I have a story to tell... Probably some of you won't believe it, but
I want to post this story here, so that the person in particularly will know where she has erred...
I have
two younger sisters, Keqing and Keling and an older brother, Chin Mingle who is twenty and serving the army now. My mother
died when my youngest sister, Keqing is only ten years old and I'm twelve.
We
were placed in the care of my grandfather who let us do what we wished. With no other choice, my brother and I started working
as soon as we are of legal age. I work at a Burger King outlet while Mingle worked as a telecommuter. Life was hard, but happy.
We were very close. Things seemed better when Keqing and Keling went into the same secondary school as I.
It
is then that the troubles began... It began last year... Mingle is nineteen and had just graduated from JC and is serving
his NS. I was in secondary three and in the special express class. Keqing and Keling have just started secondary one and two
in the express classes.
There
was a routine in my secondary school which name I will not disclose that the lower secondary students will be slowly pulled
in bad company. Before Mingle went away, he had told me to keep a close eye on my two younger sisters.
I was
not worried about Xiaoqing (Keqing) as she's by nature, an innocent and cheerful girl and besides, two of her best friends,
Jane and Lilian were in the same class as her. It's Xiaoling (Keling) that I was worried about. I didn't detect anything wrong
during the first three months. Xiaoqing and Xiaoling came straight home after their classes end. The only times that they
are late is when they have CCA.
It
is in the fifth month that I started to suspect something is wrong. Xiaoqing and Xiaoling shared a room and one night, as
I was in my room studying for my Biology test the next day, Xiaoqing came into my room and told me that she found a packet
of cigarettes under Xiaoling's bed! I was astonished, shocked and disappointed. I instructed Xiaoqing not to tell anyone about
it, not even Mingle.
I started
to keep a close eye on Xiaoling and one afternoon, after my basketball training (CCA), my best friends told me that they saw
Xiaoling hanging around void decks with Sara Quek, a well known "Ah Lian" in our school and smoking!
I was
the head student counciller in my school and took charge of the misbehaviour and detentions of the various students.
One
afternoon, Ms Lin, Xiaoling's form teacher sent for me during recess. I went to her, wondering what I had done as she taught
me English. Ms Lin seldom waste words. She told me as briefly as she can. "Kexin," she said. "I know that Keling is your sister.
But has anything happened in your home recently? Because her results are slipping. She can always score above seventy for
all her subjects, but now, it is dangerously close to a fail! And someone has told me that they saw Keling smoking!"
That
did it! I told my brother everything when he came home for the weekend.
He
was shocked beyond words. "D-did you say anything to her?" he asked. "Not yet," I said. "I-I'm very confused! What did we
do to deserve this? It's just not fair! Why did other children have loving parents but we don't? Why did other children have
loving fathers who love their mothers, but our father abandoned us for another woman? Why did other children have mothers
who care about them but ours died early? Why did is other children so carefree and had the chance to go overseas, but we have
to work hard to just survive in this harsh world!!? Many people taunted me and our younger sisters. They say that we must
be so bad that our father left us. I asked myself, "Is it true? Did he left us because we're too bad for words?" Just what
did we do to deserve this? It's not fair!"
"Come on, Kexin, calm down!" said Mingle, putting a comforting arm
around me. "You have to confront Keling head on. It's going to be hard, but you have to do it yourself..."
I threw
the five packets of cigarettes on their bedroom floor with Xiaoqing standing at the door. It was a Friday afternoon and I
have searched under Xiaoling's bed and found FIVE packets of cigarettes. "What is this?" I asked her. "Tell me!"
Xiaoling
stared at the cigarettes and back at me.
"When did you start smoking?" I asked Xiaoling. "Answer me! You have
a tongue, so use it!"
"In April..."
"I ask you something," I said to Xiaoling. "Why did you think that
Mingle and I work so hard for? It's to ensure that you and Xiaoqing have a good life in the future! Mum is dead now and Dad
is gone goodness knows where! Why do you think we started working? It's not to let others look down on us!"
"It's precisely that!" burst out Xiaoling. "It's not fair! Have you
any idea what I went through in school? I have to put up with my classmates taunts and sarcasm of "not having parents"! My
teacher set us a composition to do in Sec One. Entitled "My Father". I told Ms Seow, that I didn't have a father. My classmates
laughed all the more. How can you not have a father? They asked. Everyone has one. Could it be that you are so bad that your
father don't want you and your mother died? I asked myself, is that possible? Could it be? I have no friends at all. Until
this year when Sara came along. She introduced me to her friends and suddenly, I belonged to a group of friends."
I sat
down on the bed; my legs seemed to give way suddenly. "You're not my sister," I said, holding back my tears. "You're not my
sister! You're not my sister whom I love! You're not her! Who are you? I want my sister back! I want the innocent, loving
sister whom I know back! Who are you?"
Xiaoling
ran out of the house just then. Mingle came back that night. I told him everything that had happened, that Xiaoling ran out
of the house and has not returned.
"I'm very tired. I'm really very tired!" I cried in his arms. "I hate
Dad! If he didn't abandoned us, Mum will still be alive now. Xiaoling wouldn't have turned out like this. I hate him! I hate
him! I want him out of my life! I don't want to see him again!"
Xiaoling
never came back that night. The next day, Mingle, Xiaoqing and I gathered some of our friends to help us search for Xiaoling.
Later that afternoon, Grandpa called me on my cellphone. The police had just called our house to say that Xiaoling is at the
police station for fighting.
Mingle
and I panicked and we cycled to the police station at once, instructing Xiaoqing to stay home.
Xiaoling
had got into a gang fight that morning and had been arrested. She had injured someone and the boy's parents had sued her.
Because she was only fourteen, she was placed in the Girls' Home for three years.
Just
like that, Xiaoling threw her future away... Sometimes, I really wished that I can turn back time. It has been a year now.
I am sitting for my 'O' Levels in a few months’ time. The only sole concern is that Xiaoqing never strayed. She saw
what had happened to her sister and always stayed on the right path. We have visited Xiaoling a few times at the Girls' Home
and she has turned over a new leaf. She promised to continue her studies when she's released.
But
the incident with Xiaoling will forever leave a scar in me... All I hope is for the public to accept her when she's free and
out again.
A word
of warning for those youngsters out there... Never stray to the wrong path. You never know what effect it will take on your
loved ones...
Written
by: Chen Kexin
Date Written: 8 August 2004
Age: 16
