It may be a little fuzzy memory.

But it really did happen.

I saw it with my own eyes.

Some memories are etched onto your heart, but are they as strangely creepy as this one?

Even as I’m typing it all down now,I am transported back to that very moment of my secondary school years.

———

“We’re gonna be late! Hurry up, you’re so slow!” I say to her between pants.

“Who are you to call me ‘slow’? You’re the one running behind me!” she replies.

I catch up with her and poke her right side. She smiles at me,reminding me that poking does not have any effect on her at all. It’s funny seeing her run with the purple umbrella in her hand. The rain stopped a few hours ago but her umbrella is still pretty wet.

Both of us stop running once we arrive just opposite of the school.

“We just have to cross the road. Let’s just walk across,”I tell her.

“Isn’t that jay-walking?”she asks me,with a hint of a smile.

“Well yeah. Duh. Let’s go,or else we’ll be late.”

“You go first.”

I nod at her and scan the road. There are not much cars passing by that day compared to other days. I shrug my shoulders and walk across the road with ease.

I turn around and signal for her to cross. She nods at me and crosses. But halfway across the road,a blue taxi hit her and her umbrella falls beside her. My jaw metaphorically drops. My mind is flooded with infinite questions. Will she be alright? Does she have any major injuries? Is she going to DIE? Am I going to lose my best friend forever?

The taxi driver rushes out of his vehicle and squats beside her,worrying about whether she needs to be taken to the hospital or not. Onlookers chattered about this being a very tragic event. “Poor girl,”I heard a lady in her thirties standing close to me say to her friend.

But something extraordinary happens. Everything seems to slow down-she opens her eyes, reaches for her umbrella and gets back up on her feet. Automatically,I rush to her and offer my help but she chuckles. She looks up at me,smiles,and says,”I’m fine,I’m fine.” At the same time I notice the taxi driver has relief written all over his face. He walks back to his taxi and drives off. I roll my eyes at the driver’s ignorance.

I follow her walk towards the main gate of the school, which is quite near to the road. I stare at her in confusion while walking by her side. “You sure you okay? You’re not bleeding or anything,aren’t you? Don’t you feel dizzy or anything?” I bombard her with questions.

She laughs again. “I told you, I’m fine. No broken bones, no blood. Only my left knee here hurts, but it’s not so bad.” She looks at her umbrella and frowns. “I can’t say the same about my umbrella. I hope it doesn’t rain today.”

“YOU GOT HIT BY A TAXI AND YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT THE WEATHER?! I THOUGHT YOU DIED IN THAT ACCIDENT! I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!” I shout at her as she continues to fix her umbrella. We continue to walk into the school in silence and a few seconds later, she says,”Hey,I’m still here,am I? I thought I would have died as well. But here I am,breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide.”

I shake my head and we both laugh. That accident sure didn’t affect her sense of humour.

I accompany her to the toilet and stare at my reflection in the mirror while she checks for any wounds she may have in a cubicle. I look at myself and think about what would happen if God really took her away. The possibilities are endless. She comes out of the cubicle minutes later and smiles at me, assuring me that she is unharmed. I return her smile and we walk to the classroom together.

“You know,”I whisper to her,”you should have chosen a nicer-looking car to hit you. That taxi was unglam.”

She playfully pushes me a little and we laugh again.

———

From then on,whenever I see that purple umbrella,I would recall the accident.

From then on,I only jay-walk when I’m really in a hurry. But I often use the traffic lights and zebra crossings.

From then on,I hug her everytime I go out with her, afraid that it might be the last time I would ever see my best friend’s smile again.

*________,if you get to read this,I want to let you know that I really treasure you and our friendship. I love the times we laughed when there’s no reason to,the days we had AMaths class together and made fun of Mr Ang,the deep dark secrets we shared,the moments we had comforting each other,the afternoons we spend talking about boys..and there’re lots more,aren’t there? ;P

I want to let you know that if I had to choose the memories I wanted to keep forever,I would definitely choose the memories that had you in it. That’s what makes them special. And you’re a special girl. Maybe that is why God didn’t take you away. I know that seems selfish of me. But without you,who am I going to run to if I have nowhere else to go? Who am I going to tell all my secrets to? Who is going to talk about cute boys with me? Who is going to tell me that everything’s going to be alright when I am down?

Most importantly,who is going to give me that 10,000-watt smile you always give me? No one can.

Thank you God for letting me keep my best friend. I will try my best not to give you reasons to take her away forever. *

I haven’t been able to read any fiction books since school started. I remember when the holidays got boring for me, I often went to the nearest library and borrow four books from the Young Adults English Fiction section and two Malay books for my maid. Then I would rush back home,hand my maid the two books,then lock myself in my room and start reading till I got sleepy.

But those days are over. A brand new life,a brand new routine to follow. Assignments by the dozen,or so it seems. There is no time for reading at all. In the shuttle bus to school,I always doze off. Then lessons commence. Homework is given. Lunch break. Next class starts. It ends. The journey back home takes about an hour or more of my life. I tend to doze off during the train journey. When I reach home,I finish off the next day’s homework and sleep. I’m too busy now.

Today I went to the Popular Sale at the Singapore Expo with my sister and I was amazed at the crowds of people rushing into the convention hall. Despite being a closed door event,I swear that a claustrophobic would literally DIE in there. The queues were also ridiculously long. It took three hours just to reach the cashier counters and pay for our items but it seemed like forever. A typical Singaporean would look at the long queue and say,”It’s too long.I’m too lazy to queue. Let’s go home.“. But today’s event showed otherwise.

I’m particularly happy today because I got myself some books to read. THANK GOODNESS. If I have no magazines to read,I might as well read my new books. It’s a way of escaping reality by venturing wild fantasies and imagination. That’s a book’s job.

Remember the 2004 tsunami that devastated Aceh,Indonesia?

Well,according to [http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100509/tap-indonesia-quake-aeccaac.html],another natural disaster strikes Aceh again.

A powerful quake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit Aceh on Sunday(that was yesterday,MOTHER’S DAY?!).

Luckily no one died or got hurt. But a school which was in the middle of rebuilding collasped. (There goes all the cement. Darn gotta start from scratch yet again.)

I really pity Indonesia. They always get the natural disasters. It’s like the country has a huge sign hovering above them that says,”Natural disasters,please spare the other countries and hit us.”

But Indonesia is awesome to me. They still grasp their cultures and traditions. Well,there is the question of poverty but hey,I don’t hear them complaining.

Wait,wait.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific RING OF FIRE. No wonder.

I remember learning about the Ring Of Fire during Geography lessons in Secondary 1/2.

Something about the crustal plates(made me think of pizza for some reason) colliding. That forms earthquakes.

I hope Singapore doesn’t experience any earthquakes. I still love my mum. (LOL,I know. Random.)

If you say ‘Facebook’ to anyone,they would definitely know what you’re talking about. It’s a social network where you could be friends with new people all over the world and get in touch with old friends. But some good things aren’t so good after all.

I came across this piece of news online today : [http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/05/04/oh-no-mom-and-dad-are-on-facebook/]. Poor kid. How come people don’t realise that whatever you put online is PUBLIC. Everyone can see everything! So what would you do if your mum adds you on Facebook? No more intimate chats with guys now,ahem.

For example,I bet most people do not know that after giving birth,if the female hamster does not believe that Baby A would survive for long,she would DEVOUR Baby A. And it does not always have to be one baby that has to be sacrificed. Frankly,I still do not understand the reason behind the cannibalism in hamsters but if this was the way God has made them,I have to accept them,don’t I?

A few months back,I researched a little about the typical hamster’s background. I stumbled upon the hamster’s history and I found it hard to believe. These cute,darling animals were desert animals before domestication. As stated in a brief outline of the hamster’s history at [http://www.hamsterhideout.com/history.html],a zoologist/professor found the first hamster discovered by man. Golden Hamsters are slightly bigger than regular hamsters we see today in pet shops. Due to cross breeding and experimentation(they can reproduce new litters in a few weeks!),out comes the colourful dwarf hamsters.

The Golden Hamsters are renamed Syrian hamsters,if I am not mistaken. They can live up to 3 years,whereas the dwarf hamsters can live up to 2 years only.A month ago,one of my baby hamsters passed away because it was too weak to survive. It did suffer quite a number of injuries after the mother seemed to treat it as another male hamster other than her own. The brawl between mother and son was pretty serious but my family did not realise that those injuries would be the very ones that sent him to hamster heaven. So,it stopped short of its life.

That is why my mother always tells me : “Don’t get too close to the hamsters. When they die,the only thing that will stay uneased would be your heart.” I do agree with her,but who could resist those little critters? I know I couldn’t.

They may have short lifespans.But they do live their lives to the fullest!