An Ending
He sat quietly, twirling his teaspoon in the coffee cup. The spoon clanged rhythmically against the white porcelain sides of the cup.
It was raining outside.
He stared at the colorful reflections of the pedestrians caught in the water rivulets running down the coffee club windows. A smudged red figure scurried past, with a yellow umbrella.
She took a short sip out of her cup, her lips only fleetingly kissing the cup rim, and set it down on the saucer with a gentle "ching".
She's just waiting for me to speak, he thought. Silently, he cursed himself for getting himself into this predicament. They had been friends for so long, they had almost fallen in love, they had been through thick and thin, but he had never felt so uncomfortable with her before.
"You... know what I want to say..." He tried weakly.
"Nope I don't.
Say what you have to say." She interjected.
"What do you mean, you don't know? You're just...!" He said panickedly, stopping when he noticed the corners of her mouth tilting up ever so slightly. She
knew. With her deep wisdom, cleverness, and her eye that sees the future, she was just was just waiting for him. For him to come to this decision on his own. Even though she had already seen it, and what lies beyond.
He suddenly felt shame wash over him. He had been hoping that she would give him a hint of what he would do, what he would decide. Push the responsibility of the decision to the 'him' in the future.
"We just thought we should let you know." He said, his resolve hardening. "We'd decided to go out after all."
"I see."
"Please give us your blessings."
"Just that?"
His new found resolve melted away like candlewax in a fire. Was that a hint? Would he ask her
? Was he going to? He admitted that he was very curious. They were so different. The circumstances in which they met were so strange. He wanted to know... and yet he did not want to know...
"Don't dwell so much on the future, when you have the luxury of the now."It was also a rainy day, many years ago when she said that, in her low voice. The bitterness in her voice weighed down on his heart even now. That was the first and last time she ever said something like that, and it was also the first time he realized just how much of a burden her ability was to her. He noticed she always loved to see others struggle towards their goal, not out of sadistic pleasure, but because its something she admired from the very bottom of her heart.
He wondered why this incident had suddenly popped up in his mind. But he had come to a decision.
"Don't tell me where this would lead. I want to struggle through this on my own, fight every battle I have to fight, and try my best to keep her close to me. I don't want... to know the ending, be it good or bad."
"If we have your assurance that it will all work out fine, we wouldn't work through our arguments and take each other for granted. If we know it would never work out in the end, we wouldn't even try to understand each other, and blame its failure all on fate."
"I believe in us. I want to try my best, and see where this road will take me."
She smiled. "Well~ Its a noble decision. With such a strong conviction and spirit, I'm sure the two of you would be able to overcome anything that fate throws in your way. I wish you good luck."
"Thank you."
"You should leave now. The East road would be flooded by the rain soon, and traffic would get congested. Any later and you'll be late for your date."
"Oh! Oh! Thanks!" Picking up his jacket, he pushed the chair seat awkwardly under the table, and made a mad dash to the door. He froze in thought as he was passing the counter. "Oh yes, and..." shoving a note into the cashier's hand, he muttered a quick instruction, and turned to leave.
Looking out the window, she saw his blue-coated figure waving at an orange cab. As it pulled to a stop, he turned, and oddly enough, she could see very clearly, through the kaleidoscopic image in the window and the web of water running down the pane, him mouthing the words "Thank you" and smiling.
As the cab pulled away, she took one last sip from the cup. "I just couldn't help giving him a hint." she laughed to herself, as she set the cup down. "I'm just really bad at keeping happy endings to myself."
The Magic Shoes
"Hello" said the Magician. "I have a pair of shoes I want to give you. The Magic Shoes, which would take you anywhere you want to go."
Gratefully, she accepted. Wow, a pair of magic shoes! It would take her anywhere she wanted!
On Saturday, she wanted to go to the moon. The shoes treaded a path up the moon's beams, and she bounced happily across the luminous surface.
On Sunday, she wanted to go under the sea. The shoes turned into flippers, and she walked the currents with the mermaids and fishes.
On Monday, she wanted to go to school. The shoes took her down a different path, deep into the forest to the old oak tree. Try as she might, she could not exit the forest. She missed school that day.
On Tuesday, she wanted to go to school. The shoes took her down an unfamiliar street, where the houses are square and squat, and the streets are old and cobbled. Try as she might, she could not find her way out. She missed school again that day.
On Wednesday, she gave up going to school. "I have a wedding dinner to attend tonight, so I might as well stay at home to doll up for it." She thought to herself. She took out all her favorite dresses, and tried them on. She tied up her hair in many fancy patterns. Come dinnertime, she found herself on a cliff overlooking the city lights. She was once again, completely lost.
On Thursday, her cousin called her up and berated her for missing the dinner. Her school called her up for missed lessons. Her parents shook their heads at how unreliable their daughter had become. She tried to take off the Magic Shoes. They refused to come off.
On Friday, she took a cab down to school. Her friends dragged her to her class. She'd missed too many lessons, she was told to go to the corner and write an apology and explanation letter. She walked out of the classroom, and went back home again.
Three years later, she met the Magician again. "Please take these shoes off," she said, "they're nothing but trouble."
"But why?" He asked, astonished. "They're a perfect pair of Magic Shoes. They could make you happier by bringing you places you could only dream of going to. They would fulfill all your wishes for you."
"Because I do not need all my wishes fulfilled."
Desert Wastelands
I trudge on in the sweltering desert sun. The thin sand shifts with my footsteps, revealing the cracked ground underneath. Beads of perspiration formed on my forehead, my hair flopped and stuck to my face.
I trudge on in the sweltering desert sun, alone.
I struggled with each step I take. Stomp, stomp, stomp. Moving forwards, towards the horizon. Where the sun sets in the evenings. Towards a greener land, I hope.
Stomp... stomp...... stomp...... each step I took became heavier and heavier.
Stomp......... I could barely lift my feet.
Why?
I look down, and find- tiny little pale hands clasping at my boots. Little desert sprites, spirits of my hometown. Looking up with their pale thin faces, imploringly they whimpered, and hung on with all of their little might.
I shifted my feet. They hung on like wet sand. I stomped. I kicked at the air. They hung on all the tighter, and I could feel it. My energy, slowly being sucked away by their little hands.
"Help us..." they cried.
"Please... take us with you..." they cried.
As I struggled, the last of my strength left me, and I could only watch the sun set, turning the sky above the horizon a beautiful purple colour.
And as I lay there with the whimpering sprites, the cold came in where the sun's rays could no longer reach.
Its another day in the desert.
Garden
She covered herself with soft blankets of down, showing only the cocoon that she built for herself. Lying silently, dormant in the sanctuary she created, she hid her ugly self from the world. One day, as she was sleeping, she was awoken by a rude crash. and a hideous black furry head poked in through her soft walls and stared at her naked as she is. She screamed. Throwing her gold at him, she bribed him leave. It felt colder that night, she couldn't stop shaking. Drawing her covers more tightly around herself, she boarded up herself such that not even a cold sliver of wind can come through.
As the days passed, others slowly shed their skins. Staring out, she saw a rain of blood. She shivered in her shell.
In the garden, in a thicket of red rose bushes, there was one that never bloomed.
Kaleidoscope
i'm living in a round room made of glass. the ceiling stretches up towards the moon, and the stars are mapped out beneath my feet, blinking red, blue and green. everyday i stand in the centre of the room, staring at the walls as the Colours journeyed from one end to another and back again.
sometimes an earthquake occurs, and the room shakes from side to side. the Colours whirl across the walls in a dizzying frenzy, and the light gets too hard to bear. on such days i curl up in a ball and close my eyes as tight as i can.
sometimes the glass walls crack in the cold. the Colours would seep through and come to me. red is stinging and prickly, and leaves rashes on my skin. blue is icy-cold, and numbs my body to immobility. green is warm and fuzzy, yellow whistles and bubbles.
today, when i woke up, the Colours had all fled the walls. i stared out at a dense white fog creeping up the walls, threatening to swallow up the moon and the stars. rubbing my eyes, i looked around.
a gentle thud at my feet. white hovered at my toes, a smooth oval pebble the size of my fist.
"didn't you escape with the others?"
i cupped it in my hands, and we sat down and waited.
hide-and-seek
i looked around, lost, in a large, empty building. Lifeless plastic plants stood stonily along the corridor, the cold white lights throws everything into illuminance, the tiled floor is dustless, with no trace of any footprints. It was a world separate from all the rest, with only me and him.
He is not here. At another level?
The elevator door opened with a loud chime, echoing in the silent hallway. I chose the highest floor. The gears and wires whirred into action, the elevator slowly, painstakingly, pulled itself up one floor, two...
The doors opened to an empty hallway. The identical plastic plants waved at me. I pressed the next floor, the doors slowly closed shut.
i repeat the process mechanically, anxiousness growing in me. Every floor, an empty hallway. The faint traces of hope are trickling away. Yet, i know. he must be somewhere. is he looking for me as well?
An hour passed. and another, and another... i lost count of how many floors i had tried. i stepped out of the elevator, it whirred on to its next destination. looking around, it is still the same scene. sitting under a branch, i rested. and woke to the sound of the elevator doors closing.
jump up. make for the buttons- the elevator had already moved off. turning, i ran for the stairs. scaling upwards, i threw open the door to an empty hallway everytime. up and down, up and down... up and down, up and down... occassionally hearing light footsteps on the stairs, and the distinct sound of the elevator's whirring and closing.
the elevator whirred to my floor, the doors opened with a clank... i turned in surprise to an empty elevator. the doors closed with another clank, and the it pulled itself elsewhere.
had he already given up and left? am i the only one left in this complex?
i went to the first floor. the gates gave no clue. i almost gave in to the impulse to just run through them to the big, lively world outside. but no, not yet. for once you leave, you can never re-enter again.
...tired
tired out, burned out, trodding on half asleep in a cold cold mist.
too tired to love, too tired to feel, too tired to think, too tired to stop.
And when it all ends, regret would flood my heart, for forsaking all that's dear in all my lethargy. But now, the little naggy voice at the back of my mind is too weak to sound, and i just trudge on blindly, heavily, leaving a huge part of me behind.
Smothering into ashes, disappearing into the dusk.
