Hi! Thanks for reading. If there are any suggestions or advice I would really like to hear it. Sorry, the pace is a bit slow right now but it'll pick up later. The font size is confusing. I just copied and paste but I can't get it to size down. Any advice? Or go I have to re-type everything?
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Chapter 2: School, Work, and Creepy Men
Ding! Dong! Dang!
Many students flooded out of their classrooms in droves. Their happy chattering and excited faces were not lost on Shilan. ‘They’re feeling so exhilarated that school is out for the summer. While I wish it can go on throughout the year.’
Conversations of many students can be heard everywhere as Shilan continues on to the front gate of the school.
“Hey, what did you get on your final?” asked a guy who was walking with his friend.
The friend shrugged in defeat as he grimaces. “Let’s just say I pass.”
Then laughter ensues as they disappear into the crowd of walking students heading to who knows where. This made Shilan feel a little envious. She would have liked to share her passing grades with a friend too. She imagines how her friend would have locked her arms around her shoulders while praising Shilan on her 3.7 GPA. And then both of them will go out and get something to eat as a celebration. But alas, it seems like it was not to be for this year either.
‘Maybe my last year next year, I can find a friend’ thought Shilan as she left the school.
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Shilan sadly walk to her part time job as she laments on what to do for the whole summer. It is not that she has nothing to do; it is how she can’t find a way to stay out of her home for the summer. When one lives in a troubled home, it is best to stay low and out of radar so one can avoid it. So when it got closer to the end of the school year, she had wanted to find another job. But none of the places she had applied for called. Hence, feeling a little dejected, she entered the bookstore that had accepted her four months ago.
“What’s with the gloomy face?” asked a woman with clear blue eyes. The woman looked to be in her late thirties. She has soft light brown hair and a generous smile that gives off a caring vibe to anyone who talks to her.
Shilan fixed a small smile on her face and turned to the woman. “Hello Cathy. What gloomy face?”
Cathy stared at the young girl in front of her. For the several months that she had hired Shilan, she still can’t read her very well. Even though Shilan always have a small smile on her face, Cathy just knows that it is always a fake one. The girl always has a lonely and sad demeanor that she tries to hide behind a small smile. What she doesn’t know is that she isn’t convincing Cathy one bit at all. But Cathy won’t push Shilan to reveal her secrets unless she is willing to share it.
“Shilan, since school is out for the summer, do you want more hours?”
Her small face brightens immediately as she nodded vehemently.
Cathy laughs. “Wow, you are such a workaholic. One of the part-timers quit so instead of hiring; I figure I should just increase the hours for everyone during summer vacation. “
“Boss, we love you to bits” exclaimed Shilan. She can’t wait. The extra money will really help with her long time goal. A washing machine! With the excitement of more hours, Shilan threw herself into arranging and stocking new items onto the shelves.
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Arms stretched above her head, Shilan twist to the right and then to the left to relieve the tension in her back. She glances at her wrist watch and confirm that it was about 8:30pm. Then without stopping, she continues to turn around the corner and make her way to the brown run down house. As she crosses the walkway to the front porch, a loud and pleading voice can be heard.
“Please, just give me a little time. I promise. I’ll at least get the interest ready for you in a few days’ time.”
Cha Neng kneeled as he begs the couple of men that were standing in front of him. They wore dark clothing completed with black sunglasses. The man on the right, bended down on one knee and took off his sunglasses. With a forceful poke to Cha Neng’s left temple he growls out, “You know how to borrow but then when it’s time to pay, you pretend to not know when the deadline is.”
“Please, please, big bro Chu Feng . . . Just a few more days, my wife and daughter’s paychecks . . .”
Thwack!
A fast kick connected to Cha Neng’s chest. He blanched and kowtows again. Banging his head on the floor, Cha Neng continues to pray for a few more days.
“Please, save me some face. Just a few more days!” he whined. “I’ll definitely pay the loan.”
The man called big bro Chu Feng slowly wiped his sunglasses as he looked towards the smaller man. His right eyebrow lifted up in question and the smaller man let out a long sigh.
Pew!
Spit landed on Cha Neng’s head as he continues to lower his head. “Let’s go” orders the man.
“Yes, big boss Liu Ye” answered Chu Feng. But before turning to leave he kicks Cha Neng again, “A week. If you don’t have it, be ready for the consequences.”
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Shilan, hearing the men getting ready to leave, she hid behind the overgrown bushes in fear. She had heard of loan sharks before but had never thought that her father would stoop so low to borrow from them. Trying to be quiet as possible, Shilan held her breath as she watch the men drive away before entering the house.
The first things Shilan saw were broken glass everywhere. White papers were scattered all over the living room and her father, cowering on the ground next to the sofa. She could see her brothers peeking from upstairs as they tried to hide their shock and fear.
Cautiously, Shilan shook her father’s left shoulder and softly calling, “father?”
He didn’t seem to hear her so she tried again in a louder voice.
Whack!
Shilan didn’t see what had happened. All of a suddenly, she was by her father’s side for a minute and then the next second, she was flung behind her father hitting the wall hard.
‘It hurts’ thought Shilan as she stared at her father’s enraging face. His darken face looked green and purple as his hands rolled into two fists.
Thunk! Thunp! Thuk!
After the series of punches that her father let loose on her, he left the house. Tears were streaming down her face as she slowly tested her body for any broken bones. Thankful, that there wasn’t any. She slowly got up and carefully went to her bedroom to rest her bruised and achy body before trying to muss up the will to start cleaning up the mess in the living room. Not long after washing her pale shocked face, she heard a loud shrill scream.
“WHAT IN THE GOD DAMN HELL HAPPEN HERE?”