End of time

What a crazy boy!

My name is Christopher Luis and I have a preschool-to-college friend called Argon Halley. I am a local, and Argon Halley is an out-of-province guy. Argon Halley was good at studying at an early age. He was also a nice guy with big eyes, thick eyebrows, a high nose, and long eyelashes. As a kid, Argon Halley was told by the teacher that when he grew up, he would become a handsome boy and steal girls’ hearts. 

At first, I did not have any special impression of this classmate. What I remember most was that the boy lying next to me had stinky feet, especially during nap time in kindergarten.

Because we had to share a bed with each other and lie down in the opposite direction of the bed, all of that “smell” assailed my nostrils. I was so obsessed that I nearly vomited, even in my dreams. It was really stinky, as if it was from dead frogs or rotten eggs. Much later on, after we were together, I still wondered why his feet smelled so bad at that time.

A timid boy like me had to cope with such a speechless dilemma. I did not have the confidence and courage to speak out, but silence made me feel resentful to death.

How unlucky it was! When the teacher was dividing students’ seats and it was my turn, my classmates bewilderedly looked at each other.

“Who is this?”

“New student?”

“No, our new friend was handsome and good at singing.”

“Yeah, what class did this boy switch from?”

I dabbed his stinging eyes, trying not to cry. I played a faint role in this class, usually sitting alone and playing with wooden toys in the corner all the time. After two months in kindergarten, no one remembered me.

At that moment, a voice came up.

“Teacher, I want to sit next to this friend.”

It’s Argon Halley. His childlike face was red and his big round eyes were extremely cute, which made the teacher unable to say no to him. But she was still worried: “Luis was quite quiet. Would you feel bored?”

It seemed that a faded ‘ghost’ like me did not have any match with Argon Halley, a vivacious boy. Even the teacher knew the fact that Christopher Luis was the one who made people feel so bored as soon as they met him.

Argon Halley smiled, showing his baby tooth. He went to my place, sat down, and said: “I like the likes of calm friends like him.”

Argon Halley just needed a red cape and the triangular badge on his chest, and he would become a superhero in my heart.

For three consecutive days, Argon Halley and I had said no word to each other. He was so bright that I did not have courage to talk to him. Meanwhile, Argon Halley thought I was peacefully calm like a flowing water, so he was afraid of this scene.

On the third day, I was about to talk to my desk mate. However, before I could say a word, Argon Halley came to me first and asked if I had an eraser. 

He asked such a simple question, but my little heart still pounded with happiness. Finally, I could have a conversation with my classmates!

My little hands foraged my pencil case, groped to the small drawers and sought so hard in my ink-stained pockets. Most people have erasers, but mine was different! As the new school year started, I insisted my mom buy me a box of fruit-shaped and A-shaped erasers. I even told mom to buy me the one whose shapes were animals appearing in the Dutch Lady milk, which was famous at that moment. Then Argon Halley widened his eyes, looking at me to take out a load of brown pieces. It was clearly my “eraser” which I was itching to scratch into pieces. Argon Halley was stunned as he took my eraser. He tried so hard to erase his paper, but the stronger he erased it, the darker the paper became. Sitting next to him and seeing it all, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Why was this boy so stupid?

Argon Halley glared at me and threw the fruit-shaped eraser to my face. When I was bewildered, not knowing what had happened, my desk mate threw away other erasers and then all of my fruit-shaped eraser box. I wished I could’ve withdrawn the title ‘superhero’ that I had just given to him for a few days.

What a crazy boy!

Argon Halley looked happy while I was totally not. When I came back to my home, my mom hit the roof as she saw my eraser box was empty. 

My classmate not only had stinky feet, but he was also very mean. The not-so-good impression in the preschool quickly made me forget this brat, Halley.

However, ‘God will give you what you hate!’. We ‘reunited’ as we entered primary school.Looking at the guy with a straight back sitting in front of me wiggling his legs under the table, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: How could I have such a connection with that stinky guy!

What a bad luck! Even when he entered primary school, Argon Halley’s feet still smelled as horrible as ever. Sometimes he even took off his shoes, swung his feet and let this smell of rotten eggs and dead toads spread all over the air. The wind blew down from the ceiling fan, then the one receiving it all was not a friend sitting in front of him but me.

It’s hard to put into words. However hungry I am, I would not have an appetite if I smelled Argon Halley’s rotten feet.

Once during Math class, I dropped my pen. It had rolled several times before reaching Argon Halley’s feet. Oh no! I cried out in silence, struggling whether to just give it up. But if I threw it away, how could I write? Not to mention the fact that my mom would scold me when I got home. I closed my eyes and held my nose, breathlessly bent over to seek my pen. Just imagining my hands were about to dig into that ‘s**t’, I really wanted to cry.

During my actions, Argon Halley never took his eyes off me.

“Do you want me to help you pick it up?”

Once again, Argon Halley won the title of superhero in my heart. The first time was when I was isolated. The latter was when he saved me from digging my hands into the space of rotten eggs and dead frogs.

I nodded, asking him to pick it up.

Unexpectedly, Argon Halley smiled scornfully and said: “Do it by yourself.”

I: “…”

He didn’t recover from the illness, did he?

Ok. I bent under the table to pick it up. The smell was so powerful that I had to hold my nose.

“Teacher, there is a student playing truant.”

What the hell was that?!

I was framed! I raised my head but hit the desk before I could explain anything. All the class burst into laughter. I was so angry and just wanted to fall out with this boy in front of me.

So the teacher made me stand in the corner, and Argon Halley smiled happily as he watched me get punished.