The Corner Read Free

finish
up my homework for the day. When all was done, it was time to hit
the sack. I was so bummed out from the stressful day.
    While lying on my bed, I felt
something feathery brushing against my nose. I ignored it, hoping
that the ticklish feeling would go off so that I could drift back
into dreamland. The brushing persisted. In irritation, my eyes
snapped open to see what was bothering me.
    Long hair was
dangling right above my face. A girl, whose face was obscured by
her mane, was staring down at me.

Chapter 3 How?
    I shouted for help, but no sound
came out. I kept on trying and trying. The girl kept on glaring at
me.
    Then I woke up gasping for air.
A thin film of sweat was coating my skin and absorbing the cold air
to impart a chill into my system. There was nothing in front of me.
Stoned and stunned, I lay on the bed for a while before sitting up,
with reluctance, to survey my room, particularly the corners.
    There was a moving shadow at one
of the corners. Startled by that, I quickly brought up my knees to
my chest to bury my face in between them. I couldn’t stop the
involuntary quivering of my body.
    How did
she follow me to my home? It was my turf! Shouldn’t she be stuck
staring at the wall in school?
    I wanted to call for mum and
dad.
But it was the middle of the night; I
would disturb their sleep. Would they find me a nuisance for waking
them up over something that didn’t seem to exist? They wouldn’t
scold me for it, but they might think that I hadn’t grown up
yet—still a baby girl who cried for her parents at the slightest
setback.
    After a minute or so, I heard
the rustling of the leaves and realized that the shadow could be
that of the willow tree outside my window. I stole a peek at that
corner to confirm my suspicions, which were proven right. My
tensed-up muscles relaxed a bit, and I sank back into my bed.
    She was
still grounded to that spot.... She couldn’t touch me when I wasn’t
there.
    ***
    The disturbed sleep caused me to
wake up later than usual. Even the alarm clock had failed to
perform its function. I grabbed a sandwich and then charged out of
the house to sprint towards the bus stop. The bread, stuffed with
ham, tomatoes, cheese and lettuce, was gobbled up just before the
bus arrived. I got up the vehicle and went straight for the back
rows on the upper deck. I felt awkward to be sitting at the front,
in the full view of everyone.
    Would she
appear in the bus? Most probably not.…
    Though I still felt a lump in my
throat and a pressure pressing down on my chest.
    After the bus halted at the
second stop after mine, a boy, probably one or two years older than
me, came up onto the upper deck. My physical discomfort gradually
eased off the moment I took note of his presence. I immediately
recognized the uniform he was wearing: the distinctive dull green
shirt and trousers of St. Andrew’s Institution. The crest he had on
his chest further confirmed he was a student from there. It was a
shield with three objects adorning its surface: a book, a cross and
a burning touch. My guess was the three signified the school’s
mission, origins and motto.
    Frankly speaking, their uniform
design was ugly. Green was one of the most awful colours to be used
for clothes, cars and hair. Not that white was great either since
it couldn’t conceal the colourful underwear that some of my
schoolmates wore. So to be on the safe side, I always had my
school’s blazer on.
    I was surprised that there was
someone else from my neighbourhood attending one of those
prestigious high schools. My district was mainly occupied by the
middle class families. Most of the kids here were able to get into
decent high schools and then moved on to enrol in quite reputable
universities. However, only a handful of us could get into the best
schools.
    Notwithstanding the epic fail
uniform, he still looked pretty good due to his clean, boyish
appearance and scholastic air. It helped that he was carrying a
guitar case, adding a