The Evil Me by Kamal Aiman

               Sitting in a corner of the room, I was speechless. I couldn’t tell how I feel that time. I felt guilty and I felt regretful of what I had done to her. It was not her fault, it was mine, and it was all mine. I should have taken all the blame.

***

               It was Monday morning as I walked to school. Everything was normal, same things happened. I went out of my house at 7 o’clock in the morning, I walked to school passing by Mr. and Mrs. Stone’s house saying Hi to them. Everything was the same, including my cup of Starbucks coffee that I bought when I was on my way to school.

               Boston was quite chilly. It was already autumn. I could see the grass and the trees, all those green leaves started to become yellowish brown in colour. I was always excited when autumn came. For me, Boston had the best view when it came to autumn. I wished Boston would have autumn throughout the year!

***

               KRRIIINNNGGG! The school bell rang. Everyone in the main hall was rushing to get their books and things for class. It was the first period and it was Physics! I could not tell how much I loved Physics. It was my last year in high school and I took AP in Physics as I wished to further my studies in Physics.

               When I entered the class, there was something I had never expected to see, not even wished to see. It was a girl sitting at my place. I was just all fine as I thought she had taken the wrong seat, until when the teacher came into the room and said, “Oh, so you’re the new student from New York City.”

               Everyone was shocked to hear that and started paying attention to her. I guessed no one even noticed she was already there for the past 10 minutes. I had to switch my seat as she would be using my seat for the class, but I was alright as I would take it back in the next class as NO ONE COULD EVER TAKE MY SEAT!

               Everyone in the class was curious about her. Yes, everyone. That included me. She was Catherine. She was from New York City. Okay, obviously she was. Her previous school was Rhode Island High School. Oh well, she was from the Rhode Island; so she couldn’t brag as if she was from somewhere around Bronx or Manhattan. She moved here in Boston as her father had been transferred to the new office here in Boston. At first, I was okay to her and I thought that she might be my friend, until when my teacher asked her previous result and she had a result with flying colours! Everyone was shocked to know that and I started feeling that I had a new challenger as I was the student who always got the highest mark in Physics.

***

               Tuesday wasn’t great for me and I knew that the remaining days throughout the week wouldn’t be great too. It was unfair! She would sit at my place for the whole semester when everyone wanted her to sit at my previous place. She performed in every Physics class and she answered all the questions from the teacher, even the questions that I could not answer. Now everyone started to pay attention to her, started to learn Physics and made study group with her. I started to feel that I was all left out especially in the Physics classes until I got an idea how to make things got better.

               The evil in me started to grow from the inside. I couldn’t tell how much efforts I gave in planning this evil-work thingy. I stayed awake at midnight just to make the best prank for her.

               “Well now she’ll know who Sarah really is,” I said to myself while looking at the paper that had full of planning on how to prank her.

               She had made a real big mistake. She shouldn’t have ever even tried to mess with Sarah, or I would say, to me!

               I found her Twitter account and I suddenly got a brilliant idea. Well, she only had a few number of followers and mostly were our school friends. Well, perhaps she had done a big mistake back in Rhode Island High School and that was why she deleted her Twitter account and made a new one. She was trying to hide the real her and she made a new Twitter account so that her new friends who were my classmates wouldn’t know her past.

               Well, I started to feel proud of myself. I thought that I should become a plot writer or a movie director instead of Physicist.

               “Catherine was a diva in her school. Everyone loved her. She had everything, from the beauty to the intelligence. She involved in many clubs at her previous school, William Shakespeare Drama Club, Wind Orchestra Club and Physics Club. Everyone adored her except for this one guy named James. Catherine liked James so bad and planned to make a surprise birthday party for James back in Rhode Island High School. She was so happy to surprise James until when James got to know that Catherine was the one who planned for the surprise and James refused to go to the party. Pity little Catherine. She was rejected by a guy when other guys were really into her.

               The best part was, everyone in Rhode Island High School started to hate and leave her. Her best friends even left her as they were embarrassed of her, to them, Catherine was really dropping their ‘reputation of popularity’. Catherine was a loner and had no real friends. She was so stressed with her life and asked her Dad to move out of the city. She tried to find a new life here in Boston and tried her best to get her popularity back. THE END.”

               Well, that was the best plot I had ever written in my whole life. She must be really shocked when reading this. Although not everything in the story was true, yet the rejecting part and the party and stuff were true story. I spread the story on my Twitter account, with some EPISODES, as Twitter had gotten limited number of alphabets for every post.

               Everyone was shocked to read and I knew it was a success when everyone believed in my story! Catherine was also shocked as she had no idea how I did know about the surprise party she made for James.

               “It’s all based on my RESEARCH, sweetie. Now you know who I really am,” I said to Catherine with my most evil-looking face.

***

               The next day wasn’t fair for her, but at least it was all fine to me. Everyone started to hate her, as what all teenagers would do, although she did nothing to us. I finally got my seat back! I was elated to have to live my normal life, the life I had before she came here, unless guilt came into me. I started feeling guilty in myself and started regretting of what I had done. She was not just being hated by my classmates, but she had also been bullied and ignored.

               I went to her to say sorry. I knew that sorry was not enough. I had to fix the situation. If I were Catherine, I would never forgive myself. I did wrong thing. Shockingly, she forgave me. I was so clueless that how she could forgive me after what I had done. She asked me to fix the situation and I promised her. I hugged her that I was very fortunate to have a forgiving friend like Catherine although after what I had done to her, I could not even forgive myself!

My Traumatic Experience With A Taxi Driver by Aidil Akmal

               The taxi stopped in front of me and picked me up by the roadside. The time was 1 o’clock in the morning. I took the taxi as I was unable to drive my car. I was out of energy. In the taxi, I sat at the back seat as the front seat was full of backpacks. I was wondering what was inside the backpacks. In full of exhaustion, I fell asleep. It was a long journey for me to go back home. As I woke up, I realised that the taxi drove me far away from home. Then, I asked the driver, “Where are we going?” “Shut up!” the driver shouted furiously. I was extremely shocked.

               I looked outside but I could not see anything as it was as dark as a cave. Then, I started to think negatively that I could have been robbed. I quickly calmed myself down by listening to music from my smartphone. I tried to follow the rhythm of the music but the taxi driver still encouraged me to think about him.

               Out of the blue, I saw a name written on taxi’s dash box which was Sudin. I was stunned by the name. My jaw dropped. My mind was straight away thinking about the newspaper that I had read in my office. A wanted bank robber named Sudin. I was shivering from head to toes. Suddenly, the taxi stopped at an unknown place. I was dragged by Sudin to a small house. My hands and legs were tied up by a thick rope. After that, Sudin unmounted the backpacks from the taxi. The backpacks were full of money.

               I was right. It was the wanted bank robber, Sudin. Then, I shouted, “What do you want from me?!” With full of anger and fierce face he replied, “I want money! Money! Money!” I quickly replied courageously by singing the song entitled ‘Money’. He slapped me on the face and stomp on my chest. “How dare you make fun of me!” Sudin yelled out of his lungs.

               In a blink of an eye, a blue and red headlight covered our eyes. Sudin realised that it was the cop. He tried to run as fast as lightning but unluckily he tripped on the wood pane. The cop ambushed the small house and caught Sudin red-handed. I was untied by a policeman and realised that it was my uncle. He thanked me for reporting the location of the wanted robber. Then, I explained all the incident happened to me as I was the victim in this case. I told the police that I took the golden opportunity to send the location while Sudin was busy unmounting the backpacks. After that, the cop drove me home. A taxi driver named Sudin kept lingering in my mind for many years.

The Great Experience by Airin Natasha Aliya

               The taxi stopped in front of me and I was shocked, nearly fainted and got conscious again.

               “Thank God I am still alive. How could you just simply stop in front of me?” The taxi driver asked me to get into the taxi quickly but I insisted not to get in. He stepped out of the taxi and carried me in from my position on the ground. How I was surprised that he did that. He drove with high speed until we reached at McDonalds.

               “I’m going to get some food so you stay here.” I waited until he got into the building and I rushed out of the car and took a bus. When I got into the bus, there was an empty seat beside of an old lady who looked quite scary as she covered her head and her face with a piece of batik cloth so I decided to stand up. Upon reaching a bus stop the old lady stood beside me which had made me shiver.

               “One has to die in order to live,” the old lady said and she went off the bus leaving me with curiosity plus goose bumps. On the road, I just kept thinking about the whole day.

***

               It started this morning when I was sleeping in the car until I woke up to the sounds of bullet shots. Everyone around was running as if a meteorite had hit Earth. Not long after that, I could hear sirens of an ambulance at the end of the road but it could not move as there was a massive traffic congestion up ahead. The cars were like honking at each other. I finally decided to step out of the car and head towards the scene.

               I was paralysed with astonishment to see a 17-18 years old teenage girl lying deadly form on the bare ground. Her clothes were soaked in blood and she had holes from the bullet shots on her shirt. I got worried as there had been many murder cases involving teenage girls lately. A little girl caught my eyes and I suddenly remembered that I was late to pick up Kiko from kindergarten.

               Upon arriving I saw an ambulance park in front of the gate. I quickly went in feeling worried again that something bad had happened. It was all dark and quiet. The place was in a mess. ‘THUMP!’ I got hit at the back of my head and I could feel the blood cascading. I tried to back away the pain and regain my energy when I heard voices calling for Mommy. I went out of the building and I was just close to get to the criminal but he got away with the ambulance.

               Out of the blue, a taxi came and I asked him to follow the ambulance. He drove as fast as possible but we lost the ambulance at a corner. “I think we should get to the hospital now as your injuries are bad.” I was about to answer but my eyes were already shut.

               I woke up realising that I was at the hospital. I decided to run away and I did but extremely the taxi driver stopped in front of me. It was then all of the drama happened and then I met the old lady and now here I was in this bus. I decided to get off the bus at the next bus stop to take a walk.

               I made my way to a lake and saw the reflection of the humongous disc dazzling on the water surface. “Ahh! What a night!” Suddenly, the taxi driver surprised me from behind.

               “You know this is just a small world. I’m Sudin and you?” He made me feel glad to see him at the moment. It looked like I had to make the report on the next day and hoped that Kiko was fine. The experience I had with Sudin when he helped me by bringing me to the hospital would be planted in my mind forever. 

When There Is A Will, There Is Always A Way by Firdaus Asry

               The taxi stopped in front of me after I had made a hand gesture to stop it.

               “Come on! Get in!” The driver was trying to be friendly.

               I suddenly folded my newly-bought bike which could be folded into two and that was the main reason I purchased it. I put it inside the boot of the taxi.

               “Where do you want to go?” the taxi driver asked me politely while looking at the rear mirror.

               “Home. Taman Iskandar Bestari.” He drove me back home. I saw his name at the tag in his taxi.

               ‘SUDIN’ was the name written in capital letters. It was his nickname. Then, he asked me what I was doing with my bike. Then, I started to tell him the story of my past glory.      

      

***

               Since primary school up to secondary school, I used to ride my bike to school every single day. It was not the fancy bicycle that we have commonly seen today, but it could get the job done. 8 kilometres per day bike ride and it was a piece of cake for me. I could even play football later that day.

               Back in the old days, I was fit, as fit as fiddle. I could do everything that I wanted. Sometimes, I thought that I was still fit as I used to be when the current evidence suggested otherwise. So I told my wife that I was hiding my six packs out of ‘modesty’. Then I thought that it was normal for married men to develop belly after he said, “I do.”

               “You have done a type of injustice towards marriage institution,” Sudin uttered after a while listening to my story. He seemed dissatisfied.

               “What? How come?”

               “You have said that marriage puts you on weight.”

               I nonchalantly justified that claim by saying that increasing in weight equated to increasing in ‘happiness’.

               “Boy, you keep blaming the external for what is clearly internal problem.” He advised me.

               “It is because of our own laziness.” Then, I realised that it was my own laziness that put me on this weight.

               Back in my college years ago, my fitness level slowly deteriorated because of lacking in exercise. I knew that I was not in my best physical shape because of my own laziness. Delusion upon delusion. I said that because I did not want my ego being hurt. Well, it actually hurt.

               “Very few of us have the decency to do something about it,” he said again in a serious tone.

               I had not just remembered my old glory, but I lived in it. In the effort to rip the delusion and stay grounded in reality, I bought a new bike. It was a folding bike. I decided to ride my bike all the way home. In total, 10 kilometres more or less. I started to ride it from the store where I bought the bike.

               So, I thought, “It is a piece of cake. I have done better.” In the end, no cake was seen. It was indeed difficult. After 5 minutes cycling, I was exhausted and panting like a dog. That was why I stopped the taxi.

               Our conversations ended when we had arrived at my house. I gave him the money and he said thanks. Before he left me, he said, “Perhaps you are a loving husband, perhaps you were physically fit, perhaps you were straight ‘As’ student. But the real question to ponder upon us is, ‘Who are you now?”

               He left me with that. The experience that I had with Sudin really made me contemplate and motivate me to do better next time. I took my bike out of the taxi boot and waved him goodbye. I whistled and entered the house and straight away headed to my stationary bike and I pedalled it for 5 kilometres. My wife looked at me, feeling puzzled. 

SnapCam by Nabilah Syamimi

                 First day of being sixteen at Beljar High School was great to Mary Elizabeth Zane. She did be friendly and gain new friends. Everyone was being excited due to new classes, teachers and classmates. Mary thought that year would be lit since she just got a new boyfriend named Reeve. He was the typical guy with hot body, sun-kissed skin colour with the messy hair that every girl would squirm over. Mary had everything she wanted. Furthermore, she just got herself a new phone and at that time there was a trendy app that everyone got themselves into it called SnapCam. That was where all things started to mess up.

               That night, Rennie who was Mary’s best friend held a crazy party where everyone was out of their mind, drinking alcohols and dancing on the dance floor grinded on each other where they forgot about which one their boyfriends were. After all these times, Rennie was actually spitting hate on Mary due to her jealousy towards Mary because Rennie was born without a father, problematic family where her mom was on drugs. The thirst of attention from Reeve was never granted. So, tonight she took the chance to ruin Zane’s life.

               “Get Richard with her on the dance floor,” Coco nodded and dragged Richard with her after hearing Rennie’s instruction. “Game over, Mary Elizabeth Zane!” Pictures were snapped.

               “Oh, my God! Look at her being cheap, that’s the real her!” Everyone was on the phone with SnapCam app appeared on the screen. Mary was exposed by an anonymous account showing that she was high and also stripping with Richard on the dance floor. Mary was actually drugged by Rennie that night. The headline stated, ‘This Is Me, Mary Elizabeth Zane, I Am A Whore!’ It was such harsh and by that time Mary came in expecting smiles from everyone. Instead, she got thrown with rubbish and even eggs out of nowhere by the students. She had no idea how she ended up on bed with Richard and he apologised. She intended to tell Reeve about it but that happened. So she ran away from humans.

               She was everywhere in the social media. She went viral and kept on getting notifications with people saying that she was cheap, ugly, disgusting, making girls look like sluts and others. Reeve received a lot of missed calls from Mary but he chose to ignore them. He texted her saying he wanted to meet her at the cliff they were used to going together. Mary tried to be positive that Reeve would trust her. But boy, everything was just wrong.

               “I swear to God, Reeve, I did not do anything,” Mary pleaded, sobbing, trying to reach for Reeve. Mary just noticed he had a bad temper so she got slapped at the rosy cheeks of hers. Reeve was ashamed of her and lastly they broke up.

               “I would not date cheap girls like you!” He left Mary alone on the cliff. There was only one thing left on her mind but not yet.

               After weeks, Mary not only had been ignored by the community and the neighbourhood of Beljar, she also got ignore by her own family. She thought her family would trust her but because of Zane’s reputation had been polluted by her, Liam Zane who was her father took everything she had. Mary Elizabeth Zane had been lifeless without eating, shower or talking. She decided to go out with the outfit she wore since the day she and Reeve broke up and came back to their favourite cliff. She was tearing her hair real hard while crying on the edge of the cliff and her cropped top that exposed her stomach. She accidentally tripped on the stone and had fallen from the cliff.

               “Someone had committed suicide at the cliff,” the police reported to the school. “Her name was Mary Elizabeth Zane.” The principal fainted.

               Everyone was crying with chills due to the ‘commit suicide’. They would never know the real story of it. Mary ended her life in such a miserable way that Reeve had been locking himself in the room, punching his bedroom wall with bleeding knuckles. Rennie had turned crazy and out of her mind when she was found out sitting at the corner of the room saying stuff like, “I did not kill her,” repeatedly and their family had moved out from Beljar. Lastly, the app SnapCam was shut down.

My Husband Was A Taxi Driver by Syauqina Sabri

               The taxi stopped in front of me and I could see the driver was a very charming young man. His face mesmerized me for a few seconds. ‘Oh, this is different from what I have thought. Usually, the driver is a bald, old man who does not capture my attention at all.’ My thought of him was only lingering in my mind. I acted normally and went into the taxi.

               On  our way to the shopping mall, I got the chance to know him better as he was a very friendly person and he was willingly introduce himself without me asking for anything. From his story, I knew that his name was Sudin and he was 22 years old. He drove his father’s taxi as his father was unwell and fortunately he was on semester break and he got nothing to do at home.

               Sudin’s alluring gaze made my heart skip a beat as no one had ever looked at me like that before as I realised that I was not the one that you could call pretty. I was not even close to that. Living in a world where people assumed that pretty means you have to be thin, fair and all, I guess. I was on the ugly side as I was fat and dark.

               He looked like a nice guy but you know what they said, ‘Never judge a book by its cover,’ so I was still be careful of him and only shared same details about myself to him.

***

               “Hey, I know you! You are the girl whom I sent to the mall with my taxi, isn’t it?”

               I almost spilled my drink when someone approached me out of the blue and stated that he knew me. I almost forgot about the taxi driver until he showed up in front of me that day with a casual outfit and a slick-back hair and that charming face that could make any girl fall for him.

               “Oh, yes. It was me, I guess,” I answered while smiling at him. “May I sit here?” he asked politely but I was unsure to let him sit or not as I had caught those mocking eyes from the other people. I thought they felt weird because why would a really good looking man want to approach an ugly girl like me? I had got immune with that kind of thoughts so I just let him sit.

               Who knows from that moment, we could be a super close best friend. We went out together several times and I found out that he was really a kind guy and I got more comfortable with him as I never had a guy friend before. He seemed sincere to befriend me. He was like my ray of sunlight during my gloomy day.

               We were doing just fine until one day the dark cloud started to engulf my source of sunlight. I got news that Sudin involved in an accident when his taxi was hit by a lorry. Never had I felt so overwhelmed by myriad of emotions. I felt my day was pitch black. Why would this happen to me?

               I rushed to the hospital to find out that he was still in a critical state in the operating theatre. He got a blood clot in his brain. I waited patiently and my eyes darted lazily on the wall. I could not think of anything except praying to God for his safety.

               Hours felt like days and after waiting several hours in an extreme intense situation, the doctors came out. My tears of happiness cascaded down my cheeks and colours filled my face again when the doctors informed me that he was safe and in a stable condition.

***

               It has been five years since that incident which almost tore my heart to pieces. Sudin and I are still together but now the different is, he is not my best friend anymore but it has got even much better because now he is my husband. It is a beautiful fate and I am happy and grateful with it.

God's Plan Is The Best by Athirah Othman

               The taxi stopped in front of me, right at the time where I almost got caught by the intruders.

               I did not think something like this would happen to me but there I was. When I woke up, I found myself lying down on a cold, damp cement floor. My hands and feet were tied. I was too dazed and muzzy to figure out where I was or what I was doing in that strange place. Suddenly, an incident came flooding into my memory. I was parking my Audi car in the empty garage as I just came back from work which was never done before. Then, without any hesitation I entered my house. Suddenly, someone leapt from behind the door. I did not get a chance to scream as the second intruder put a chloroform-soaked cloth on my face. I blacked out.

               I tried to sit and when I did it, I found myself being confined in a small chamber. Everything was bare except for the thermos flask in one corner. The shutters were all closed tight. However, there were a few shutters missing and in their place a piece of plywood was nailed. I wriggled free from the rope that bound me. I made my way to the door to open it but as I expected it was locked from outside of the chamber. I heard voices. I strained my ears to figure out what they were talking about.

               “The girl is detained in our custody. What are we going to do with her?”

               “Yes, boss.” The intruders then laughed creepily before I heard their footsteps slower and slower which showed that they went away from that place.

               My expectations were confirmed. I was being kidnapped. Why did they kidnap me? I was not from a wealthy family. When my panic and tears ebbed away, I tried to figure out how to escape from that horrible place. Suddenly, I got an inkling. I made my way to the nailed plywood and wrestle with it, clawing at the nails. I was on the verge of giving up when suddenly a jogged piece of plywood peeled off. I climbed out of the hole with determination and burning sensation all over my limbs which was mattered with blood. Then, I ran as fast as my leg could carry me.

               After hours of running and groping through the secondary jungle, I saw lights flickering in the distance. It was a small town with bunch of people. I made my way there to ask for help and some food as I employed all my energy running just now. Suddenly, I heard familiar voices, I know that the voices were owned by the intruders. I tried to hide but they saw me and chased after me. I ran to the road and suddenly a taxi stopped in front of me. This was when the lights started shining brightly on my day.

               The taxi driver introduced himself as Sudin. That was the last thing I remembered before I woke up in a house. I went to the kitchen to look for food before a motherly-faced woman came and greeted me. I was shocked but I acted cool. She was wearing ‘telekung’, which showed that she was just done performing her prayer. When I saw her, I wondered the last time I wore that. I was too far from the Lord. Suddenly, the taxi driver, Sudin came in. He gave me a piece of clothes and a hijab. I was hesitated to accept that but I did not want to wear my clothes which was mattered with blood. I accepted those things and wore them after bath. After taking bath, I walked around the house as I was bored. Out of the blue, I heard voices of reciting Al-Quran. I was so touched. I did not know why. Tears were cascading on my cheeks. Then, the motherly-faced woman who saw me crying, hugged me to calm me down. Then I told her what I felt and asked for permission to stay here longer to learn more about our religion. She allowed me to do so and suggested me to learn from her son who was still studying in an Islamic University.

               This was when I started to be close to Sudin. He taught me many things from basic to the complicated things that I had forgotten. I was thankful as I had met and known him as he taught me many things about life.

               After about two weeks staying here, I decided to go home. Sudin sent me home and I was very thankful to him. He had helped me a lot like saving me from the intruders and helping lodge a police report for me. He had taught me many things. I will never forget this experience with him forever. If God did not set this incident to happen and make me meet him, I am sure I would be very far from God until now.

My Military Friend by Daniel Farid (Obama)

               The taxi stopped in front of me and I matched up the plate registration number with the given one. I sat on the cushion of the taxi and told him, “Ipoh, please?”

               The taxi driver turned his back and answered, “Ok.” I managed to look at his name tag and it was written Sudin. His name evoked me of my ex-schoolmate but I just put it aside. It was Saturday so my routine for every Saturday was car spotting but I didn’t have a car. I meant I shared a car with my sister so basically I didn’t own a car. Back to the ride, usually I would only call this taxi company for their transport service and usually they would send Syed to fetch me up but on that day, Sudin came. I was a little bit awkward because usually I would have a chat with Syed but not for that day.

               I took out my Sony Alpha and cleaned the lens, as it was a tedious ride. Then, I tried to take a few photos of the city. When I was focusing on Ipoh Tower, I saw something huge flying down to it. I zoomed at it and saw a ship like alien spaceship or something like that. I was about to tell Sudin to drive me to Ipoh Tower but out of blue, a bomb dropped just 3 cars in front of us. Sudin pulled over the taxi and turned right into a small street. Then, I said, “That’s what I meant.” Sudin yelled, “We better get out of this city or we will lose our head.”

               Sudin drove at 180 km/h which I considered as standard speed but whatever it was, he was indeed a professional taxi driver. Back to chaos, Sudin was driving the taxi and suddenly a missile shot us at the back of the taxi. Boom! The taxi was flipped and both of us were trapped in the taxi. Fortunately, Sudin managed to escape and rescue me as I could feel I was being grilled at that moment due to the fuel leakage in the fuel tank. I was about to run across the road but Sudin yelled my name and shouted, “Wait!” fiercely. At that moment, I was so curious on how he knew my name and suddenly my mind replayed my childhood memories and I just realised that he was my old friend. We were friends when we got into Royal Military School. It came like a flash flood, I remembered every silly and mischievous thing we had done. I ran back to Sudin and he took out a HK416 rifle from the boot of the taxi and gave it to me. He asked, “You still remember how to shoot?”

               Honestly, I left military for a decade so I didn’t remember how to shoot professionally. I managed to hug him for a while but his eyes were on the gun. Then, he said, “Dude, just pull the safety pin and pull the trigger just like that.” Those bullets pierced through building wall.

               We were running away from something that we had no idea what it was but we knew that ‘something’ wanted to shoot us. At that moment, I saw the picturesque scenery of Ipoh had transformed to a battlefield. Anyway, I felt like I was playing the game ‘Battlefield’ but much more reality. Back to survival plan, we planned to run to the Ipoh City Council building for shelter and protection. The issue was how we wanted to get there with 5kg gun in our hand with Ipoh City Council was located 10 km away from us. We cracked our head to find a way to get there but just the right time, I remembered that I left my La Ferrari in one of the hotels nearby as I was supremely unconscious that night.

               I told Sudin the plan and we ran to the hotel. While on our way, we faced aliens with 5 heads and 25 eyes, aliens with no eyes and others. I couldn’t pull the trigger at the first place but still I pulled it for my survival. Sudin was doing great during the shooting scene, he killed 36 aliens with one magazine but I killed only 2 with one magazine. I got to admit it that Sudin was far away better than me in shooting even when we were in the military. Anyway, I killed 16 aliens with a dive knife that I got from him stabbing their hearts, cut off their head and others.

               Finally, we reached at the hotel and we got into my car. Both of us took a gasp for relief but our mission had not over yet. Next, our final destination would be Ipoh City Council building. I was the one on the wheel as I had trust issue to hand over my 6.8 million dollars car to someone else. The worst and sad moment in my life was when I had to crash into these aliens and the steel gate. Ah! I scratched that 1 million dollar paint but what I could do was just driving into the building compound. As Sudin and I predicted the citizens gathered there and it was such a huge chaos as no one was in charge of them. Again, Sudin and I were the ‘chief’ and ordered them to do this and that.

               We managed to build a new colony and took over the city back within a week. We got the help and support from local and foreign military. Back to Sudin, we were friends since we were 5 but we split up after we graduated from Royal Military College. I took mechanical engineering and worked for Nissan, while he went to the National Military Academy. I felt happy and delighted when we met even though in a battlefield. We kept in touch since that day onwards until now.

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover by Ameer Hilmi Mahfizan

               The taxi stopped in front of me and asked, “Do you need a ride, mate?”

               Sweat was pouring down my face. I was knackered and was not sure of my capability to walk after being chased by someone. I looked around the taxi and saw many weird things. The taxi was bright yellow on the outside but blazing red on the inside.

               “This guy must be Asian,” I said to myself while looking at his ID in between the air-conditioners. The name of the taxi driver was Sudin.

               “Where are we off to, brother?” he asked now realising that he had an accent.

               “Just drive, I want to leave New York and take some time to calm down.”

               “You don’t seem too happy. What seems to be the problem?” I asked Sudin.

               “Nothing, it’s just that I lost someone close.”

               “Tell me about it. We have a long journey ahead of us,” I said softly and warmly.

***

               In a blink of an eye, he was gone. I could not believe he left me in this cruel world and I still mourned of his death. I told myself that it was a dream and I was going to wake up seeing his face again. But we all knew that was not going to happen. His hair was a wavy as the ocean, his emerald green eyes were sparkling like the stars at night and he was as fit as a fiddle. He was my one and only brother. I lost him during a tragic accident. We were on our way home from a football game late at night. As he was about to hit the gas pedal, a car came speeding through and destructively hit us. Our car flipped and my vision became blur. I saw my brother’s head split into two and a river of blood flowing from his skull. I could not do anything about it. He was dead. He was the only one who had my back during my tough times.

               “That is ever so tragic, brother. I am sorry for your loss,” I interrupted.

               “Then why are you sweating like you have just ran a marathon?”

               “Well that is another story I want to tell you about. Shall I continue?” I asked.

               Sudin nodded without saying a word.

***

               There I was walking down a cold and misty alley. The sounds of mice skittering around looking for food in the trash cans. Homeless people were looking half dead with their dowdy clothes. I dragged my feet hopelessly trying to find peace and tranquillity. As I walked I could feel hands grabbing my trousers. The homeless people were clinging to me asking and begging me for money. I casted them off as my heart and soul were already gone. I had lost the decency of feeling empathy of having mercy. The alley came to a sudden silence. I began to think about him, the accident. His absence made my heart grow fonder. I could still not accept his departure. As I walked, I could hear a blithe gait of someone walking towards me. His shadow was not see as the light was at the end of the alley.

               I tried to calm myself down and walking at the same pace assuming he was not following me. A drop of sweat filled with fear went down my forehead sedately.

               “Am I going to die here? Is he going to kill me? Is he going to rob me?” I asked myself. I was definitely not ready for the worst possible outcome. I knew I had to turn around and approach him at some point. So I braved myself as my guts told me to turn around, my stiff body was reluctant to face him. I mustered up my remaining courage and turned around. There he was rooting to the ground slightly taller than me. He reached out for his pocket from his worn out jeans. I thought he was taking out a knife so I made a run for it. To my surprise, he was able to chase me down the alley as if we were on a race.

               “I am a dead meat for sure,” I said as I approached a dead end. He came towards me putting up a smile. A sinister and disgusting one I would say. He pulled out ‘something’ from his pocket and I realised it was precious to me. The ‘thing’ he took out was my wallet. The leather wallet I bought from a friend who happened to sell stolen goods for only 2 dollars.

               “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” he said, leaving me speechless and guilty. I had learnt my lesson that not all strangers were immoral and uneducated. Then, I looked for a way out of the alley to the side of the road, trying to find a taxi for me.

***

               “Thank you for listening to my story, brother.” I finished my story with an exhale of relief.

               “I really learnt something from your story,” Sudin said nodding his head like a woodpecker.

               I thanked him for the ride and paid him the fare. I went off the taxi and waved him goodbye. Even though it was just sharing thoughts between us, it indeed gave me a valuable experience because that was the first time I talked to a taxi driver!

The Zombies! By Dhiyauddin Anuar

               The taxi stopped in front of me. All four of us, me, Josh, Drake and John went inside the taxi. It was a very tiring day for us because we just finished volunteering for a charity programme for the poor. I sat on the front seat with the driver and the others were on the backseat. I shook the driver’s hand. He had a thick moustache and a bald head. He looked very neat in the taxi driver uniform and judging from his physical appearance, I thought his age was probably around 30 to 40 years old.

               “To where shall I drive this vehicle?” asked the driver. He looked very energetic and playful.

               “To the nearest Starbucks Café, please,” I replied.

               “Alright, here we go!” he said. On the way to Starbucks we had a little chat about global issues, racism, politics and many more.

               A few minutes passed and we arrived there at Starbucks. We invited the driver to join us for a drink. He agreed and we ordered our drinks. As we were enjoying our youth with the great smell of coffee that filled the atmosphere, suddenly a customer at the café screamed like a little girl. He was struggling convulsively on the floor and all the customers were freaking out. We were wondering what was going on when we saw drugs on that customer’s table. This was not going to end well.

               After a few seconds, he stopped. Red velvet pool of blood was around him and still pouring out from his mouth. His eyes were wide open. He was dead. Just as I thought the horrifying scene was over, they guy stood up. Oh my God! From that moment we knew, he was not human anymore! He looked at John with lifeless eyes and pounced on him. He ripped off John’s flesh with his teeth in a blink of an eye.

               “John! No! Let him go, Mister!” Drake screamed. He was trying to get the undead man away from John when suddenly John kicked the man and torn Drake’s flesh. In a split second, the whole cafeteria turned into them. Zombies!

               Things were getting out of control and chaos struck the city.

               “Get into my taxi! Hurry up!” the taxi driver said with a scared little girl’s face. We all ran into his taxi and the engine sound started to fill the atmosphere. We planned to drive to a building and barricade ourselves in there. It was chaos everywhere and the driver was trying his best to get us away from the undead. Soon after that, we found an abandoned, tall building.

***

               We called for help but we could not reach anyone. It was like the whole city was in anarchy. We went to the rood of the building to get a better view of what was going on. Suddenly, dozens of zombies broke through the roof’s door. To survive, we fought to the death like the Spartan warriors. But the difference is we were using baseball bats and metal pipes. One by one, the zombies fell, we sent them straight to Hell!

               Finally, after a few minutes, we managed to kill them. All of them. Josh blocked the entrance. Suddenly, we saw a helicopter coming this way.

               “I think they saw us, we’re saved!” I screamed with joy. But the driver was silent.

               “What’s going on Mister? Are you alright?” John asked. We were really shocked when we saw a bite mark on his hand.

               “This is the end of me, kids.” He said while walking to the edge of the roof.

               “Be a good adult when you grow up, and never take drugs.” He said after a little chuckle. Blood was already cascading out of his mouth.

               “It was a great pleasure meeting you sir,” I said.

               “Me too, kid. Me too.” He was preparing for the worst. In a split second, he jumped.

               The sound of the helicopter’s blades cutting the wind filled the atmosphere. Suddenly we found something on the floor of the roof. It was the driver’s wallet. From that moment we knew, his name was Sudin.