“Are you okay?" He reaches out his hand to help me get up.
“ I am fine” I walk away hurriedly towards Rena.
I stop for a minute before Rena is about to drag me to the canteen. I am thinking about the next boring class on geography that I really hate. At the same time, I curse myself for staining my only sports uniform. My mom will be so angry finding out that I have dirt on my uniform. While I am lost in my thoughts, Rena yells from a distance, “ Sarah, come on, “ You are awfully slow today, what’s bothering you?”.
“ Nothing,” I replied awkwardly.
“ Sarah!” Rena snaps her finger in front of me.
Even today, I am still thinking of what happened at the school yard. I decide to never tell Rena of what happened. My mind freezes everytime I am about to tell her something. The same happens when I go home and sit with my mom and dad. I want to tell them, I really do, but my face turns red every time I remember about it.
March 1978
I have been running for 3 laps and out of breath but I still want to do more.
“ Are you all exhausted?” Our sports teacher, Mr Jeremy, asks while he glances at his paper.
“ Not at all Sir”
“ Okay, so this afternoon, I am organizing an afterschool practice. For those of you who want to come, feel free too.”
I always find the after school sport practice fun. I get to try different sports and even beat my friends during the race run. And because of that, I really want to be a track runner athlete when I am older. Maybe it is silly but next time if anyone asks me who I want to be, that’s going to be my answer.
“ Rena, we’re going right?” I asks Rena since we can go together and I don’t feel alone.
“ Nah, my parents and I are going to the bazaar”
“ Okay, maybe next time?”
The bell rang three times signaling the end of gym class and time to go home from school.I'm very happy because my dad promised me that we will go eat ice cream at our favorite restaurant.I immediately headed to the bicycle parking lot and rushed home.When I reached the school gate, I saw Mr. Jeremy waved his hand and smiled. He said from a distance, “be careful on the road, kids!”.
I am glancing at my dad’s watch then signals him that it’s time to go to the school yard, for the free practice. “ Dad, let’s go!” I pull his shirt and he hurriedly pays for the ice cream.
As soon as I reach the school yard, I see some students are stretching and start jogging. I bid my dad goodbye and joined the rest of the students. After a few laps, I feel so exhausted and decided to sit at the bench to catch some breath.
“ Are you exhausted?” asks Mr Jeremy while offering me a bottle of water and sits next to me.
“ No Sir, I am fine” I reply while drinking the water that I bring from home.
“ So, Sarah, what kind of sports do you like?”
“ I really enjoy running. I want to be an athlete” I answered enthusiastically. He processed explaining the different types of running while he is checking out other students.
“ Oh yeah, I want to invite you and your friends to come to my family housewarming party.”
“ How nice of you Sir!”
For a 24-year-old teacher, he is very different from the other teachers in this school. Mr. Jeremy is a cool person and often pays attention to us. For us, this invitation is interesting because we will all get free snacks and meals
I find Mr. Jeremy looked and smiled at me. I smile back but he looks like someone caught doing a crime. The after school practice ends when we hear the sound of the mosque calling for the mid afternoon prayer.
The next day while I am about to go to the canteen and pass through the school yard, Jasmine stops me. “ Hey, here’s a letter for you”
I am wondering which boy sends me another letter. “ Why don’t they dare to send it right away?”
I snatch the letter from Jasmine's hand and she looks quite curious. I am sitting at the bench on the corner of the school yard and starting to check the letter.
To : Sarah
Your smile brightens my day and I can’t stop thinking about you. I see you as a beautiful and kind girl. I have really adored you since the first time I saw you in my class. And I want to get to know you better, not just by becoming your teacher, but something more. Please reply to my letter and meet me in my office.
Love, Jeremy.
My hands are shaking as I finish reading the letter. I run to the toilet and slam the door really loud. I rip the letter apart and make sure that it can not be read by anyone. I want to cry but I don’t want my friends or anyone to know. I curse him and I wish him dead. Maybe I am being too much but for such an uncivilized person, he does not deserve to be alive. I flush the toilet and I walk to my class while my stomach turns.
cont
This is the first fiction based on true events that I wrote after years. I have been hiatus in writing stories because I kinda lost my mojo. But today, while looking for ideas, I talked to someone I know and this person was letting me write a story based on their life. For trusting me to write such stories based on snippets of the person’s memory, I feel obligated to do well but this is perhaps the best I could do for now. I may write a continuation of this story as this was an oversimplification of it. But I feel refreshed and finding joy that I can continue learning how to write better and make better stories.
I really wonder what people around that year think about such. For the younger generation such a thing is really outrageous. The setting and the culture of said story is different because I see so many may-december relationships among my grandparents. And I think, it's still is a controversial topic even today.