A Storm Brews Without Warning (Part 3)

"What are we going to do?"

It was a month after Anna had called her father. Their condition had not changed. If anything, it had become worse. Jane and James had stopped going to school as they could not afford their fees.

"I don't know mommy. Are we poor mommy?"

Anna could only smile as she watched her children playing with their toys. She decided to ignore her son and continue gazing at the living room ceiling. Her husband was out trying his best, which was unfortunately not enough, to earn money for the family. She was stuck at home, forced to take care of the kids as they were unable to hire a babysitter. She could not use her better education to find a better and more stable job because John was a terrible babysitter. The last time he had tried taking care of the kids Jane had nearly burnt her hand.

"I'm home honey!"

"Daddy!" Both children ran to their father gleefully. For the first time in ages, John was looking ecstatic. He hugged the twins before walking towards Anna and giving her a kiss on her cheek. "How was your day, love?"

"The same as usual. Nothing to do but chores, housework and more chores. What's with you today? You look like you just won the lottery. Not like we have enough money to buy it."

"I may not have won the lottery, but I finally got a job that will not only be able to feed us, but might even be able to let us lead our old life of luxury!" John said.

Anna gasped. She could not believe it. "Don't tell me.... You aren't doing anything illegal are you? You're not stealing from anybody right? If you are then I would rather stay poor."

"Of course not. Didn't I promise you I would never do such things again? No, I'm doing legal things now."

"Good."

"There's just one thing though. If you don't mind, my job requires me to go to the U.S. for a month. But after that I will come back and work here permanently."

"When do you have to go?"

"Day after tomorrow. But it's alright, they said that they can handle everything. They even gave me some money in advance so that you and the children will not starve. Seriously, this job is once in a lifetime."

"I don't get it. What are you doing and who are you working for? Isn't this offer just too good to be true?" She was starting to get suspicious of this 'once in a lifetime' job.

"I assure you that everything will be fine. Just let me go for my business trip and we can live happily ever after all over again." Anna was still adamant on letting John go but in the end she reluctantly allowed him to leave for his trip.

      On that day, a company car arrived to send him to the airport. John had packed all his clothes (five shirts, three long pants and a pair of shorts, exclusive of undergarments) for the trip into a suitcase they had taken from the junkyard. He gave Anna and his children a kiss each and walked to the car with his head held high like the old days. The chauffeur helped place his luggage into the boot of the car before opening the door for John. John looked back one last time, smiled slightly, waved goodbye and entered the car. Then the car drove off, turning around the corner and disappearing from sight.

 20 DAYS LATER

     Anna was cooking when someone knocked on the door. She was surprised that someone was actually knocking on their front door. No one, not even salesmen had knocked on their door for any reason. You didn't need to be a genius to realize the owners of this house were as broke as beggars on the street. She and John had no real close friends to invite them over and anyways, they most definitely did not want to invite them over to the place they called home but what others might call a dump. 

    Anna offed the fire and went to open the front door. Standing outside was a man dressed in a suit and tie, very professional looking. Behind him was a black Mercedes so expensive looking that Anna couldn't even dream of owning it. "Excuse me, may I know who you are looking for?" Anna asked.

The response that she got was not what she expected. "It's her." said the man into a microphone. The person he was talking to replied him but Anna could not hear their conversation. 

"Mrs. Anna, I would like you to cooperate with me. Would you kindly enter the car over there? Someone would like to have a chat with you. It's ok, you don't have to worry about your children. We promise you it won't take long."

     Anna was speechless. How did this person know so much about her? Her name, address and the fact that she had children was not made very known to the public. Whoever this person was, he or she had done their research quite well. Anna cautiously approached the door. She could not see who was waiting in the car as the windows were tinted. Reaching the car, she slowly moved her hand towards the door handle. She opened the door slowly. When she saw who was inside, she gasped. 

"Hello, Anna. You really are an ungrateful daughter aren't you?"

A Storm Brews Without Warning (Part 1)

     John adjusted his suit. It was to be the best day of his life. He was finally getting married to the girl of his dreams. There she was, walking through the church door in her white dress, looking like an angel from heaven. Saying their vows, John and his newly wed wife, Anna kissed while the audience cheered and clapped their hands.
    John's parents died when he was just 6 years old. He was raised in an orphanage in Manchester, England for most of his childhood life. At 16, he ran away from the orphanage as he wanted to explore the world and test his skills in real life. His skills were not professional skills, but he was known by his friends as the Magic Fingers. He could pickpocket anybody that he met. It didn't matter if you were the world's most alert police or a cashier at Tesco. The second you turned your back towards John, you would lose your wallet and never get it back. But John never stole from the elderly. He only stole from people who looked like they were not in desperate need of money.
     Anna was an American girl from a rich family. At 5, her mother left because her father was always at work and never at home. Anna's father sent her to a boarding school in England when she was 13. After getting a degree in business, she worked for Walmart, slowly making her way up. She refused to live of her father's earnings and wanted to build her own financial structure.
     They met at a party. They were introduced to each other by the host of the party. From then onward they met up regularly. They fell in love and John asked her hand in marriage. She accepted but her father was against it. So she ran away from home and married John.
    Not long after, they had twins. One was a girl and the other a boy. They decided to name the girl Jane and the boy James. John thought that he was the happiest man alive. A loving wife, two cute babies, a stable income, what more could he ask for? Not to mention 2 sport cars and the mansion that they lived in. By this time John had turned over a new leaf. He stopped stealing from people and decided to get a real job. He worked at Walmart with his wife as his boss.
    It was less than 2 years after they got married that the stock market crashed. John and Anna loss their jobs but they still had four mouths to feed. So they had no choice but to sell their cars to put food on their table. They also sold the mansion and bought a small comfortable terrace house. After the economic failure passed, Anna opened her own business and John worked as her assistant. They thought that they could lead back normal lives. They didn't need luxury. They just needed each other. Little did they know that their future held things that would make them suffer. And not even love could help them.


To be continued in my friend Gan Jia Sern's blog, Today Not Tomorrow.  http://ganjiasern.blogspot.com/

The Black Village

     Just as the clock struck midnight, the village would appear. It appeared once a year, every February 28, and only for 1 hour at that. People who ventured in that village never made it out. It was nicknamed 'The Black Village' by the surrounding villages. Every year on that day, people, mainly reporters, from all over the world would come to visit it. They would watch in awe from a distance to see it appear without a warning and fade in just as fast.
     Charlie was a typical guy in his mid-20s. He had a dream, to be the first person to enter the village and come out alive. So, on the 27th of February, he arrived at a neighboring village of The Black Village. He double-checked everything that he had brought, ensuring that nothing was missing. At 10 o'clock that night, he was waiting for the village to appear. By this time, many reporters were getting their equipment ready so that they could take a live shoot of the the village's magical appearance. There were also a few people who looked like scientist examining the ground, the sky, and everything else they could see. Not to forget, there were the tourists coming from all corners of the Earth to see this mystical village with their naked eyes.
     Charlie's plan was simple. As it was forbidden for people to enter the village, he would just have to make a run for it. But looking at the situation now, he started to hesitate. He had no idea what to expect in the village, and he wasn't even sure if he could make it back out alive. Just then, the alarm on the watch on his hand started to ring, indicating that it was now the next day. And before his very eyes, the village started to appear, still hidden in the mist. You could only see the roofs of the houses clearly, and by the looks of them, the houses were built around the Medieval  times. All around him, he heard people gasping in shock at the sight. Charlie wouldn't have believed it was possible if he wasn't watching it with his very own eyes. In fact, he wasn't even sure if he believed it now. The village was like a magnet to him, so beautiful, just waiting for him to begin his adventure. And he knew at once that he must explore the village before it was too late. Without warning, Charlie ran full speed towards the village. He heard people calling him back but he ignored them. They did not matter to him. All that mattered was him getting to the village. Plunging into the mist, he continued running, until all of a sudden the mist vanished and he came face to face to the village. He expected the place to be magical, to look like an old Medieval village at least. How wrong he was.
     What greeted his eyes were terrifying. There whole place was filled with people, all of them looking like they were at the edge of their life. Some young, some old, all looking like they were the walking dead. And the buildings. His expectations had been so high. Houses made out of stone by state-of-the-art craftsmanship. Instead, the houses looked like they were just burnt down by a huge fire. It was only the roofs of the house that were intact. Everything else was ashes being scattered by the wind. The Black Village wasn't the fantasy that he longed to see. To him, it looked like the end of the world was less than 5 hours away. Suddenly, everyone started to drag themselves towards him.
     It all happened so fast. One second he was looking at the village, next second he was surrounded by people who looked like zombies. And he knew that this was his end. He would either die or join them to become the next Micheal Jackson from Thriller. Only one thing to do. He fell to the ground and started crying for his mama. The villagers just looked at him with a blank look on their faces. Charlie closed his eyes and prayed to God that he would be able to fulfill his dream of making out of the village alive. Then he heard stomping. The villagers were stomping their feet together. Like soldiers going for war. And Charlie knew that it would be over soon. He had so many regrets but this was by far the biggest regret of his life. All of a sudden, a scream rang out from the crowd. Other villagers started to echo her screaming. Soon, the villagers started to scream in sync. The earth started to shake. It was like an earthquake was happening. Just as quickly as it came, everything stopped. All was quiet. Charlie slowly opened his eyes, and was amazed that he was all alone. Not only were the villagers gone, the whole village had disappeared as well. The mist was still there, but that was about it. Charlie got up slowly, not believing in what had just happened. Had one hour passed already? Looking at his watch, he saw that it had stopped working from the last time he had looked at it, which was before he ran into the mist. Trying to contain his joy on surviving, he ran faster than Usain Bolt into the the mist. After running for about 10 minutes, he was still surrounded by thick mist. That was strange. It had taken him less than 2 minutes to run through the mist the first time but now it was taking more than twice the time. he continued searching for a way out, only this time moving at a much slower pace. Still he could not find a place not covered in mist. He continued to search for a way out. But he knew in his heart that he would not be able to achieve his dream. He knew that he would never see sunlight again.

The Secret Rose

     It was a dark and windy night. All that could be heard was the sound of two pairs of feet shuffling along in the darkness. The two figures appeared around the corner covered in black cloaks. "It's always so dark in there. Darker than midnight in Peru, man." "Silence! You are still too young to understand anything. But it's alright, there's still a lot of time left for you to mature. They will raise you up to become like The Chosen One. If not, you will end up like all the others who failed." You could almost hear him smirk. "Aw come on, you know I'm much better than them. I passed the first three tests without making a sound. In fact, I bet you I could..." "Shhhhhh! We have arrived at the place, our sanctuary."

    They had arrived in a narrow corridor. Stopping in front of an ancient wooden door. The elder man knocked the door so softly that a pin dropping on the floor would have been louder. But that was all it needed for the door to open by a crack, just big enough for both man to slip through. As soon as they entered, the door closed behind them by itself. The two man had entered a pitch black room. Suddenly a candle was lighted. The whole room was filled with people covered in black cloaks, standing in a circle. In the middle of the room there was a woman stripped down to her undergarments chained to a stone column. Only the lower parts of her body could be seen under the dim light.  "Now that we have all gathered, let the ceremony begin." All around them, candles were lighted simultaneously. "It is time my fellow brothers and sisters, time to hand down judgement on a traitor of The Chosen One." Taking a candle, the woman speaking stepped out of the circle. She was wearing a different cloak, one with the outline of a rose in gold at the back. "This woman has done things unimaginable to dirty our blood. I don't think I need to explain any further." She brought the candle close to the face of the woman, illuminating the woman's face. It was full of cuts here and there and the woman had passed out. Hissing sounds were heard throughout the room. "Yes, one of our brothers has managed to capture Melanie Briggs, the Head of Defense of Austria. She has made the minds of the people impure. It's our job as devoted followers of The Chosen One to cleanse our country." The chained woman started moaning. "I think it's time for us to begin." As one, all of the devotees raised up their left hand, revealing a tattooed black rose. As they started to chant, the woman devotee took out a knife from the sleeve of her right hand, thanking The Chosen One for giving her this opportunity.

The Worst April Fool

In Standard 6, I had this amazing teacher called Pn. Kesh. She was my English teacher for about 2, 3 years? Anyways, she was my class teacher as well. I guess you can say that our whole class, and I'm not joking when I say whole class, liked her. A lot. Except one guy who was quite pampered and didn't like her.
      So, I should mention that I had Malay tuition with a teacher from school every week (I can't remember what day it was but it was a week day). As usual, he came to my house to teach tuition on that day. Then, halfway through tuition, he told me "Eh, Caleb, do you know that Pn. Kesh is leaving our school? We got the letter today and tomorrow is the last day she will be teaching in our school."
     At first I thought he was joking because that day so happened to be the 1st of April but then he was like, "I'm serious, not joking. We thought it was a joke too but it's not." So, as soon as tuition finished, I went on Facebook and posted on my wall that our beloved teacher was leaving and that it was NOT an April Fool's joke. Thus, hoping that our class would be more prepared for the next day, I prepared a speech for her farewell.

THE NEXT DAY.....

     At school, I asked some of my friends whether they received my message. And their response?

"You think we so stupid ah? We're not that dumb la Caleb. We won't fall for your April Fool's Day joke." I tell you, after they told me that, I wanted to take a knife and cut them up in to thousands of pieces. I mean, seriously? You think I would joke about something like that? To cool down, I went of for my duty. Yes, I was also a prefect in primary school and I can't say that I was any better now.... 

When I went back to class, word had finally spread that our teacher was REALLY leaving. I really wanted to rub it in some people's faces but of course, I'm not that mean. For our first period, our teacher came in and everybody started asking if it was true or not. She answered yes. And of course, nobody prepared anything despite me telling them earlier. In the end, I gave my speech in front of the class and by the end of it, everyone was in tears except for the one guy. Including teacher. Don't believe me? Then ask Jon Shaun. No teaching was done by teacher on that day. It was just her thanking us and we thanking her back. And I must say, I was pretty angry at the people who saw my post and didn't do anything. But it was just my luck that this should happen on the most foolish day of the year, April Fool's Day.