Gyyaaaaaaa!!!! Tomorrow exam already...haiz. Wish me luck. I didn't even bother to memorise much. HAIZ. Forget it. I am content if I can even pass.

Decided to post the story concocted by me,Netto,Jie Pin and Mardiana at BC. ^^ Enjoy.


Will-o-wisp

The sun shone brightly on Ronald’s face.

“REALLY?? He did THAT??”

“Yes yes! I heard he spat RIGHT INTO THE HEADMASTER’S FACE!!”

“The nerve of that boy!”

“He thinks he can do what he wants just because he’s an orphan!”

“His parent’s died early…They wouldn’t allow him to do such a thing…”

”...I heard he….”

Ronald inhaled deeply. Yes. It’s confirmed. EVERYONE in town hates him. Rumours that are unbelievable are believed when it comes to him. Yet another chill of disillusionment leeched into his soul.

”...He’s really too much! How can he….”

“Someone ought to teach him a lesson!”

“He’ll beat me up!”

“He pointed a knife at me yesterday!”

Ronald sighed. Such comments were common to him. Everyday the same; insults, false accusations are always thrown into his face. Always, he faces a tyranny of injustice and prejudice.
‘Why’ was the common question he always asked himself. Sometimes, he asked other people. He quickly found out that it was futile. When the world hates you, the world hates you. There’s no rhyme or reason for it.

As he shuffled down to road, his eyes caught sight of a little hut which he had never seen before. With nothing better to do, curiosity got the better of him,he went closer to investigate.
Peeking inside the crusty window, he saw it. A bright sparking white flame.

“What is that?” He mumbled to himself.

Captivated and confused, Ronald continued to stare at the white flame, for some reason, he wasn’t sure, but there seemed to be images of something dancing in the flame.

“HELP! HELP!!”

“Don’t worry! I’m coming!!”

“Oh that brave boy!”

“HE SAVED MY BABY!”

Baffled by what he just ‘saw’ inside the ‘will-o-wisp’,, he was dumbstruck then confused. Peering into the frosted window again, the flame was gone.

“Err, what was that all about?” He managed to utter.

Realising there was nothing more there, he decided to abandon the hut and continue on. A few seconds later, turning back, he saw that the hut had disappeared.

He continued walking down the path to a place where he had never been in his life. Not knowing there was such a place in his neighbourhood it was unfamiliar, everything looked interesting to him. All of a sudden,he heard a shout to his left.

“Fire! Fire!”a man yelled,to alert the neighbourhood. Screams and shouts became even louder and a crowd of people gathered outside the building to look at the goings on. Grey smoke was billowing out of two of the windows in a house. Just then,a fire engine pulled up in the nearby road and firemen jumped out of the vehicle. They immediately started went to work giving onlookers an impression of a well-oiled machine. Red tape was rolled out and hoses were attached to pumps. The fire became stronger and wilder while they waited for the water to be pumped up. Two firemen tried to calm a hysterical lady who kept screaming “my child! Let me in to find my child!!”

Everything was in a frenzy. It was all happening in a blur, and nobody was sure what exactly was taking place. What they didn’t know however, was the the very person thought to be the most culpable was in fact about to become the hero of the day.

Ronald thought not of the fame or how the rest might view him afterwards. All he knew was, if he did not save the child, nobody would. His heart somehow connected with the young woman who had lost her child. He had lost both his parents and knew the pain of losing one’s kin. He did not want another to suffer like him if it was in his efforts to stop it. Single minded, he jostled through the crowd and pushed the people aside in his efforts to reach the house. The wailing mother created quite a scene and had garnered much attention. It took four firemen and a couple of villagers to hold back the crazed mother. The men all had pitying look on their faces, and everyone of them had offered their support. But they know it was a lost cause. The conflagration was intense and nobody could survive in the inferno. Not one dared volunteer to save the boy. Perhaps it was selfishness, they put their lives first no matter how lovable the infant was. Although they dared not say it, the thoughts running through their heads were pretty much the same. They were glad that it was not their child in the fire.

Although, under normal circumstances, that would have bothered Ronald a lot, and he would start talking about how the world is becoming more cruel and uncaring to anyone who would listen, or more specifically, anyone who might happened to be within ten foot radius of him. Today, however, was a different matter entirely. He pushed all negative thoughts aside and pelted in the direction of the townhouse. The mother’s commotion provided him much needed distraction to go into the house unnoticed.

Once inside the house, Ronald was overwhelmed by the smoke and heat from the hug
e and fierce flames. His natural reflexes made him gag, he covered his nose and mouth with his shirt. Although he had barely been in the inferno for ten seconds, he was drenched in perspiration. Darting from room to room,avoiding the burning objects as they fell, he tried to find the child but the blazing fire blinded him. Just then, he heard a faint cry for help.

He darted towards the direction of the cry,jumping over fallen objects as he went. He found an infant lying in a cot that was already blazing with fire in one corner. Ronald quickly scooped up the baby and turned back to run out of the apartment. His entrance was almost blocked with fallen objects,but Ronald, with his slim body,managed to escape out of the house unscathed.

By the time he reached the firemen,his face was covered in soot and the infant was already unconscious yet still breathing. When the lady saw her beloved child,she broke into a sob and ran to greet her child. However,the paramedics reached them first,so Ronald handed over the baby to the team. He then walked back to the clearance,where the onlooking crowd was. He was met with awed expressions and the mother of the child gave him grateful hugs and kisses. Ronald,for once,was accepted.

“Oh that brave boy!”

“HE SAVED MY BABY!”

“He’s such a sweet child, that Ronald. He never hurts a fly!”

“Yea, he smiled at me the other day!” A petite lady piped in.

Ronald smiled as he strolled through the streets, smiling and waving at the villagers. His head was getting a tad too big as the villagers praised him endlessly, and the young ones stared at him in awe. They had taken it upon themselves to call the fourteen-year-old hero “Ronald the BRAVE”. A few children had even called upon themselves to approach the teenager and spoke to him. The townsmen spoke of the boy in hushed whispers, as if the noise would destroy his greatness. He was truly the most talked about person in the village. However, once the novelty of it wore off, things were pretty much the same..

As the saying goes, all good things come to an end, and so did Ronald’s stroke of good luck.

“I bet he did that because he wanted us to praise him,” a rather malicious woman commented.

“You’re right. He’s not doing much these days. Look at the amount of food he receives everyday!” Another said, eying the boy as an old lady offered him bags of oranges.

“That was really mean of him to do that. Taking advantage of the poor, defenseless old woman.” A third scowled in the direction of the boy.

The rest soon followed suit and soon, he went back to being the most unpopular person in town. It seems, these comments will never escape him and he was once again doomed to be alone for life. Humans are cruel. They do what they want for their selfish gains. They are cold-blooded, scary beings that could discard their humanity for greed, lust, and gluttony.
...........
Soon, he came across the white flame again. This time, just the flame. No hut. The flame moved. it seemed to be drawing…drawing a smily face…......
He then saw images again. This time, about a robbery.
.........
He was once again, doomed…
......
Or was he??