The Chosen

Singapore, 1980s

“Who do you think you are, hah?”

“Stupid... reporting us to the school principal?”

“Are you trying to dig your grave?!”

Kicks echoed around the alley as it continued on to an individual who was shielding himself. He coughed and spit out more blood when the kicks stopped and the gang who did that to him, backed off.

“Find something!”

“We going to kill this i***t!” One of them said to the rest, just as the others picked up metal pipes and wooden sticks around the alley.

Argh, my mother is going to kill me if I come home, smelling like filth and sewer...

He tried to stand up and leave, but another kick to the back stopped him in his path. He fell on his knees again just as more blows were met to his damaged body.

“Argh...” He grunted, taking in the blows from the metal pipes and the wooden sticks.

Whatever you do, don’t release it...

“Argh...” He grunted more as he recalled his grandmother words’ that was said on his 14th birthday.

“Sorry, nenek...” He whispered, closing his eyes before he felt something surging through his body and exploded around him like a shockwave.

-

“The five boys have been reported missing by their parents since a week ago and police are coming up with nothing..”

“Aren’t those the boys you went to school with?”

The young boy glanced at his younger sibling who settled beside him after clearing the table with their mother.

“Seems like it...” His father looked at the screen which flashed the faces of the five missing boys.

“The whole school is going crazy,” said his sister who glanced at the screen before she sat on the coffee table and began to do her schoolwork.

“Azizah! How many times must I tell you to do your schoolwork in the room?” Their mother nagged as she finally joined them in the living room.

“Psst!” Azizah gritted her teeth and picked up her stuff and went ito the shared room. Their grandmother had stepped out as she went in, overhearing the news.

“Amin, can I have a word with you?” His grandmother called him before making her way to their parents’ bedroom.

“Okay..” Amin stood up and went over to the bedroom, before he shut the door and went to sit beside his grandmother.

His grandmother looked at him before she reached over and took his hand in her frail ones. She gave a small sigh before opening her lips.

Amin glanced at her hands and watched her. However, somehow he knew what she was going to say.

“Amin...” HIs grandmother whispered, “Did you do something that you shouldn’t have done that night?”

“Which night, nenek (grandmother)?” He whispered, confirming where this conversation was going.

“I heard you came home late, and I noticed your shirt and pants were covered in filth and blood..”

“I didn’t-“

“Amin,” She cut him off, looking at him straight in his eyes. There it was, that power, that surge that will force the truth out of him, no matter how much he wanted to lie about things.

“I...I...” Amin stuttered, staring into her eyes that was reading his soul, “I had to do it... I was getting hurt and I w-wanted it to stop...”

His grandmother broke the eye contact, her power, before she place a hand on his back and pat his back. Amin blinked, rubbing his eyes which had somehow got strangely dry because of the powers his grandmother placed on him earlier.

“I understand...”

“But nenek (grandmother), I didn’t mean to...I really...”

“Let’s keep this between ourselves for now...”

Amin let out a huge sigh before he saw his grandmother taking out something from pocket. He blinked and saw a bunch of papers which was held together by some strings which acts as a binder.

“What’s this?” Amin asked, as he took what his grandmother gave him.

“You will need this in future,” His grandmother replied, “Keep this safe...”

Amin glanced at the paper and noticed that the characters written on it was different and unknown of.

-

Singapore, 2013

“Did you see this?”

“See what?”

“Oh my god, its her again?!”

Footsteps echoed the corridor of the classroom block as students crowded the corridor parted and was in harsh whispers and gossips. Eyes were watching as the young girl, in her teens, was walking past with her worn out canvas shoes.

She lowered her gaze as she walked past those stares, realising that the video of her getting bullied was going viral among her schoolmates.

She bit her lip and push up her glasses up her nose as she hurried down the corridor to her classroom.

She was met with the stares of her classmates who was snickering and gossiping about her under their breaths. She quickly took her bag and run out of the classroom, trying to escape from the stares and whispers of the school.

She ran past the main hall before climbing up the stairs into a secluded corner of the hall block.

Her sight was getting blurry from the tears that were falling. She covered her mouth to cover her muffled cries which was echoing in the hallway.

“I bet she is here again...”

“Do you want to bet another $10?”

“Really? I give you $15!”

“Sshh..” One of the voices shushed the rest as they came around the corner, “I heard something...”

“Come out, come out, whereever you are...” One of the voices whispered loud enough, “I know you are there somewhere...”

The girl cowered in to the corner and covered her mouth, praying that she won’t be found. She shut her eyes and prayed desperately, the tears that rolled down her face was of fear.

Oh god, please help me...

“Do you think-“

“Who’s there?!” Another voice cut them off, “You are not supposed to be here!”

“s**t! It’s the discipline mistress!”

“I saw your faces!” The voice of authority boomed the hallway as footsteps ran away from the hallway and disappeared around the corner.

The young girl knew that if she was found by the discipline mistress, she too, will be faced with simiilar consequences. She kept her mouth shut just as a shadow cast over her hide-out and she stopped breathing. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of her face.

A flashlight fell across her uniform and she blinked, thinking she is done for. She was about to turn and show her face when the flashlight turned away.

“Hmm... that’s strange,” The discipline mistress said, “I thought I heard something...”

With that, the student watched as the discipline mistress walked away and left her be.

Don’t tell me...

-

“Pa...”

“Hmm?”

“I have a question to ask,” She stood quietly in front of her father who just returned home from work.

The clocked showed that it was 11.30pm and everyone else was sound asleep, including her mother. Family potraits covered the wall where the clock was in the medium-sized apartment which was known as HDB flats. The sound of ambulance sirens echoed the neighbourhood as the 14-year-old girl quietly came out of her room and shut the door.

Her skin was throughly tanned, her hair was long but was tied in a neat bun. She was of average height, around 158cm. She was a little on the skinny side as she spent all day and night studying for exams instead of making friends.

She had always worn long sleeves and long pants even at home. Despite the humid and hot weather, she wore them not because she liked them, but she was hiding the scratches and bruises she got from the bullying at school.

“What is it?”Her father glanced at her and pat the seat beside him.

“Pa...” She bit her lip and settled beside him. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her long pants, thinking of how to begin.

“Pa... just few days ago, I celebrated my 14th birthday.. and..” She began, looking down at her toes, “And something happened to me today,”

Her father looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow. He put his phone away and leaned forward, giving his attention to his daughter.

She began to recall the events that happened earlier today except the part where she was bullied. How she was hiding and how she was praying desperately for help.

“...And then Mdm Sarala was there and she was about to find me... the flashlight from her phone was shining on my uniform but strange enough, she didn’t see me and walk away...”

Her father knew then that this was what the scripts were saying. He kept quiet and bit the inside of his cheek. He decided to c***k a joke, hoping that maybe she would feel better if he tries to push some sense into her.

“Maybe she know you are there but...” He began but she cut him off.

“No, Pa...” She bit her lip and she looked up at her father, “I noticed that I somehow manage to disappear, Pa....”

“What?”

“There was a mirror at the corner from where I was and I saw my reflection before Mdm Sarala came around and when she finally did stepped into mirror, I saw her legs but....”

Her father watched as her eyes widen in fear and curiousity clouded over her eyes as wel.

“My reflection was gone, Pa...It was like. I had disappear...”

-

Singapore, 2018

Finally! The end of the semester!

I grinned from ear to ear as the whole class finally packed their stuff and began to leave the lecture hall one by one.

I said my farewells to my classmates as they exited the lecture hall first. I stepped into the aisle just as another clique bumped into me and apologise.

“Sorry...”

“Hey,”

I looked up to see one of the most good looking eyes and faces of the campus staring and smiling genuinely at me. I saw some of the girls in his clique was rolling their eyes at him. I blinked and looked at him.

“Yeah?”

“I didn’t catch your name,” The boy name, Christopher, Christopher Chen, who is one of the hottest guys in campus smiled at me.

“Oh,” I smiled back, “It’s Liyana,”

“Liyana,” He nodded just as some of the guys shoved him slightly, signalling it was time to leave, “I’ll see you around,”

“Yeah,” I simply said, watching as the group leave the hall.

As the group left, one of my classmates came up to me and gave me a side look. I looked at her before I rolled my eyes and she snickered.

“Liyanaa...” She mimicked what had happened and gave me a gentle shove.

“Stop it, Judith,” I smiled as we exit the hall together and made our way to the nearby campus exit.

Judith grinned her cute smile, her two tiny dimples were showing. She was almost the same height as me, both of us towering at 162cm and of a slightly bigger built. She have a body of an althele, considering her passion in wrestling. I was slightly more on the skinnier side, and always spending my time hitting the books instead of proper food.

“What are your plans?” Judith asked as we joined the moving line of students who were talking and chatting down to of the campus exits.

“My dad and I are going to have some father-daughter bonding time..” I simply said, holding my laptop to my chest, “You?”

“Same old, same old,” Judith waved her hand mindlessly in the air in front of her and we both laughed.

After we parted ways, I made my way to the bus stop that was crowded with students. I turned my phone on and search for the bus app just when I felt a sudden cold breeze coming over me.

My eyes looked up and I saw him.

There was a young guy, around the same age as I am, standing in the middle of the crowd. The crowd seem to be unfazed by his presence and weirdly avoiding him. His skin was pale, his hair was black and his eyes were staring into mine.

He looked like a Chinese but he doesn’t seem to be. His height was too tall of a typical Singaporean men’s average height. Somehow his features remind me of those K-pop boys that some of my classmates were ogling at during their spare time online.

It felt like time stood very still between the both of us until a loud honk made me jump and broke my reverie. I turned to see my dad in his Toyota corolla and illegally stopping at the bus stop. I glance up to see the oncoming bus was coming and I cursed, making my way to the car and quickly jumped in.

“What-“

“Questions later,” My dad simply said as he stepped on the accelerator and sped off away from campus.