My Boyfriend Is A Taxi Driver by Nurin Batrisyia

            The taxi stopped in front of me. I quickly opened the back door and stepped in since it was raining heavily.

            “Where to miss?” asked the taxi driver.

            “Hard Rock Hotel, please,” I answered as my eyes were looking at the taxi driver through the rear mirror and saw his charming face.

            Along the way to my destination, we chatted and got to know about each other. His name was Sudin. He was so friendly and I loved how sparkling his eyes were.

            “Here we are,” said Sudin when we arrived at Hard Rock Hotel.

            “Thank you. How much it would be?” I asked while searching for my purse in my handbag.

            “You don’t have to pay,” he answered and smiled.

            “We will meet again soon,” he added and winked before he drove off without saying goodbye. Puzzles were in my head but I tried not to care and strode into the hotel – and that was how we met.

***

            It was my first day in France. I was moving out from my old house in California. I didn’t have any friends staying in France and decided to stay in a hotel before finding a house. After Sudin sent me to the hotel, I took a long nap since I was jetlagged. That night, I had my dinner at the nearest restaurant and strolled through the city.

            I was enjoying the beautiful day. There were colourful lights accompanying me throughout the way. Suddenly, I bumped into someone familiar.

            “I am sorry, I didn’t see… Miss Jenna?” said the person whom I recognised his voice. It was Sudin.

            “It’s you! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you were coming this way,” he apologised.

            “No, it’s okay. It didn’t hurt at all,” I answered and smiled.

            “What are you doing here alone?” he asked.

            “Nothing. Just strolling around and enjoying the splendid view of Paris I guess?” I chuckled.

            It was a nice night. The humongous disc glowed brightly that night. Spending time with him was a great beginning to start my life here. We eventually had each other’s numbers and messaged every single free time we had – and it all started to change when an incident happened.

***

            It was a cold night. He promised to meet me at our usual hanging port. As I was waiting patiently for him, there was a white van approaching me at a high speed. I tried to get away from the place when suddenly someone covered my face with a handkerchief. I tried shouting for help but I didn’t manage to do so since I fainted due to breathing in the chloroform-soaked handkerchief.

***

            I woke up with a blurry vision. It was dark. My head hurt a lot and I didn’t know where I was. I was so confused of what had happened and shrieked when I realised I was half-naked. My tears started to swell up and cascade down to my cheeks.

            Just then I saw a dark figure stride towards me – and the light was turned on. The figure smiled evilly and stroke my chin.

            “Don’t you dare to touch me!” I shouted. He didn’t care and laugh evilly – and annoyingly. I looked around and gasped in stun when I saw Sudin in the middle of the room. He was tied on a chair and I saw devilish red liquid around him. His head was bleeding and the blood cascaded down to his face continuously.

            “Sudin!” I shouted. The figure continuously laughed and left us alone and locked the door. I used the chance to find something for me to escape from there. With the remaining energy I had, I managed to escape from the tight rope that tied me at a pole. I staggered to Sudin and cried non-stop.

            He was so weak because he lost so much blood. He slowly looked at me and apologised for something. I was confused and could not think of anything else. He moved his head to signal me about his phone. Thankfully, there was a line of communication. I called the police and ambulance and told what happened.

            Few minutes after that I heard the sirens. I was resting my head on Sudin’s lap when a troop of police and medical saviours entered the room. I was too tired that my vision got blurry and everything went dark.

***

            Now, here we are in the hospital. I am not severely injured but Sudin is in coma. I am still confused why that night happened and I guess I need to wait for Sudin to wake up. It has been two months since it happened. It is a horrible experience I ever have that I do not want to remember it at al but it is perpetually embedded in my mind. I am holding Sudin’s hand when suddenly I feel someone grab my hand back. I lift up my head and look at Sudin’s face.

            “I miss you,” he says.

         “I miss you too,” I gasp in joy and we smile to each other meaningfully.

An Experience With A Taxi Driver by Anisha Alias

            The taxi stopped in front of me and I quickly asked the taxi driver, “Can you bring me to Port Dickson?”

            The taxi driver looked at me weirdly. Then he said, “Are you underage?”

            “Yes, I am 16,” I replied. Then he nodded. I shouted to my friend, Fayadh and asked him to join me with this unknown taxi driver to Port Dickson. “Bla…Bla…Bla…” That would be the ringing words that I heard when the taxi driver who introduced himself as Sudin talked to Fayadh.

            I closed my eyes and suddenly I heard, “Why do you leave your house, Ariff?”

           I sighed and said, “I hate my house and everyone in my family. They never understand what I want to do in life. They never ask whether I am okay or not. They never support me. Uncle Sudin and Fayadh remained silent.

            The signboard of WELCOME TO PORT DICKSON just made my heart ponder. I thanked and asked how much I needed to pay to Uncle Sudin but he refused.

            “I am worried about you and I really want to accompany you, he said. I was okay and to be honest I liked how caring Uncle Sudin was.

            “Look! The coconut palms are waving and dancing as if to welcome us,” Fayadh seemed elated.

            “Yeah, whatever bro,” I replied. We could see a couple was walking hand in hand. The sea breeze caressed my skin and I just loved the weather. Fayadh and I made ourselves meals. We gave some to Uncle Sudin. The meals were quite scrumptious. Strange how ordinary rice always tasted better during camping. Maybe it was half-cooked.

            “Wow, there is a jungle next to this beach. Let’s jungle trek after eating,” Uncle Sudin gave a suggestion. Both of us agreed.

            We did not bring anything because it would not drag so much time. I brought my Polaroid camera. The jungle was amazingly beautiful. We captured numerous photos and suddenly an uneasy feeling came.

            “Wait, where are we? We are lost!” I said in barely audible whisper.

            “Why don’t we follow the trail?” Fayadh suggested in the same undertone.

            “There is no trail to follow. Ariff is right, we are lost in the jungle,” Uncle Sudin snapped in a flicker of irritation. We sat down dejectedly. As we tried to grapple with the full implications of our predicament, we heard peals of thunder. As we watched sheets of water cascaded from the sky. We ran for cover. By the time the rain abated, darkness was slowly enveloping the jungle.

            “Let’s find our way out of here tomorrow,” Uncle Sudin’s voice broke the silence. Overcome by a hopeless sense of despair and doom, we floundered. We crawled under some stunted trees to spend the night. We had no choice. Although we were exhausted, we could not rest our tired bodies and minds with an opiate of sleep. The jungle at night was a cacophony of sounds, the shrill chirping of crickets and the disgruntled hooting of the owls kept us awake. The hours dragged by. At daybreak, we were still in a quandary deciding what we should do next when we heard a rustling. The sound of the snapping twigs. I thought that there was a butterfly in my stomach. I did not wish to come face to face with a wild boar or a beast. Or worse a ghost! Fayadh urged, his face stiffened with distress. Uncle Sudin and I scurried behind him.

            “Oh, God! Please help us. I promise that I will never leave my house and hurt my family again. I will do lots of good deeds after this,” I murmured with sinking feeling. Fortunately, it was just a deer. We laughed because of how panic we were in when we held our breaths and exchanged frantic glances.

            The ground was soggy after the downpour of the previous day and we could not ignore the gnawing pains of hunger and thirst. Suddenly, above the silence of the jungle, we heard the gurgling sound of water. From a leafy screen we could see the glistening of a winding silver stream.

            “Hey, let’s wash our oily face there,” Uncle Sudin pleaded. After quenching our raging thirst we continued walking until we saw a footpath.

            “I miss my family. I wish I can see them again,” I said.

            “Ariff, you have to be grateful because we are still safe and maybe there is a light in the dark. Just believe that anything happens for a reason,” Uncle Sudin smiled. The thoughts of being reunited with our families were the uppermost in my mind. The vivid images of mom and dad kept coming to my mind. We found a T-junction. Our spirits rose. Our pace quickened.

            Then, we saw the spluttering sound of engine of a vehicle. It came into our sight, we saw an old pick-up truck driven by an old farmer.

            “Want a ride?” he offered.

        “Yes, please!” replied the three of us simultaneously. Although it was a bumpy ride but of course every one of us did not mind. We reached at the town and I called my parents by using the public phone. I could hear my parents cry and happy to hear my voice again. Then, Fayadh and I hugged Uncle Sudin. It was a great experience to be with him. I would never forget all the experience in the jungle with the taxi dirver, Uncle Sudin and my best friend, Fayadh.  

Edited by Madam Ainaa

Dare to Dream!

Hi all!

     This is what I did with my students today. It is all about imagining and creating (HOM 11). They have to create a very short poem describing the pictures given to them. Feel free to comment!

The Vow by Adam Alani

     I could not take it any more. I kept running and dodging bullets that were fired at me. One of them almost got me, but I managed to take cover. Bullets were everywhere. It was like fireworks at night in Disneyland. Bombs, missiles fell from the sky like maple leaves shed of trees in autumn. I took cover behind a half roasted metal. I could not tell because it was dented with bullets and painted with dry blood. A pick-up truck or maybe, it was. I sat down and decided to take a rest, resting from all of this holocaust. I took a deep breath in but all I could smell was the scent of burn tyres and gun powder. I was used to it now because it had been three days we had been holding of the enemy. I looked around I saw my team mates fight for their lives to protect our nation. But what for? If only men did not learn to kill. If only the word 'war' did not exist.

Red by Aishah Shahidi

     "Red," said Nicol to Anna. Anna rose her eyebrows.

    

     "Since when you love red?" Anna questioned while looking at the brochure, containing many optional dresses.

     "Since now. Just a few minutes ago." Nicol laughed while shaking her head. Anna's eyebrows started to knit together. 

   

      "What's wrong with her best friend?" She questioned herself.

Red by Anais Adila

     Red is a beautiful colour. The colour of leaves in the autumn. The colour of the sky when the sun sets. The colour of the lights at a concert. But, seeing red will make me frown and grit my teeth, trying to choke down the sobs building in my chest. Because red reminds me too much of him, of us. Red is the colour of the blood that seeped out of my skin as I pulled a razor gently across it. Red is the colour of the envelope he left on his drawer addressed to me and red will always be what I felt when I fell in love with him.

An unexpected Guest by Adriana Alfi

     It all happened when I was 16. Kids my age would be creating unforgettable and noteworthy memories, so that when they grow older and reminisce the past, a smile would be carved on their faces. But not for me, it was totally the opposite for that chapter of my life.