Here goes a story about a Nobody’s Child taken from the True Singapore Ghost Stories, Book 9. This story was written by Jonathan Jacob, 10, a student who is also one of the letter writer with an artistic bend of mind. His story has been chosen as one of the story in the Front Page section among 550 of the other letter writers. I’m sharing this story because I saw that this young writer had potential in writing amazing stories by just using his imagination or experience, maybe...
So, readers are reminded not to be influenced by the content because it only for entertainment .
Enjoy! : )
Nobody’s Child
When I learned about my best friend in school David Yeoh, was suffering from leukaemia, I was heartbroken. David's whole life seemed to be a tragedy.
Rather fair-skinned and short, David was my classmate in Primary Four, Rosyth School. He looked emaciated, and only his skin prevented his bones from being exposed. His hair was nearly ways uncombed and the glasses he wore added to the impression that he was a nerd. But I know that David had a big hear and was always a good friend.
Once, when I was involved in a fight, David came to help even though the bully I was fighting with was almost three times his size. Not that I needed his help but the show of support meant a lot to me. The two of us together managed to ward off the bully.
David’s parent were divorced and he lived with his mother who beat him up often. He would go to school with embarrassing rotan marks all over his body. Sometimes, his mother even had men over to her house and David would be asked to sleep outside the three-room HDB flat for the night. He was nobody’s child. Really.
During recess, he would excuse himself and disappear into the toilet. When I learned that he didn’t have pocket money to buy food, I offered him to give some money. He always declined my offer.
David was an exceptional artist but he was never really given the chance to realise his potential. His paintings always took to imaginary worlds where people were happy.
In school, his grades suffered, as you can expect. Teachers who didn’t know him well thought he was lazy and stupid. Despite all this, he was actually very cheerful.
“Things will change for the better,” he would say to me. “Every day is a new day.”
David wan a quietly pious person and that give him inner strength and beauty that stood firm against the trials and tribulations of life.
One day, he fainted in class. I thought it was because he didn’t eat well. When it happened a second time next day, he was given a complete medical examination. It was then we learned that fate had dealt him a final, cruel blow. The doctor said he had cancer.
Cancer. I thought that things were supposed to change for the better. I turned to God and asked why He was so unfair. Why David? Why not someone else?
Even David’s mother hardly visited him when he was in hospital. After about a month David was all skin and bones. He had lost his hair. I could feel the end was near.
One night, I decided to stay with David by his bed. At about 4am, he held out his hand and deliriously called out, “Mummy! Mummy!”
I held his hand. I couldn’t help the tears that rolled down my face.
“It’s okay David, Jonathan is here. Don’t worry.” Somehow, my words rang hollow. When I woke up, David was gone. To another world. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.
That night as I lay on my bed, I felt a deep, profound sense of loss. I never knew it could hurt so much.
At about three that very morning, I felt a breeze in my room. It was strange because the night had been hot and sultry. The curtains in at the window suddenly came to life as the breeze brought along with a welcome coolness.
It brought more than coolness for there was a presence in my bedroom. When I turned my head towards the desk, he was there... David. Somehow, I wasn’t frightened for I realised that he had come to see me one last time.
*please neglect the spelling & grammatically errors if ada okay. *bahasa melayu* majulah bahasa untuk negara :P
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