Compo 6 (Glenn Chia)

It was a painful, valuable lesson indeed. It was a lesson about patience and not to take shortcuts. I could remember, the eerie screech of the car, the loud horn of the car, and everywhere seemed so very dark. I was unconscious……

“Tom! Do you know what time it is, you are going to be late!” shouted my mother, angrily. When I woke up, it was nine forty-five in the morning. “Gosh! It is just fifteen minutes to my tuition class!”

I rushed to the toilet and while washing up, I tried to get changed. Without having breakfast, I rushed out of the door and headed for my tuition centre.

“The tuition centre is just across,” I thought. “It is too troublesome to use the overhead bridge, I shall just run across when there are no vehicles.” Surprisingly, there were no cars at that instance. However, as I dashed across the road, I knew I was finished…… “Hooonk Hoooonk!” “Eeeeewwwweee!” “Bang!”

Everything turned black and white, my childhood memories flash across my eyes, and that was it, my mind went completely blank.

When I woke up, I did not even know I did…… I was blind. “Mom, Dad anyone? Then I heard a reply. “We are here son, we are here!” as I tried to get up, I felt a sharp pain down my waist. “Am, am I blind?” Then I heard a cry. “Ye…Ye…Yes.” The room was completely silent for a short moment. “What happened?” I asked. “You were knocked down by a car, why did you jaywalk, why? Luckily the driver who knocked you unconscious called the hospital in the nick of time,” replied Mother. I did nothing but cry. I found out that just a few additional seconds won’t kill, but subtracting it might. Though I found out about patience, I can never retrace my steps. Life has changed forever.