He told me that I screamed for help suddenly
and the teacher was shocked about it. They tried to wake me up but
to no avail. I felt ashamed after our classmates laughed at me.
Fortunately, my teacher was a kind-hearted person, and she did not
scold me. Through our conversation, I knew that Tan had furthered his
studies in London and held his degree as well as continued his family’s
business in Malaysia. After chitchatting for an hour, we said goodbye,
hoping to see each other again.

17

Dream by Afifah Husnadia Abdull Khalil

There was a petite young girl, barely knew anything about how real-life worked, aside from playing
with toy cars and having her meals prepared by her mother. Growing up in the big city of Kagoshima in
Japan, the girl found everything seemed to be so hectic. All the citizens here did was work. They fell into
an endless cycle of working to their limit. Some of the people here worked for the sake of surviving in this
competitive country, they did not even like their job. When the girl observed this scenario, in front of her big
doe eyes, she realised something. “I don’t want to be like them. I want to do what I like the most.”

At the age of 18, Miyawaki Sakura, a girl from Kagoshima, made one of the biggest decisions in
her life, which were to fly to Tokyo to pursue her dream to become a singer. It was hard, to be honest.
Despite her age, she barely knew how to live on her own; she could not even do her laundry properly.
However, with the fire burning inside the pit of her small body, she opted for making her dream came true.
She would face all the obstacles that were coming her way to make sure she could make her parents proud
one day. At first, her parents were totally against it.

“Sakura, I thought we agree that you’ll become a doctor, just like me and your dad,” her mother
said, with a prominent frown on her face. “Yes, darling. I thought you want to be a doctor. What’s with the
sudden change of mind?” her father continued as he went through his morning newspaper.

Sakura fidgeted in her seat. Cold sweats started to form on her flawless forehead. She took a deep
breath before opening her mouth to explain her dream. Living in an Asian household, the last thing any
child wanted to do was to disobey the parents’ orders. It was not as if Sakura’s parents forced her to become
a doctor like them, it was just her parents thought the occupation was the best for her as it was a stable job
with a handsome salary.

“Mom, Dad, I don’t want to live my life doing something for the sake of others,” Sakura said as she
took a deep breath before continuing her speech. “No offence to both of you, my lovely parents, but I want
to do something that I like. Something that I’ve a passion for it. Something that I would not be regretting as
I wake up every morning to go to work. By being a doctor, I can see myself cursing in front of the mirror
every morning in the future. I don’t want that, Mom. I want to be a singer. I love singing, I love performing,
and mostly I want to touch people’s hearts with my music,” Sakura said. Her eyes were glassy as she was
on the brink of tears. She was looking down at her own hands as it took a lot of courage to confess her
actual feelings to her parents.

Sakura’s parents looked at each other before letting out a heavy sigh. “Oh honey, you’re too
matured for your age,” her mother said as she engulfed Sakura’s tiny frame into a warm hug. Sakura’s dad
nodded in agreement and smiled.

“I guess if that’s what you want then you should go for it. We as your parents will support your
decision, is it okay, Honey? Just let me give you a piece of advice. Remember one thing; treat every single
opportunity you’ve in life like it’s the last chance. If you mess it up, it’s over. That’s why you need to work
hard every day, no playing around, be serious in pursuing your dream. That way, you will do your best in
life. If you fail, that is fine. You can always try again, but do know that a failure happens because of our own
doing. Okay, Sakura?” her dad told her, he then kissed her forehead and gave her a warm smile.

Sakura nodded as tears of joy rolled down her porcelain cheeks. At that very
moment, she decided on her path, she would not let it go down the drain. With the
support she obtained from her parents, she knew she would make it.

“What matters in life is being happy in doing what you want. There’ll be hard
days coming, but no water in this world can put out the burning desire I’ve to achieve
my dream. No one can stop me. Mom and Dad, I’ll make both of you proud one day!”

18

Darkness Arise by Aiman Safwan Nahrul Ulum
One day, on such a lovely morning, I woke up from my bed with a severe headache. I came down
from the first floor to go to the kitchen to get some medicine. On my way to the kitchen, I could hear voices
despite there was no one at my house at the time. I panicked and started to run back to my room. I locked
myself in the room but the voices kept accompanying me for a while. I decided to go out of my house to run
away from the voices.
The voices were unclear when I was in my house but it became clearer when I was outside and it
kept saying, “That’s mine!” I was devastated because it had become nuisance since morning.
I sought for help from my neighbours but most of them were working at that time. Suddenly, the
voices started to change from “That’s mine!” to “Yours is mine!” I began to panic and in instant, I saw an
unoccupied motorcycle with key attached to it. I took the motorcycle and rode it to the nearest river. I
attempted to commit suicide, as I became stress with the disturbance. Once I jumped into the river, I thought
that this was the end of the nuisance, in contrary; it just made things became more complicated.
The moment when I jumped into the river, I woke up from sleep. The reason why it just made it
complicated was that I landed myself in a different place. The house that I woke up was on a pit fire. I was
shocked and started to scream as I might really die this time. Then, someone started to approach the pit
fire with a tomb on his back. He took the tomb and started to speak with unrecognisable language and he
started to divide his body into four clones and jumped onto me. The same thing happened that I was dead
again.
Again, I woke up from my bed and this time I was in my house. Now, I felt like I was in the present.
It felt like as though I walked down to kitchen and I saw my family again. I decided to go out and find my
friends to share the story. Shockingly enough, most of us had the same dream and I felt like something was
off and we decided to investigate the problem. On our way to my house, I spotted a hood in the backyard
of my neighbour’s house and it had a very suspicious looking to it. I decided to go there and I found a picture
of my friend and me on a fire, and there were blood bag and skull scattered in the hood.
I jumped into the conclusion that my neighbour was the reason of the bad dream and decided to
call the police for investigation. Luckily, I was correct and my neighbour was arrested and sentenced to
death.

19

Faded by Amrina Rushada Maizatul@Maizatu
A flashback crept into my thoughts as I pondered in the corner of my room. My memories struck
into my brain cells. Like a virus attacking my body, I lost control over my emotions and I felt the warmth of
my tears rolling down my cheeks. “Stop crying, girl! You’ve nothing to lose now; you’ve already lost one
before”. I was trying hard to persuade and prevent myself from overthinking. Sighing and taking a deep
breath, a vivid insight of my friend whom I used to call “best friend” started to appear and bring back our
past memories.
She was a good friend of mine. From the day of our first meeting, she had the ability to catch my
eyes and grab my attention through her vulgar, boyish attitude. She was the opposite of me, including the
way she talked, dressed or even her interest. “We’ve a natural attraction to people who are diametrically
opposed to us,” people said, and I guessed it was true. Day by day, our relationship grew stronger. We
treated each other like sisters, and each day felt incomplete without one’s presence. Nevertheless, those
happy memories did not last forever. She would undoubtedly disappear one day, like a wisp of smoke and
there was little that I could do to stop her.
A trifle and trivial thing ruined our companionship. We started to keep a distance between ourselves
to give some space to heal our broken hearts. Eventually, we grew distant from each other and it became
great grief and regret to us. We were too egoistic to admit our own faults. Pain that had tortured our hearts
was what we had. Little did we knew, the train we rode train collided mid-way. If we knew it earlier, we
would never ever step our feet into the train, which led us to conflict and disaster.
Studying in the same institution made it harder for our ill-fated relationship. We would bump into
each other on our way to the cafeteria, class, or even the library. Each time we would ignore each other
and look the other way because we knew, the moment our eyes met, and small droplets would emerge and
wet our faces. She looked so happy with her friends, laughing and joking around one another as if she had
already moved on with our friendship. Only if everyone knew how much my ripped heart ached and hurt.
“Ting!”
My phone’s notification tone jolted me awake from my daydream. I took a glimpse at the name of
the sender, and it was she. A long heart-warming text popped out from the small screen of my phone that
started with “I’m sorry for everything.” I cried my eyes out for that long, meaningful text. She took big courage
just to text me and apologised for everything even it was not fully her fault because part of our conflict came
from me too.
I sent a reply text to her, which ended with “I miss you so much!”

20

The Truth Untold by Athirah Dzulkifly

It was not the first time an argument had broken out over breakfast at the dining hall when we
were enjoying the luscious meal prepared by my mom for the last time.

“Why do you still have to go there since you can just reject the offer?” said my father. He seemed
overly perturbed about the news that I had to transfer to London to assist one of the renowned scientists in
carrying out an important big project in conducting final experiment. They said that this experiment was
crucial since the result would determine whether they could help many people in that city or ravage the
whole town.

The research centre was out of staff, and they decided to hire me as I was one of the top-notch
scientists in Scotland, and I had done relevant research previously. I managed to convince my parents,
especially my father, that nothing would happen in London and I would come back home as soon as I
finished the project.

“Dad, you do not have to worry. I’ll be okay and I promise that I’ll come back home as soon as
possible. I’m no more your little girl, dad, I’ve grown up!” I exclaimed. At night, I packed my clothes rapidly
as I had to sleep early to catch up with the earliest flight tomorrow morning.

Early in the morning, I woke my parents up and kissed them on both their cheeks. My father
started chewing his lower lip, and his eyes welled up with tears. “I had a nightmare last night about you,”
whispered my father. “Dad, it’s just a nightmare, it’s not true,” I exclaimed. “Yeah, it’s just a dream though.
We don’t have to take it seriously,” my father replied hesitatingly. For a second, I started wondering about
my dad’s nightmare but I ignored it because I was late. I grabbed my entire luggage and rushed to the
airport.

On the way to London, I reviewed all the reports of the big project while I was on the flight, and
suddenly, I stopped on one particular page. My heart stopped, and I was rooted to the spot with fear and
surprise. There were two prohibited materials used in the project. This would cause the most notorious
virus that would infect the people in the city. This virus would start from animal to person and it was
contagious.

When I reached the airport, there were men in black suits waiting for me at the arrival lounge.
They grabbed my luggage and guided me to the black Honda-CRV. Astonished by the empty street in
London, I walked on. There was no one there and only a few shops were operating.

I asked the man and he said, “There’s one virus which spreads in the whole city of London this
morning because there’s some accident happened while completing the project. The virus is life-
threatening if the citizens do not get the vaccine.”

I froze upon hearing the news and I just realised that my father’s instinct was right. I regretted
coming here and I could not go back. However, the good news was we had the vaccine but it was not free
of charge. Most people living in London were willing to pay to get the vaccine even though the price was
unbelievably costly.

I was scared and guilty for the sin of the big project that I was about to attend
with my other colleagues. Its main goal was to create a virus on purpose and invent
a vaccine for the cure just to make money.

Money makes some people going insane and they are willing to do anything
to get rich. Some people say that money is everything but John Rampton professes,
“Don’t let money run your life. Let money run your life better.” Unfortunately, nobody
knows the truth behind why this virus occurs out of nowhere until now.

21

Peter by Catherine Tiong Wei Ling
Peter turned and looked up at the walls again. Prison had been dreadful, but the place had given
him home the past ten years. He looked again at the outside world. As expected no one had come to visit
him, just like no one even knew he existed in the world. Peter recalled what happened to him. Pan, whom
he regarded as his best friend ever, betrayed him. Little had he known that Pan was merely exploiting him
and using him to embezzle money from his company. When he was caught, Pan had disappeared. While
Peter was in the prison, he heard one of the prison officers mentioned that Pan had died of lung cancer.
Peter did not feel sorry for him.
Peter hailed a taxi and went back to his home. His house still looked the same just like how he had
left before. He settled down and found a job as a factory worker. That was all he could hope for as he had
a criminal record. He was ready to begin a new life.
A few days later, Peter went to the factory to start his new life. All of a sudden, heavy rain poured
and the thunder rambled in a distance.
“Bang!” A loud commotion came from where Peter hid at. As he was standing under a tree, a
lightning struck him. A passer-by dashed towards him and quickly took him to the hospital. The streets were
busy and jammed with cars as the rain was pouring heavily. Tension filled the air but luckily the passer-by
managed to send Peter to the hospital.
After two hours of operation, Peter survived, but he was still unconscious. No one came to visit him
as he had no relatives and friends. He had been lonely and without hope. Luckily, he woke up after a week.
He was safe and sound. The doctor told him if the passer-by did not send him to the hospital right at that
time, he might have passed away on the spot. Peter thanked the passer-by and told him that after he had
worked and gained money, he would pay him. The passer-by declined and told him to take good rest and
he left.
Peter sat silently and looked out of the window for a long time. Meanwhile, tears rolled down from
his cheeks. He could not fall asleep that night. He was tossing and turning the whole night. No one knew
what he was thinking about. His face expressed nothing but distress. Life was not easy for Peter. He wanted
to start his new life but bad things still happened to him, endlessly.
Suddenly, the sound of the doctor’s footsteps came near the room. Peter wiped away his tears.
The doctor told him to observe for a few days in the hospital. Peter nodded his head and the doctor left him
alone in the room.
“Why don’t I just leave the world without anyone knowing it? Nobody cares about me,” Peter said
silently and tears ran down unknowingly from his cheeks.

22

Friend Zone by Faiz Arbain
I feel lost, confused. I am heartbroken, the girl I always wanted had come into my life, and I had a
chance to know her. I really wanted to date her, but the day I asked her, it was too late as she already had
a boyfriend! Hoping that they would break up one day, I waited for her, as a friend. Three months later, her
boyfriend left her, as I hope it would happen. I wanted to ask her out at that moment, however, I knew she
would want time to recover, thus I gave her some time. I gave her weeks, months. Then finally, I asked her,
her response was very strange! She said she was not ready, I understood, but I was very confused. Now,
she was dating someone else. At this point, I really wanted to give up, but I did not. I might sound stupid,
but that was what I did.
Every time I received a text message, call, I would rush to check my phone, hoping it was from her,
and when it was, I would catch myself smiling. If it was not her, I would not get upset, nor angry, but
disappointed. I love talking to her so much. She was a dry texter, but I am okay with that. I make sure I was
able to text her back as soon as possible as I wanted to prove it that I cared for her. I wanted her to feel
that I really loved her.
Sometimes, thinking negatively really hurt, especially telling myself “She’ll never be yours, you lost.”
It was never a good thing to do that. The reason I always ended up thinking in that way was that I was hurt
before, I felt broken. It was hard to keep yourself happy when you felt this way. The way I avoided thinking
like that, was to think the good way of it instead. I kept telling myself, “Never give up, she’ll be yours
someday, it’s just a matter of time!” All of these gave me the courage to keep on trying and not giving up
easily.
I never really understood why she said she wanted to date me but could not. If you personally were
going through this, would you ever tell yourself, “As long as she’s happy, I’ll be fine”? In reality, I was just
trying to make myself felt better, because I felt hopeless. I felt that I was not good enough for her. That was
how one-sided love worked, could not agree more with that.
If only I were wise enough to realise that I was just telling lies to myself and torturing my heart, I
would not end up to be in this little space, with only steel bars as a door, trapped with others who regretted
for their past mistakes. Counting days of when we could finally move freely, go wherever we wanted with
no time detention and if you asked me where I wanted to go, I would definitely go to her grave said this, “I
love you Maya, I’m so sorry!”

23

Superhero by Mohamad Syamil Ibrahim

Izz was a victim of bullying. He did not tell his parents, and he kept it only to himself. He refused to
be a loser because in his mind, he would want to be a hero one day. He just kept on creating the perfect
superhero powers and super suit for himself. Sometimes, he focused more on his superhero than his own
homework because it was something that made him happy. He wished he could really escape this world
and be someone whom everyone admired. He hoped that everyone would respect him at least for once.

One day at school and during Physical Education class, his classmates, singled him. The class
was playing dodgeball and all the boys were on the same team. Izz joined the group of nerds that did not
know the rules or the game itself. He was totally lost during the game; his mind was somewhere else.
Suddenly a ball hit his head. He fainted and lost his consciousness. He felt like falling into a never-ending
pit. While falling, he heard a deep voice saying, “You’re the chosen one. Use this power wisely dear, you’re
the one who controls time.” The falling sensation stopped and he woke up with a watch on his wrist. He
was perplexed and wished that the ball did not hit his head earlier. Suddenly, everything rewound, until the
point where the ball almost hit him. This time he dodged the ball and surprised everyone. Izz said to himself,
“Is this the power that I’m given? Cool! Let’s make some changes, shall we?”

He planned everything to perfection before he made his time jump. He decided to change
everything in his life to make him better. He remembered every single time he was bullied and decided to
counter that. He would rewind time to every time a bully approached him, and dodged the attempt by the
bully and countered it. Everyone saw the prey becoming the predator. Their perspective was changed.
They felt anxious and scared that the prey had become more aggressive. Izz did not care one bit. The next
plan was to pass the examination with flying colours. He planned to rewind time to when the examination
took place. He already knew the answers to the examination so this time he had no other mixed feelings.
He was full of confidence.

“One who alters the reality will receive backlash.” Izz was too happy to think about the
consequences. He knew that if he messed up anything, he could change it back. One day, his headmaster
called him into the office. When the headmaster summoned someone, more often than not, bad things must
have occurred. He had the watch, so no worries! While he was walking up the stairs, he fell. He used his
arms to protect his face. No injuries happened and he was still confident that nothing could stop him. The
headmaster met and told him that he was cheating in the examination. He obtained full marks for every
subject. Something that even a genius could not do. The headmaster also received complaints of him
bullying a child in school. The headmaster called his parents also to the office. Izz’s face did not change as
he still had that grin. His parents and the headmaster were extremely angry. The headmaster thought that
Izz was provoking and decided to make the punishment severe. Izz replied, “Is that all? Now let me rewind
time. Bye, everyone”. This time it did not work. He tried and tried harder. Nevertheless, time still went on
as usual. He was sweating from head to toe. He ran off, as he was scared. Suddenly, he ran into a wall
while he was looking back. He woke up on the day of the dodgeball class. Everyone was around him. He
looked at his wrist and the watch was not there. He felt grateful because instead of being a hero with
powers, he ended up being a villain in his own dreams. Things went back to normal and Izz was happy
even he became a victim of bullying again, he still did not want that to change into something that made
him the bad person. In the end, he was the hero by not making the mistakes that would alter his future.

24

Lady “Bird” by Nur Arisya Aqilah Ismail

A royal ball; a discontinued event in which young women promenaded in flashy gowns and young
men offered their hands around for a dance. Parents would be busy finding their children’s future life
partners; they enjoyed playing cupid for the night. At least, those were what usually happened in well-off
people’s life back in the 80s.

However, in Pendragon’s household, not all the family members fancied the royal monthly event.
The only daughter, Evelyn Pendragon, was displeased with the idea of displaying herself in a nice outfit to
impress the opposite gender. She was not a spoiled posh woman. Not at all.

“Mother, can I just stay at home this time?” As usual, Evelyn pleaded to skip the event again. “We’re
not doing this tonight, dear. No more argument or tears,” Lady Pendragon bopped her daughter’s nose
lightly before started combing her golden hair again.

“Tell me, Mother, why cannot I choose what I want to do in my life? I’m my own person,” Evelyn
complained with a pout. “I believe you know the answer already, Eve dear.” “But, I am more than capable
of doing anything. I can do chores, knit, cook and bake better than you. I even excel in horse riding, painting,
poem writing, and I won against my brothers in archery last week. Oh! I can take care of myself too. I learnt
a move or two in martial arts after following my brothers!”

“No, stop, dear. Nothing can change my decision. A woman does not go to university. We look
presentable all the time. We get married to raise our children and take charge of the household. Even if you
are smart, that is no use. You’ll be in the kitchen to feed your family in a few years, just like me.”

“But, an intelligent wife and mother can change the society’s view about women, Mother.” “Enough,
dear. Women at my age are giving me side-eyes these days because of how you’re behaving. They dislike
it when their daughters start to follow your steps; do men’s jobs and want to enrol in a university. Now,
shush and let Bethea groom you,” with her firm words, she squeezed Evelyn’s shoulders and left the
chamber.

Evelyn sighed in despair. Compromising was out of the question with her mother. Indeed, it was
every man for himself. No one agreed with her. Not even Bethea, her maidservant, since she also thought
that her mother’s opinion was right.

“Bethea, can you grab some macaroons and a new ruby jewellery set from my study?” Evelyn’s
heart pounded wildly in her chest as she started her plan to escape the room through her window. It worked
for a few times before.

“The ruby set is in the drawer,” Bethea walked closer to the bed, “and the macaroons are here,”
she took the plate from the bedside table with a knowing smirk. Evelyn grunted loudly as her plan did not
work. Bethea knew her trick well enough.

“Oh, stop giving me a mocking stare and help me with my makeup. Guess
who is thrilled to go to a party tonight!” Evelyn’s sarcastic remark made Bethea’s
laughed. She rushed to grab a brush and work her magic on the young woman.

At 8:45 p.m., the enormous main door to Dans’ Hall was widely open for
the last guest, making several dozens of heads turn in awe. The last guest, who
was sweating under her exquisite scarlet dress and crimson heels, deserved the
attention as she was well-known for being the most gorgeous, independent, free-
spirited and bright woman in town.

However, little did they knew, she was not a free bird after all. Her tightly
bonded golden wings would not fly, and her sweet voice would not sing. Would
you dare to ask her why? She would shake her head in disappointment; looking
at you in the eyes, she would whisper, “Why? Because I’m a woman!”

25

Our Times by Nur Khairina Halim

28 February 2017
“I’ve found you! That’s our first encounter, or maybe it isn’t?” He came just like the first snow of the

year, unexpected but delightful. I had a thought that my life was over before our first meet. He came on that
day in front of me just like those who passed by me in the crowd at the subway. He stood there idly, waiting
for me to reach him. He said nonchalantly, “Don’t force me to go back from where I come from. I came for
you. For me. This is not about you; this is about me, you and us.” Doppelganger? I thought so. I felt like he
was a con artist trying to ruin my life. A thought about asking my mother if she ever threw my twin away
also haunted me, but after he showed me some of the marks on his body as if he knew what was running
in my mind, I believed that he was I. He swore on our family’s name as he convinced me to believe him as
he already lived the life I would go through later. No wonder he preferred beard, I did not believe that
someday later I would like to have it but for that time, no. Everything was perfect. He helped me a lot to go
through a path I thought I could never cross. Life was hard and my decision was always a death note.
Nothing was right until he came along.

29 April 2019
I went to the park without telling him since I did feel suffocated to be stuck with him all day long and

I thought a brief escape from him would not affect anything in particular, although he had reminded me
countless times to never go out on my own. I lighted my cigarette and blew the smoke as I let the heavy
feelings inside out of me. I saw her for the first time. She was two feet away from losing her own life as I
grabbed her elbow and pulled her away from the cliff. She cried her heart aloud while putting her head on
my chest. I did not ask much, as I was planning to leave her right away since it was none of my business.
That was what I thought so.

30 May 2019
Sarah brought every piece into its right place, even my heart. Up until that day, I had not tell the

another me about her, it just that I could feel something was not right, and I did not want to live a life knowing
that Sarah was the mistake. Coming back and found out that Sarah’s gift; the frame with our first photo
together shattered into pieces, I rushed into his room and within a split second, my fist landed on his right
cheek. I could feel all my blood rushed through my veins and my face was all red and warm as I was trying
my best not to go any further than that. “Sarah should not interfere with our life. We could have done better.
Let her go.” He said that right in front of my face as if Sarah was nothing to me. I grabbed the collar of his
shirt and could not put the words correctly, as my mouth was stuttering from the anger I felt inside out. “This
is my life. You’ve nothing to do with this.” He cried and grabbed my collar back. “Yes, but could you live a
life knowing that she won’t come back to us? Let her go now. She’d die, I’d tried multiple times to save her,
but nothing could change it!” I could not stand straight as if I had lost all the strength; Sarah was my strength
after all.

June 2020
Today, Sarah is still with me. I decide to stay with her and ask him to go back from where he comes

from. I do not know when would Sarah leave me but one thing for sure, I am going to go through this and I
realise that I could never change the fate but the fate which brings Sarah to me is the best gift ever and I
could never replace her with anything else. I have to go now, and this maybe would be my last writing.
Sarah has all of my time and I do not want to waste any of it; our times together by which none of us knows
when would our clock stop ticking, all I know right at this moment, I never wish to stop loving her just
because someone says she is going to die. She lives in me more than physically beside me. “I love you so
much, Sarah!”

26

That Girl by NurHusna Syuhada Mohd Saidi
It was a quiet, blazing hot afternoon. The sweltering heat was giving me a headache and the
thought of going home quickly was the only thing that came to my mind at that time. “Oh, it’s going to be a
tiring day walking home in this weather,” I mumbled. I was looking forward to a glass of iced water to soothe
my parched throat, accompanying my journey to home under the scorching sun. As I trudged past the
school, I saw a white Honda City swerving from side to side. “Isn’t it early to get drunk? Or is the driver
sleepy?” I thought as I watched it move unstably.
Suddenly, it picked up speed and blasted past me. Just then, it slammed into a car near the traffic
lights. The car jerked forward and hit another car. “Oh, my god!” I screamed as I spectated the horrible
collision. The-ear shattering bang sent some people to stop by and look at the cars. I heard people
screaming hysterically. “I think there’s someone whom injured badly, help!” I shouted to the people who
stopped by but none of them reacted to my plea and did not even seem to hear me. Without wasting time,
I rushed to the main road to see if there were any victims and if I could be any help although I was only a
teenager.
As I arrived there, a man appeared and told everyone that there was a dead girl in front of the car.
“I’ve placed a napkin on the deceased’s face and shaded her body under the umbrella. Now, we need to
call the ambulance and police!” explained the man. I was shocked at the news but also relieved, as I knew
that there were people who were reliable and helped others without any hesitations. The driver of the car
was in a daze as I walked towards the car. “Do we need to bring him to that tree in order to calm him down,
auntie?” I asked to a woman who stood beside me while talking about the driver of the Honda City. No one
answered. The woman ignored my question, this again made me felt small and I decided to wait at the side
of the road.
Thankfully, the police and medical workers arrived a few minutes later. Three police officers began
directing the chaotic traffic as people stopped by and some even came out from their cars to take a closer
look at the accident. The medical workers immediately lifted the deceased using the stretcher. I saw a
glimpse of the dead body and began to think about something. “Why does her side profile seem so familiar?”
I asked to myself. As the medical workers walked towards the ambulance and passed by me, the napkin
that covered the dead girl’s face accidentally dropped.
“Wait, that girl, that’s me! Am I dead?” I asked frantically to the people around me and no one
seemed to hear my voice again. I wailed in grief and disbelief.

27

304A by Nurul Hamizah Mohd A’seri
“Breaking news. Another victim was found murdered in her bedroom with the same pattern of
murder. A green note written “WHO’S NEXT?” was left beside the victim and one body part went missing.
For this case, the suspect cut off the victim’s left ear and carved the code 304A on the victim’s forehead
using the knife, same as the previous cases. It was now the third case and most probably by the same
person, as what the police believed. However, clues about the murder have yet been found.”
Sarah switched off her television immediately. There were many things playing around in her mind
that she could not decide which one to focus on. Watching the news had added weight to her headache. It
had been two months since she had taken over the murder case, and it was not easy at all. Every month,
one case of murder happened with the same pattern of killing. The similar pattern emerged; one body part
cut off, the code 304A carved on the victims’ foreheads and one green note left beside the victims. It was
such a nerve-racking ordeal! As someone who was well versed in law, Sarah knew it was the code of the
laws in Malaysia. Act 574, penal code Section 304A stated, “Whoever caused the death of any person, by
doing any rash or negligence act not amounting to culpable homicide, should be punished with
imprisonment for a term, which might extend to two years or with fine or with both.” It meant that the suspect
was someone who was familiar with and knew a lot about the laws. He was exactly aware of what the
consequences of his actions were. As a detective who had been serving the country for seven years, Sarah
could say that this was the boldest and most brutal murder case ever.
Sarah went up to her room, trying to get some sleep. She could not remember when was the last
time she had a good sleep since the case started. The faces of all the victims were still lingering at the back
of her mind. It was dreadfully awful. They were all young women who lived alone. Somehow, it haunted
her. It was insane how two months had passed, yet they still had not found any clues about the suspect.
Why did he cut off the victims’ body parts? Why did he carve the code 304A on the victims’ foreheads?
Moreover, why did he use the green colour note and not red or other colours? There were times when she
thought she was getting nearer to finishing the case, but the result was disappointing.
Sarah closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled as an attempt to get some inner
peace. She took another breath and suddenly the bell rang. She looked at the clock. “It’s 11:30 p.m., who’s
coming at this hour?” She talked to herself while walking towards the door. With her puzzled face, she
swung open the door and saw no one. Then, her eyes focused on the green note laid in front of her door.

28

The Dancer by Phan Chei Lie
It was a Friday night. I drew the curtains to enjoy the night view. In the solemn night, there was no
one in sight under the faint yellow light from the lamppost. Calming soft music was in the air. It was from
the apartment in front of me. “Swinging round and round and round, there’s no tomorrow...,” Mrs Drew was
singing and dancing again in the room with her translucent curtains drawn. Her silhouette was swinging left
and right as if she was happily dancing, feeling so free. She would dance with her husband every Friday
night, but it was rare to see them dancing together anymore since last year. She was once a dancer in a
famous western theatre. Watching her dancing caught me in the mood to dance along with the soft music.
It was Saturday morning. I went for a walk on the street. I looked at Mrs Drew’s apartment. The
curtains were still drawn. I could not see anything in her room. She used to sit by the window and have
breakfast with her husband, enjoying the morning sunshine. However, recently, I had never seen them
spending time together during the day. They were probably busy with their career. She was now a dance
instructor and her husband, a director.
The weather was just nice for strolling around in the morning. The air was cool but the sun was out.
What a cosy day it was! I went back to my room and made myself a cup of coffee. Sitting by the window
with my curtains drawn apart, I felt my day blessed with the morning sunshine. The street was silent with
some people passing by. A few were my neighbours. They looked at Mr and Mrs Drew’s apartment,
murmuring among themselves. I wondered what they were gossiping. Mr and Mrs Drew were such a sweet
couple. They were always going out together hand in hand. However, since last year, they were never
walking together on the street anymore.
It was Friday night again, but I did not hear any music. Perhaps, Mrs Drew was busy. Through the
window, I could hear people chitchatting and cars passing on the street. The street was busier than usual.
Out of curiosity, I drew the curtains. Mrs Drew had lifted her curtains. There were a few people in her
apartment. I leaned into the window. My heart skipped a beat. They were police officers. I wore my glasses
and inspected the apartment carefully through my window. I gasped and jumped backward instinctively.
Mrs Drew was hanging in the room, swinging left and right. The soft music that she used to play filled the
air. “Swinging round and round and round, I won’t be there tomorrow...,” I heard her singing faintly. Chills
went down to my spine and goose bumps were on every inch of my skin. I quickly ran down to the street.
There were many spectators. The neighbours were gossiping that Mrs Drew hung herself last week.

29

Gone Days by Seina Nursyahirah Mohsin
There were numerous thoughts inside of my head, but this particular memory seemed never to
fade away from me. Two years of my life was like a game to her. It was ruthless and merciless. I would
have lost my mind if Vernon was not there for me. He was like a frozen icicle, brimmed and froze. It was a
lie if I was not depriving bearing the uncanny silence of him but he was the one who made my endless
numbs and pains disappear into the frozen air.
She dragged me into a dark deep cave that I had never imagined myself going into. She made me
suffered and tormented myself. It started when I was a new student at Carlos Xavier International High
School. An ordinary country girl stepping out of her shell to survive in a privileged high school. However,
life was not as beautiful as people said was. Entering this school made me insanely insecure with my whole
existence because the people there would point out everything, starting from the bottom of toe until the tip
of hair. They judged every little inch of the body. I had never felt life so despairing as it was.
She said I should not be there and I was shameless. I did not do anything wrong, but she would
do everything that she could to make me drop out of the school. It began with mocking, then shoving then
throwing garbage onto my face. My desk was her favourite canvas, as she would write malicious words on
it. She took away my worth, my privacy, my safety, my confidence, and my own voice. Nobody was on my
side, even the teachers. She had the power to do anything because she was Maya Xavier, daughter of
Carlos Xavier. However, I felt like I deserved to be there. My good result was the proof but they did not see
it. They did not see the struggles and the hardships that I went through to enter the school.
Luckily, along the hardships, I met my armour, my protector, Vernon. Whenever I felt like giving up
and put an end to the misery, he always brought comfort to me. He was the only one who would stand up
for me. The bullying stopped when they knew that he was on my side. They were afraid because he was
Maya’s twin brother. There were countless times when I wanted to give up on life, but the times that I spent
with him had helped me escaped nightmares. We often ran away together and met up at our secret little
hideout on the rooftop. He was my strength to strive day to day in school.
Not long before high school ended, he left me like smoke gone into the thin air. Within a month, all
of my worst nightmares came back. I did not even know I was scared to be alone, and it made me craved
for the memories we made together even greater. No matter how warm the weather was, it could never
beat the warmth that he could provide me. My heart felt like bursting, shattering into millions of pieces, but
I would still keep on hoping that the ray of sunshine would come again.

30

The Neighbour by Tan Jin Hua
Illustrated by Ng Xin Lin

Chevonne lived in a small house in the street, which was far from the city. She bought the house
10 years ago, where her neighbour, Julia also bought the house next to hers. She was a good friend and
neighbour, but now the house was empty. Julia had moved to Texas to live with her daughter.

“I hope my new neighbour is as nice as Julia,” thought Chevonne. “I’ll be very upset if the youngster
rents the house because it’ll be very noisy and might’ve children as well or pets,” said Chevonne.

A few days later, a truck parked at the next-door house. Chevonne stood at the window and
watched it. She saw the men moving pieces of furniture and many boxes into the house. She saw the men
moved two skateboards out from the truck. “Oh no! There must be teenagers who live next door, it’s a
nightmare!” Chevonne lamented with heavy breathing.

Chevonne looked at her watch. It was time to go to the community centre. Every Friday, there was
a movie theatre in the community centre. The movie theatre played some classic movies for the audience.
She was a fan of classic movies so she never missed it. Chevonne put on her coat, took her bag and went
out of her house. After she locked the door, she rushed towards the community centre. The men were still
unloading the boxes and furniture from the truck.

“I’m so unhappy. I love my house and the quiet street. But now the noisy teenagers come and
everything will change,” muttered Chevonne under her breath while walking down the street.

In the community centre, the manager of the community centre was making an announcement.
“Today’s movie session is cancelled due to technical problems but there’s a famous pianist, Ricky Mars
giving a classic music concert. Please enjoy the concert,” the manager said to everyone.

The concert was very nice but Chevonne thought watching the classic movie would be better. After
the concert, she went home. The truck was gone and it was very quiet. Chevonne could not sleep, so she
went outside to talk a walk in the garden. There were lights on in the house next door and she could hear
the piano playing. The music sounded beautiful. The lights were on in the house and she could see the
interior. She saw many boxes on the floor in the living room and a grand piano, but she could not see who
was playing on it.

The next day, someone rang the doorbell and Chevonne went to answer it. She was very surprised.
Ricky Mars, the famous pianist was at her doorsteps.

“Good morning,” he wished her with a broad smile. “I’m your new neighbour.”

“You!” exclaimed Chevonne. “I thought it’s a family with children because I see the workers carrying
two skateboards.”

“Oh,” said Mars. “Those are my nephews’
skateboards. Sometimes they come to visit me during the
weekend. It’ll be good if they’ve something to do during the
weekend to avoid them getting bored and becoming very
noisy. Most of the time, I’ll be living alone so it’ll be very quiet.
I suppose you like to have children and pets next door.”

“Oh, no!” said Chevonne. “Please come in and have
a cup of tea! I see that you do not have curtains yet, I think I
can give you a hand.”

31

Le Rêve by Tan Shi Ying

Have you ever wondered where we would go when we fall asleep? From the moment we fall
asleep, to the moment we wake up, it feels like seconds. When we are sleeping, we dream of all kinds of
things, places, people, and faces that we might have never seen before. Wait, how is that even possible?
Some people think that dream is the alternate universe, where another “we” live another life. Well, it sounds
ridiculous, but nothing is impossible, right? Nevertheless, this is not the point. Have you ever felt that some
places and faces you see in your dreams are so strange, yet familiar? That is weird, isn’t it?

That night, I went to sleep as usual, almost at 2 o’clock in the morning, because I was a night owl.
Covered by my cosy blanket and the scent of comfort, I fell asleep within seconds. “This is strange. I’m
here again. Oh, I’m dreaming!” This was not the first time I had been here. In fact, I was here for multiple
times, indeed! The next possible event flashed into my mind. They seemed so vague. This place looked
and felt like a palace though. “Am I a princess?” Well, I’m sorry for the narcissism, it was a vivid dream, I
knew that, and I could not help but feel the strong sense of belonging to this place. “But, why am I hiding
though? Under a table? This wasn’t something a princess should do, was it?” Apparently, I did not know
my status here. Since I had been here before just with different identities, I know my way around here.
Those shiny ornaments and glittery dress that I was wearing had me conclude this. “Yep, this is my room.
Let’s get out of here.”

When I was about to get out from under the table, I heard footsteps from the outside of the room.
Just to confirm my identity, I braved myself and walked into the hallway. Two soldiers came up to me, and
they immediately bowed to me. When they addressed me by “Her Royal Highness” and a neck bow, my
deduction was right. “I’m a princess! Now that I’m a princess, I can go wherever I want!”

“Still, why was I hiding under the table earlier if I'm a princess?” Driven by curiosity, I grabbed a
servant that seemed like a nice woman and asked her. She looked shocked and hinted me to keep down.
She pulled me aside and whispered to me, “Hide, Princess! Pierre is nearby!” “Wait a minute, who is
Pierre?” Just when I was confused, nervous and wanted to find a place to hide, a lovely voice shouted,
“Ha-ha, I’ve found you!” I turned around and the look on this chubby little boy in his finery melted me. I
shouted in my heart, “Aw, what a cutie!”

I really had no resistance towards children. When the child whom I seemed to know was running
towards me, the servant told me that this was the fifth time the child found me. No wonder I was hiding
earlier, we were playing hide-and-seek. Mystery solved! I breathed a sigh of relief, because I thought I was
in a secret mission or something. “Phew!” Another question raised. “Who is Pierre?” I dared not to ask the
servant or else, the fact that I did not know this cute little child would be weird. I must act like normal,
whatever normal looked like. I instantly put a bright smile on my face as the child ran towards me. “Ha-ha,
Aunt, I’ve found you again! I told you that I’m the smartest kid in here!” Pierre said, looking proud. Then, I
thought, “Ah, I’m his aunt!” I could not believe that the little cute boy was actually my nephew! My sister
must be gorgeous enough to have this little handsome!

I reached him and hugged him tightly with my eyes closed, appreciating this moment of joy that
was long lost lately in my life. I loved hugs. The hug warmed my heart, as if his smile could soothe my
anxiety. I heard soft music started playing slowly. Great timing! I thought. I immersed my heart and soul in
it. “Wait a second, is that my alarm ringing?”

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The Expected Response by Aisyah Radhiah Mohd. Nasir
She was an excellent student. She ranked the Top 5 in her school when it came to her academic and
co-curricular performance. Numerous suggestions poured in, on which courses would open the
opportunities for her. After stringent reviews, she did what was expected; she enrolled herself at a university
to further her tertiary level education.

She went through her degree life without complaints, but it was so clear that she was tired. Her face
was gloomy and her body was exhausted due to all the routines she had. She decided to take a week off
during her semester break, not doing anything related to her studies. All she did was lying on her bed,
watching movies and scrolling her phone, yet it boosted her energy for her break-mode. She kept browsing
her social media until something grabbed her attention.

It was a picture of her old friend. She was wearing the happiest smile she had ever seen on her. When
her friend was still in school, she always detested homework, study and anything related to education. Her
friend was very different from herself during school, but she ended up with a gorgeous smile instead. She
became curious and stalked her friend’s social media. The girl was currently doing arts and orders for her
drawings poured in from all over the world. Impressive! Looking back, the girl was always into arts and
drawings, in which she would rather, working on her paintings than doing her revision. Many of our teachers
scolded and nagged her for being lazy, but here she was. A happy person, doing what she loved to do.

“It’s not fair! I studied hard; I did many sacrifices to be able to get to where I am now. All she did was
painting and there she is, being famous all across the globe.” She started to see herself in comparison to
this friend of hers. She thought that although she had worked hard, she was just at the same level as
everyone else. Those who were just at the average level were now performing better than she was. It made
her think that she was not good enough.

She continued her days with the thought lingering in her mind. The whole week turned out to be the
worst week she had ever had. Reading was always her hobby, so she picked up a book and flipped to the
page she had yet to read. The environment in her room was great that it had helped her to be engrossed
with her reading. Suddenly, she started to giggle. She later laughed hysterically that she cried and wetted
the book she was reading. She took a deep breath and knocked her head with her hand. She felt stupid for
ruining her precious semester break. She covered her face with the blanket and tried to sleep.

The wind from the window was strong that it pushed the hardcover of the book to flip and stop at the
last page she was reading.

“I think that if you live long enough, you realise that so much of what happens in life is out of your
control — but how you respond to it is in your control.” – Hillary Clinton

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