This is a joint blog shared by 2 lazy pple - Ciping & Wilbur, who wishes to use each other to maintain the blog. Sadly, Ciping is the more inactive one and Wilbur does most of the work in the end. Feel free to post comments on the tag-board, it feels good to know pple are actually reading and responding to your posts. It gives motivation to write more.
Its a day of remembrance. Some 40,000 people across Singapore may not forget this day. But it'll be etched in my memory, with a deeper, different meaning.
It was the day of 'liberation', the day of 'freedom'. D day everyone was waiting for.. It would be true to a certain extent to say that, 4 years of studying.. all made for that 1 single moment - The time the teacher said, "Alright you may leave now."
I will not forget that moment. People were shouting, screaming, all at the top of their lungs, ranting out all the pressure that have built up upon them. I was there, quiet... my heart racing inside. I have been thinking of this moment a thousand times before, each night, each time I sat down to study. It would always never fail to distract me.. D end of it all. And then.. it had finally come. I had went through in my mind before, all the different kinds of reactions I would have. But when it finally came, I was there... dazed... unable to believe that the moment had finally come. I looked at the sticker on my desk which read "GCE O'LEVEL EXAMINATION" followed by my name and my serial number. Many others had torn theirs, in a bid to totally finish up their nasty O's once and for all. But I looked at mine, and realised, that would be something I'd never never forget, not in a long time. The sweat, the hard work, the worries, all finally coming to an end on this day. School and studying is NO MORE, not at least for the next month. We all felt like prisoners on their release date.
So, for our first celebration, we decided to go and eat a sumptuous dinner. I was accompanied by Ciping, Sean, Denys, Wilfred, Renhao and Andrew (ong). Crystal Jade was the eventual choice after some tussle about the budget. In the end, we still had to fork out some 17 bucks each.
Pool was next on the itinery. We went to the Republic theatre and took 2 tables. Ci Ping turned out to be a natural. With his skills at this level, he could easily take part in the New Paper after 5 pool league with some training.
After a while, a very well-mannered, chinese guy came to talk to us. He had been sitting around for quite a while, but wasn't playing though. I presumed he was a friend of the owner or 1 of the owners there. He asked us who was a Christian. I responded, and he proceeded to ask me which church I was from. I did not find anything strange with it as it was quite normal. Having told him I was from Lighthouse, he said he was from there too, and started to come over to me, talking about the church, mentioning that the guys that left at the other table were from Lighthouse too, and that they always played there regularly. He also mentioned names which I didn't know, so I presumed he was from another service. I asked him and he said yes.
After that, he continued to talk to me. He told me that there were often Malay guys who would come here and make some trouble, so he said if there was any trouble, just come to him and he'll help to settle it. He also told me that he had a friend who was very good in pool, and wanted to introduce him to me. During the conversation, he asked me whether all of us were under 16, and pointed out that 1 of the guys who left was 15, but "we just let them play anyway". I told him that none of us was under 16, although Wilfred was. Then came Singapore Idol, and he offered to help us switch on the TV to watch, which he did. Apart from that, he also asked a few times whether we wanted any drinks. But we said we didn't. All these convinced me that either he was a friend of the owner, or he was 1 of the owners himself. It was perfectly natural for an owner to talk to his customers, so I didn't think anything was wrong.
But I didn't realise the nightmare was just beginning.
While all that happen, about half an hour had past. He told me his friend still had not arrived yet, and asked if he could borrow my phone to give him a call. I agreed. After all, he had been so friendly and helpful. Furthermore, he seemed to know the owners there. While he was on the phone, Xi-Wei, Joel and Ka FAi passed by the pool place. Ren hao (I think) saw them and called out to them. There was a brief conversation, and we were talking quite loudly. At the same time, the man covered his other ear, and went out of the place to talk. After that, he looked right and left.. then went down the stairs. Seeing that I was going to lose sight of him, I called out to Xi-wei and tried to ask him to go downstairs to check on the guy. Apparently, he had no idea what I was talking about. So I decided to go downstairs myself and look. When I reached downstairs, I was unable to see him. I thought, "He might have gone to look for his friend." However, I was starting to panic a little. Denys was at the entrance too and I called him to come down.
I told him the guy had taken my phone. I borrowed his phone and tried to call the guy (my own phone). I called him and asked him politely, "Er.. can you return my phone first please?" He replied, "Yah yah sorry. I'm at the bus-stop now, I'm meeting my friend, come and look for me there.. sorry ar."
I heaved a slight sigh of relieve, and made my way with Denys to the crowded bus-stop. However, he wasn't there. I called him again. He said he was at May Bank, apologized again, and told me Maybank was at K-box there. I ran to Maybank, and I did not find him, yet again. This time, I was arguing with myself, "Why wasn't he there? If he meant to steal my phone, wouldn't he just off it?" I still had a glimpse of hope.
I called him and he answered again. This time, he told me he was at the 2nd staircase - and when I asked him why he misled me the 1st 2 times, he said, "this time really, really. i never bluff you, I meeting my friend". So I ran back to the staircase at the pool area. He was not there... I decided to go to the 2 owners and tell them what happened.
It turned out they did not really know the guy. They asked me for my number and wanted to speak to the guy. They talked to him, and threatened him a little also. After that, they told me that he said he was at the Underpass. The owners also said that if he had really meant to steal my phone, he would not leave it on. They recommended that a few of us go look for the guy, while the rest stay put. That, was my last thread of hope.
Denys and I made our way to the underpass, while Sean and Andrew went to look at the bus stop. We went all the way out, even to East Coast Park. But could not find that guy.
After that, when I wanted to call the guy, but this time, the phone was off. All hope was lost. I was gripped with a greater sense of disbelief than what I had earlier in the afternoon. The next and only destination now would be the police station.
I went in with the other 6 of them to file the report. The officer asked the rest of leave, and I was left with him alone, to tell him the details. As I was gving my statement, I was also wondering how... how to give my statement to my family. It was the worst thing that could happen to me on the day my O'Levels end.
I was kept there for about 2 hours. Along the way, my Dad came to know of it as I had to call back to ask for the serial number of the phone.
As I left the police station around 11, Ciping, Sean, Denys, Wilfred and Andrew was still there waiting for me. They tried to cheer me up, and even played lame games in an attempt to do that. But although I was not too sad on the outside, I was still gripped with shock on the inside. Nonetheless, I would like to thank them for staying back so long to wait for me, and leaving only after I had left. I think it would have been much worse if I had walked out of the police station with no one around, and I was all alone to myself.
But it was far from over. My mum and my sis came to pick me up. As I returned home, the theme of the day was "WHY WERE YOU SO STUPID?" I know I cannot excuse myself from the scoldings. However, I really did not mean for it to happen. A moment of kindness resulted in a backfire and was flung back so violently into my face. With each ensuing scolding, I just felt worse and worse inside.
I was overwhelmed with all kinds of feelings. I felt so severely exploited because of my helpfulness, betrayed of my trust in that guy, who didn't deserve the slightest bit of respect. It was not only the loss of the phone. It was the feeling of being cheated. It was the feeling of betrayal. It was the feeling that such a terrible thing had to happen on the end of my O's. What I thought would be one of the happiest, most liberating day of my life turned out to be one of the worst day in my life, and this locked me into another prison which I might never get out of... this memory of being betrayed and exploited. That night... as many would be happyily smiling... and thinking of ALL the things they would and could do after the O's, a smile... was the last thing on my face.
Waking up was no better. The first thought that came to my mind was that my phone had been stolen. The following day, as I went out, the scene just kept replaying and replaying in my mind. Although I was with my friends, I was unable to enjoy myself.. I could not shake that awful memory off. But at least it would be better than staying at home. I would be reminded of it even more.
Now another day has past. I would say I feel much better. Yet, the memory is still etched firmly in my mind.
I just pray that, somehow.. just somehow... I would be able to get my phone back.
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