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[Huang Zee]

The Roots of Darkness

Transferring from Tung Hai Junior High School to American School at Taichung was one of my most significant life transitions. When I was in Tung Hai Junior High School, I was a student of Class One of the seventh grade divisions. I was known for being hyper and having a pleasant smile in my overall sanguine class. That year, I was in seventh grade going on eighth grade. I said farewell to my classmates and teachers of Tung Hai Junior High School. Although I was feeling depressed about leaving my friends, I was contemporarily excited about encountering unfamiliar faces. My friends wrote letters to me and wished me luck. When reading their letters, tears naturally drip from my eyes. I told myself to be optimistic for the term “optimism’ was the symbol of Class One.

Entering my new school, I smiled and greeted the director, instructors, and pupils, but my smile did not last long. The students had fierce expressions on their faces, which contrasted the sanguine countenances of my comrades from Class One. I was so frightened by their inhospitable attitude that I became a different person, person without a smile but a frown. The seed of gloom was planted.

In the dorm of the school, I convened with my roommate named Kenny who appeared to be iniquitous in my initial impression of him. This evil spirit was fond of saying random phrases such as “Ya yeo!” or “In America!” or “Gonads in the lightning!” in his thunderous voice. However, he approached me and treated me as his younger brother. We conversed in our room and exchanged features of our existences. As I got to know more about him, I adjusted my impression of my roommate. I started to think him as a sophisticated person and respected him like an older brother. Unfortunately, Kenny transferred to another school when I finished my eighth grade school year. Feeling miserable about his departure, I continued to dwell in the shadows.

Time passed as the Earth continued to rotate herself and orbit the sun. The seed of dusk which was planted deep inside my heart developed. During my ninth grade school year, my classmates hurled food at me when I was devouring my lunch in the cafeteria. I felt insulted so I responded to them with a finger. They just giggled like they were mentally handicapped and continued to launch their weapons of mass destruction at me. Being targeted by classmates, I told myself to remain calm and ignore those fools. Then I was assaulted by a blast of rice. That action made me devastated because I was wearing my favorite T-shirt, a black T-shirt with the word “Optimism” printed on the front of the T-shirt in white text.

Throughout that time, my Language Arts teacher, Mr. Thompson, assigned my class to read the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. I enjoyed reading this book because it contained valuable moral lessons which included the lesson of empathy. Therefore, I tried to walk in the shoes of my classmates. Why were they doing this? I remembered that I used to mock a few of my classmates when I was in primary school. Why did I act that way? The solution was simple. I was immature back then.

After a while, the director and all the faculty of the school acknowledged my unpopularity. I met Mr. Thompson and narrated my repulsive experiences and injured emotions. Mr. Thompson mentioned to me the event of Bob Ewell spitting on Atticus Finch’s face in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and told me to just take out a handkerchief and wipe off the spit. Then I thought about the scene in the Christian Holy Bible where Jesus Christ was crucified. Lord Christ was able to endure the insults of thousands. My experience was only a speck of dust compared to the Messiah.

Now I am in tenth grade but the roots of darkness remained in my veins. Despite that, I enjoyed this school year the most. I still play the role as the unpopular one, so how did I find pleasure in this school year? There are two factors that made this school year better than the past two school years. First, interesting instructors and pleasant pupils became a part of the school. Second, I took hold of the Class One spirit, the term “optimism”.

[Huang Zee]

Escape from the Closet

Once upon a time, there was a young human and a stuffed bear. They lived peacefully in a room in an apartment building. The stuffed bear had light brown hair, black semi-circle eyes, and was about 50 centimeters tall. He always sat on the human’s desk until the desk was filled with books and piles of paper. One day the human decided to place him in the closet. The closet became the poor thing’s new shelter since that day.

Time passed as the Earth continued to rotate herself and orbit the sun. One night, when the human was asleep, the stuffed bear managed to release himself from the closet. He slowly opened the curtains in the room and gazed at the shining white moon. Surprisingly, the puny fellow started to grow taller and began to develop humanoid hands, arms, legs, and feet. He was now at least a meter higher than he used to be. Noticing his new appearance, he went to the opened closet and searched for attire. He equipped a pair of dark blue demon jeans he found in the closet. Next, he approached the coat hanger, grabbed a black jacket and wore it. He then opened a drawer in the room and found a pair of sunglasses, a wallet, a golden cross, a small gray chain, a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter. As expected, he thrust the wallet in his pocket, put on the sunglasses, donned the necklace, hung the chain on the left side of his waist, opened the pack of cigarettes, took out a cigarette and lit it. He sat on a chair and smoked for 10 minutes. Finally, he stood up and hurled the cigarette into an ashtray. He then saw a pair of sneakers lying on the floor and wore them. At last, he ambled to the door and opened it.

“Where are you going?” asked the human who just woke up.

“I’m just going to get some fresh air outside this building.” replied the stuffed bear as he left the room closing the door.

Outside on the streets, the life form strolled. He observed the buildings around him, the automobiles on the road, and the illuminating traffic lights. Impeded by traffic light that was shining red, he stood and waited. The life-given-being crossed the white striped path three seconds before the beam glow green.

Soon, the creature arrived at a convenient store. After a few seconds of viewing it, he entered the store passing through the door that automatically opens. He picked up several comic books from the book shelf in the corner. Next, he dropped the books on the counter, took out the wallet from his pocket, and purchased the books. He clinched the books and left the store the same way he entered.

After a few minutes of marching, the stuffed bear returned to the room he lived in.

“Welcome back, sir,” said the human, “What do you have there?” he inquired.

“I bought these interesting looking comic books. Let’s read them together.”

“Sure.”

And the duo was lost in the world of fantasies.

[Shadow122 the Hedgehog]

[Huang Zee]

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