When Apologies Fail To Intrude

Grief.

The girl in the newspaper shop at the far corner of your housing area died, and you don't know why but you keep on crying. You hardly know her, you have only seen her around in the course of a year. Your meetings have involved grumbles of acknowledgement when she told you the amount of your change, and those accumulate to less than a week's worth of spending time together. And yet you're crying, your lips stretch downwards like a child having eaten sour oranges and your tears throw themselves off of your cheeks like Niagara Falls. You cannot see the traffic light properly through the waterworks and your hands grip the steering wheel tightly that your fingers become yellow from constricted blood flow. Maybe you were secretly in love with her before, your mind speculates, trying to make sense of the overwhelming emotions. Or maybe it's just the song, because on the radio now Muse's Unintended is playing. Maybe she was your secret twin, separated because of something. Maybe because you won't be able to see a familiar face in the newspaper shop at the far corner of your housing area over again and you feel a loss. Maybe because the world will move on like nothing has happened despite the departure of a soul. Whatever the reason may be you cry nevertheless, and cry hard. The song ends, the traffic light turns green, you turn left and sniff.

The following morning, you wake up to a beautiful day.

Have you heard?

Have you heard of the man with a farsighted vision? Rumour has it that he could see Mars as clear as day from earth, without having to use a telescope given that he was standing on the right coordinates. He was given such power when the doctors accidentally poked his retina with a scalpel during his cataract-removing surgery. Hours and hours a day he would spend just staring at the sky. People really didn't believe him at first (he was, after all, an old man. People thought he was just showing early signs of dementia - despite his stature as a man of power - he was an ex politician) but something happened then that made everyone pay him close attention. He claimed to have seen a habitable planet 15 thousand lightyears away through only a telescope (the device clearly magnified his already farsighted vision - with both powers combined they exceed the furthest satelite pictures from NASA). Maybe it was the idea of having a 'back up plan' for the future generation in case the Earth becomes desiccated that people indulge in so much or just purely for the sake of curiosity that his social status escalated. He did not ask much, only for the global community to help him reach the highest possible building at a given coordinate just so he (and his telescope) can see the planet relatively clearer. Debates were held amongst economists, astronomists, theoretical physicists, country leaders and multi faith leaders about whether to allow him so. Some say it is a waste of time, some say we needed the certainty. While they were busy bickering, people had started bidding on his eyes on E-Bay (he was, after all, an old man. Death is catching up). Hospitals and universities and research institutes quarrelled over who gets the right upon his eyes for pure medical and scientific studies. One hospital managed to become the highest bidder at at least 6 billion USD. The old man became obviously rich apart from receiving a Nobel prize for his eyes alone. All this happened in the course of 5 years.

Have you heard that the old man was finally given permission to look in his telescope on the rooftop of the highest building (24 floors) in that given coordinates? It was covered worldwide in live programs, apart from the day being dubbed an international holiday. He was just adjusting his telescope lenses when he looked at the wrong direction and fell 24 floors down. Rumour has it he accidentally looked at the sun, given the state of his eyes when received by the hospital who bid the highest price on E-Bay.

Aku, dia dan yogurt cheese.

Masa tahun pertama dulu, aku rasa stamina aku kuat. Tiap-tiap hari Selasa aku akan ke Mid Valley. Mid Valley dari tempat aku bukanlah dekat. Perlu naik bas, naik LRT, kemudian naik komuter. Dan pada sebelah malamnya, apabila balik ke tempatku, selalunya ada mesyuarat yang akan berakhir pada pukul 2 atau 3 pagi. Walaupun begitu, aku bukanlah keseorangan. Selalu ada perempuan bernama A yang menemani, yang sanggup mendengar keluhanku atau luahan kegembiraanku dalam perjalanan ke sana. Kau mahu tahu kenapa? Kau mahu tahu kenapa kami merutinkan perjalanan ke Mid Valley? Kerana dia. Dia yang menjual kek Yogurt Cheese. Senyumannya selalu hambar. Dia jarang tersenyum. Tapi pada ketika aku dapat melihat senyumannya, akupun turut tersenyum.

Hari ini aku makan Yogurt Cheese dan teringatkannya. Sekarang dia tidak lagi berada di situ. Aku meneruskan perjalanan, dan senyum ketika teringat senyumannya.

Missing

There was once a girl who could stop time. She was on the brink of death though, but she wanted to still live life fully so she went to a get together and there she met a guy she liked. They got along fine and he made her laugh and smile (but she didn’t talk much), he offered her a ride home which she accepted gratefully. When they reached her house, she said goodbye, and stopped time and spent the rest of her short life looking at him and smiling. He moved on with his life like nothing happened, the girl was stuck in time and he never noticed it; just the fact that he never saw her again - the shy girl who was always smiling.