Page 10 - Demo
P. 10
down. her mom’s face would curl into an ugly snarl every time she came home with her grades.
so.
all her spare time was spent on the multiplication table. no more cartoons, no more ball games, no more nap times, no more tea. no more opportunities to have fun.
STEP TWO POINT FIVE: CORRIDORS
another thing about siu hok was all the new punishments that came with it.
she remembers being made to squat down facing away from the two windows in the corridor. long afternoons spent with the thought of going outside stewing deep in her heart but knowing that if she even dare mention it —
so squat it was, she remembers, looking back towards the slightly open windows, imagining climbing out of them, running away, to play, to play.
no chance, says the stained white walls. no chance, says her textbooks.
no chance, says her homework.
no chance.
no chance. no.
STEP THREE: CREATIVE WRITING
creative writing was her thing. maybe creative writing was her only thing but
still, she was good at what she did.
or so she thought. during the first half of her secondary school life, her teachers would often give her writings their stamps of approval and that encouraged her — but after all, humanities subjects didn’t provide students opportunities.
69

