The Day That I Was Wrongly Accused

This happened to me about five years ago. I had a group of best friends whom I grew up with, but was in separate classes. I was in primary five when it happened.

Being made class monitor for three and a half months, my form teacher, also the discipline master of the school, made me and another girl class prefects. Everything was going well for a few months; until things started disappearing. Watches, bracelets, etc, etc...

The other prefect, Cai Yuhe and I was getting curious about the vanished items, however. Our class might be careless and might misplace our things sometimes, but they're not that careless!

What I didn't dream about was that I got accused of stealing the things! It was during a day when we had a celebration in the school (I don't remember what celebration!), and I had to finish up a particularly difficult Mathematics problem that our Maths teacher had set during recess time. I left the classroom for about five minutes for a drink at the water-cooler.

When the bell rang to signal the end of recess, the class came pouring in for Science lesson. It was while I was flipping through my Science workbook that I realise Mei-an, the girl sitting in front of me was rumaging through her schoolbag anxiously.

"What's the matter, Mei-an?" asked Xinling who was sitting beside me impatiently. "Lost something?"

"YES!" said Mei-an, practically turning her bag inside-out. "I CAN'T FIND MY WALLET!"

"YOU'RE KIDDING!" I dropped my pen. "How much is in there?"

"Fifty bucks!" said Mei-an, pulling her books out one by one. "Where has it gone?"

When Mei-an realised that her wallet is neither in her bag nor under her desk, she went straight to Mrs Chan, our Science teacher. There was a great commotion then. Mrs Chan was inspecting our bags one by one. I was looking at each of my classmates' faces, wondering which one is the thief.

However, I didn't dream that the stolen wallet would be found in MY bag! There was a gasp all around the classroom when Mrs Chan put her hand in my bag and pull out... Mei-an's wallet!

Mrs Chan looked strangely at me as she handed Mei-an her wallet and said, "Xiaoli? Do you have anything to say?"

My voice didn't seem my own as I looked straight into Mrs Chan's eyes and said, "I didn't do it. You can think all you like, but I didn't do it."

There were whispers all around the classroom. Whispers of "Thief" and "Liar" can be sounded around.

"I believe you," said Mei-an loudly. "I know you're not a thief."

"Me too..." Xinling, Yuhe and another of my best friends, Ronald voiced out too.

Mrs Chan clapped her hands, breaking the whispers that broke out. "All right, everyone, back to your seats. I'll inform your form teacher about this matter. He'll handle this. Finish up your work."

The next thirty minutes seemed to be in a whirl to me. My mind was spinning about what I saw and heard just now. I just could not concentrate on my Science at all.

English was after Science. It was taught by my form teacher, Mr Lim. He came in with a grim face and it was evident to everyone in the classroom that Mrs Chan had informed Mr Lim about Mei-an's wallet.

When the bell rang for dismissal and everyone started to piled out of the classroom, Mr Lim's voice rang out, "Xiaoli, Yuhe, stay behind for a moment, will you?"

I nodded at Xinling and Ronald. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch you up later."

"Okay..." said Ronald uncertainly. "We'll meet you at the bicycles' parking lot, okay?"

Xinling and Ronald left the classroom and shut the door behind them. Mr Lim waited until the sound of their footsteps faded away and turned to us.

"Look, Mrs Chan told me what happened just now," said Mr Lim, folding his arms. "As what I have fully understand, the wallet was found in Xiaoli's bag, am I right?"

"Yes, sir..."

"And Xiaoli was alone in the classroom during the whole of recess, am I right?"

"Yes, sir."

"But Xiaoli didn't take the wallet!" exploded Yuhe.

"I'm not saying that she did," said Mr Lim impatiently, waving his hand about. "Xiaoli, did you leave the classroom at anytime?"

"Yes,' I said. "I left for about five minutes for a drink at the water cooler..."

"Anyone could have came in during that time to take Mei-an's wallet and slip it into Xiaoli's bag," said Yuhe.

Mr Lim nodded. "I'll investigate this case," said Mr Lim. "In the meantime, Xiaoli, you are a suspect in this case. You're a student leader in the school. You should know the rules..."

I pulled off the prefect's badge from my collar and handed it to Mr Lim. "You're on suspension from now on," said Mr Lim.

"But, it's not fair!" said Yuhe. "Xiaoli didn't do it!"

"I know that she didn't do it!" said Mr Lim wearingly. "Yuhe, can you give me a break? You can both leave now..."

I turned towards the door and headed down the staircase to the bicycles' lot, ignoring the snide remarks from the boys in my class.

Xinling, Ronald, Sijie and Riyang were waiting for me with their bicycles. Judging from the looks on Sijie and Riyang's faces, I could tell that Xinling and Ronald has already told them.

"Well?" asked Sijie anxiously. "How is it?"

"Suspended," I replied as I unlocked my bicycle. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? Where's Xiaoyan?"

"She's in the same class as you and you're asking us?" said Riyang.

"She has a fever, so she went home in the middle of Science," said Xinling as we rode off on our bicycles.

"Cheer up," said Sijie as we went our separate roads home. "Everything will be cleared up sooner or later."

"I sure hope so," said Xinling. "By the way, where's Yisha? I haven't seen him."

"He went home straight after dismissal," said Riyang. "He said that he's tired. Anyway, have a good rest, everyone..."

The next three days was a complete nightmare for me. Those that I thought was my friends avoid me like the plague. One or two of them even said that if I take it, it's alright. What's important is that I should own up.

What do they mean by that anyway? Don't they know me well enough by now? I'm not the thief anyway! So what's there to own up?

I was glad to reach the weekend where I didn't have to face that idiotic class and the rumous and snickers of the whole school! I received a call from Riyang on a Saturday morning, asking me to go over to Xiaoyan's place.

"Why?" I asked. "Has her fever gone down?"

"I don't know why she asked us all to go over, but I'm pretty sure it's something to do with you," said Riyang. "And yes, her fever's gone down."

'Right... I'll be right over..."

In a matter of thirty minutes, I was right at Xiaoyan's doorstep. Judging by the amount of shoes outside, I was certain that the rest of the gang was already there.

"You're late!" said Xiaoyan as I came in her house. "I have something to show you guys. Come on!"

"What's going on?" I said to nobody in particular as we entered Xiaoyan's room.

"Beats me,' said Sijie shrugging. "She telephoned all of us in the early morning to get down to her house. What's the matter, Xiaoyan? And what's with that videocam?"

Xiaoyan is the "gadgets whiz" in our group and does all the fliming and photography for the celebrations in school.

"Sijie told me what happened to you," said Xiaoyan, fitting cables from her videocam to the VCR in her room. "And I think I might be able to help clear your name..."

Everyone sat upright then. "What do you mean?" asked Xinling.

"You forgot that I was doing the filming at the celebration in school that day," said Xiaoyan, pressing buttons on her videocam. "I was checking for video errors in class and forgot to turn the "REC" mode off the videocam. I left the videocam in class during recess. In fact, it's on"REC" mode all the way from the beginning of recess until the end!"

We looked at one another; my heart was starting to thump excitedly.

"Xiaoyan, turn it on quickly!" said Ronald.

"Can't you wait?" said Xiaoyan irritably, adjusting the cables. "Alright, done!"

Images began to appear on the television screen. "Tell me when to stop," said Xiaoyan and pressed on the "fast-forward" button on the remote control.

"STOP!" Riyang and I shouted at the same time after five minutes passed. Xiaoyan pressed the "pause" button and pressed the "rewind" button and paused again.

I tapped on a corner of the screen with a pencil. "Someone has came in from the back door!" said Xinling.

"Exactly!" said Xiaoyan. "But unfortunately, we won't be able to see his face!"

"Where did you put that videocam of yours, anyway?" asked Sijie as Xiaoyan clicked on the "zoom-in" button.

"On top of my bag?" said Xiaoyan.

"Hang on..." I said, noting something on the figure's right wrist. "Where have I seen that watch before?"

"Xiaoyan, zoom in on that watch," said Riyang.

"Roger..." said Xiaoyan and zoomed in closer.

Realisation started to sink in as I recalled where I have seen the watch before.

"Isn't that Yisha's watch?" said Riyang finally, speaking what I am thinking.

Silence fell. "That's impossible..." said Sijie slowly. "i don't believe... it can't be... not him..."

Riyang thurst a photograph at Sijie. It was one which we had took the previous year and Riyang had trimmed it to fit into his wallet.

"Take a look," said Riyang grimly. "I recognise that watch too. I brought it together with Xiaoli for Yisha's birthday last year. And the way he walked... the way his hair stick up... it's Yisha all right. We can't deny it..."

"I don't believe this..." said Sijie.

Xiaoyan switched the television off and kept her videocam into her bag. Silence fell upon us once more. "What should we do?" asked Ronald.

Riyang looked at us. "Tell Mr Lim!"

"No... wait first..." I said.

"Xiaoli..."

"First, I want to know why he did it..." I said, looking at Riyang.

Yisha looked at me, then back at the digital photograph that Xiaoyan had took of the watch.

"I want you to answer me," I said. "Did you do this? Did you plant the wallet in my bag? If yes, why?"

"I didn't," said Yisha.

Riyang clasped a hand to his forehead. I banged down on Yisha's table. "How long are you going to lie to me?" I almost shouted. "I don't want to forfeit our friendship! I just want you to tell me honestly, did you do it...?"

Yisha never owned up to that incident. Through Xiaoyan's video, my name was cleared and I got my badge back, but until this day, there are still some who believe that I was the thief. After graduating from primary school, we lost contact with Yisha and never saw him again.

Although the memory is buried deep inside somewhere, I can never trust others completely again. Yisha grew up with us, why did he do it? I could never know. I was lucky to be able to get a secondary school where nobody knew about me or my past, otherwise... this matter will be brought up again. If only I could turn back time... if only I realised then, what bitter feelings Yisha must have been hiding inside him... then none of this would have happened... if only... if only...

I can never truly forgive Yisha for what he did. I just... can't... One word of warning to others out there... watch for strains in your friendships and be aware of your friends' feelings... Otherwise, you might lose a friend... the way I did...

Written by: Chin Xiaoli

Date: 17 October 2004

Age: 16