I am once again sitting in this tiny room. I don’t normally do that, unless there’s something really important or interesting I wanted to write about, without any disruption or interruption. The room was in the basement and the only sources of light came from a small table lamp that was placed on the edge of the table where I sat at and from the dim ceiling bulb which hanged from it through a thick wire. The surroundings were dull except for the small area around the table. I pressed the button on the table fan on the table as it was getting warm.
I can’t believe I met her again, after all these years. It was unreal. The past memories came back as if it just happened yesterday. I felt that I should write about our past’s memories, experience before I completely forget about it. My memories weren’t as vivid as it used to be. They were somewhat shading away. I opened the top drawer on the right hand side of the table. I took out an old dust covered book and wiped it with my palm, cleaning the book from the dust that enveloped it. Thick layer of dusts could be visibly seen as I rubbed the book. It was an old book that I had originally used for drawing when I was much younger. And when I got a little older I started writing in it and I am still using the same book to write about the things I want to. I wiped the dust on my palm on to my jeans.
Now, where do I start? The pages on the book flipped due to the breeze coming from the fan on the table. Her name was Melissa and she was physically normal, she wasn’t particularly good looking neither was she ugly. However, she was blessed with a good heart, as I would like to believe so. She was still in her teens and had just finished her high school examination days and due to her good results from her final examination her parents were suggesting her to go study abroad. They told her that they’ve heard that the quality of education and its certificates are highly recognizable and it would greatly be to her benefits in the future. Plus they could boast about their daughter studying abroad and be on par with their other relatives, hence giving others the impression that a bright future has already been established (of course they didn’t say this out loud, it was more like an indirect message).
Melissa, being the nice, decent girl decided that it was her obligation to do as what her parents wished for, since they seemed to be quite excited. So the application was granted and it was no longer a dream that she was going to spend the next few years in a foreign country. Her parents were thrilled by the news they received and Melissa was happy for them. She however wasn’t really as enthusiastic as her parents were, after all she was about to leave the only place she had knew and had to start over and be totally independent, in some foreign land.
On the other hand, she was quite thrilled that she had the chance to leave this place, people and go out and spread her wings. Somewhat growing up here and mixing with the people was rather boring. She was actually glad to experience something new. She was bored and tired of the people around her judging her from her every actions and movement and sometimes by her parents pressuring her to rise to their expectations.
A few weeks passed by and everything went accordingly and she was now looking at a completely fresh place with almost everything different than before. The weather was strangely different from what she was used to and somewhat too cold. She used to think that she liked cold weathers, but was already having second thoughts about that. She missed her parents a bit, but not too much. She knew that this wasn’t the time for that. With that she started to walk forward more briskly and confidently.
She was now, full of anticipation. She went to the places where she was suppose to attend and register and filled in forms and sorts. It wasn’t much of a hassle seeing that they were able to communicate smoothly and the people seemed friendly enough. After having that done, she went to a cheap hotel to stay the night. After washing up and resting a bit. She started walking around, looking at the new place and at the same time looking for a proper accommodation. It wasn’t difficult to get a rented room and a couple of days later, there she was moving into her new home, which looked formidable yet cheap and would look better after some cleaning up and a little decoration.
She settled down and class began. She met new people and even managed to find a roommate in the process. Things were getting along fine with Melissa. She was much happier than she thought she would be, before she came. She liked the new environment and the differences of people and places.
Everything seemed at the moment going smoothly until one day her parents called and explained to her that they found out that something went wrong with her loan application and that she wouldn’t receive any immediate financial help for the time being. Her parents promised to send over some money as soon as possible. She placed the phone receiver back at its place and was scared. She was about to panic, he roommate was able to see that something was obviously wrong with Melissa. She decided to talk to her. Emma was her name, the roommate. She listened to what Melissa said and exclaimed that most of them don’t apply for loans instead they work to finance their own education. It is normal to work to pay for your college fee, she added.
Melissa, now convinced by what Emma said decided not to dread about it and get a job to finance her studies and the fact that she didn’t have any choices motivated her a lot. It wasn’t really a big deal since almost all the youngsters there funded their own studies by working part time, she thought. If they could do it, so can she. And it would be more meaningful to pay one’s own tuition fee by working for it. Finding a job was easy as some of the places badly needed workers. The next day she called home and explained that she wouldn’t need the loan or their help and that she would manage just fine.
She now, didn’t really have time for other things. She had to study in the day; work in the afternoon and at night finish up her assignments and her daily chores. Emma too had a job and was as busy as Melissa was. They enjoyed each other company immensely and helped each other a lot. Melissa even started to enjoy her job. She worked in a fast food chain restaurant which sells fried chicken. And had chicken for dinner on a regular basis, most of the time with her roommate and friend Emma.
And whenever Melissa needed any help with her assignments or anything at all Emma was there for her. Emma often gave advices to Melissa one that she clearly remembered although it sounded quite weird, ‘to distrust her human emotions because, in the end, feelings always make you unhappy’. She didn’t quite get it at first but upon playing it in her head for several times found that it was a useful advice.
Melissa and Emma had many things in common; one example was that they despised the way people looked at things, stereotypes, and judgmental pricks. The way people look at their outer appearance and judge others before learning or getting to know them. But what they hated most was they too were the same, it isn’t easy not to be judgmental and treat everyone with equal respect. At the end they concluded that it was something that can’t be helped by regular people.
At times Melissa would get really stress out from college and at work. She was most of the time too busy to be thinking about things. But when she occasionally had time for herself and didn’t do anything with it she’d feel lonely and insignificant.
Recently she found a new friend. He was the guard man at her college. His name was Ethan and he was reaching 70 years old of age. He was a pleasant old man. She became fond of him and every time she had the time and opportunity to have a little chat with him, she’d be happy to talk to him. They would mostly just talk about college stuffs and occasionally sports, since the old man Ethan was fond of it. She pitied him, seeing that he was old and still had to work and worst of all he had to deal with people younger and be treated with insufficient respect. She had thought about it, how bad it is to work at that age and sometimes seeing the looks on people’s faces staring at Ethan was dreary. She wanted to help him in anyway possible but seeing that she couldn’t really do anything to get him out of the situation and having her own self to take care of and problems to deal with. She couldn’t really do anything about it.
She also made friends with a cleaner at the place she works at. Both of them the guard and the cleaner didn’t show any sort of disappointment/ sadness or dissatisfactory and that somewhat bothered her. One of the cleaners who worked there who were on talking terms with Melissa went by the name Joe. Melissa got to know that Joe was a father of two and had to work everyday and at several other places to support his family. She would see him everyday when he comes to clean the toilets and the premise. He was a hardworking fellow and he seemed to have accepted his life and its way of life. She respected him for that. Since his work wasn’t all that respected but, he was still making an honest living.
Melissa however became curios about why some people had to live their lives through sufferings and hard work. And on the other side of world, there were people who got it all easy and what makes it worse is that when they pretend as if they really worked hard for what they have achieved, when it was all given to them, the path, the opportunities all lay in front of them. All they ever had to do was to just take it, just like her (Melissa).
Emma would then disagree with her and point out her opinion. One day when she thought that Melissa was thinking too much and overanalyzing things, Emma decided to put an end to it. Think about it this way, she said, ‘you can’t be sure of things that you see and you can’t do anything to change the world from working the way it does. There have to be people who are suffering and striving. That makes the world in proportion, can you imagine a world where everyone is happy and successful.’ she questioned, and before Melissa could answer she said, that would be paradise, my dear.
Emma also added that the only thing that proves my existence is that, I think, therefore I exist. But I can’t be sure of the other things that occur around me. And to be complaining and being dissatisfied about things is like, “falling into the spear”. ‘It is also said that complaining destroys patience and that complaining is like a direct request for sympathy. So you might not want to complain too often’.
Melissa said, ‘but, talking about it and how to solve it does not count as complaining, right?’ Emma replied, ‘I don’t know, it depends on how you look at it. Almost everything depends on the individual themselves and the things they believe in.’
And so whenever Melissa had something on her mind or something she disagreed on, Emma would clear her thoughts and calm her down.
Melissa continued her life in routine and continued her life diligently and with determination. After a few years she graduated and obtained the high quality certificate her parents dreamt of and went back to her home land.
to be continued.
Halted Adventure
I can’t believe it turned out to be just another day of “eating frenzy” I was hoping for something more. It was my fault to begin with, but it was nonetheless nice and I have no complains at all, except for the fact that I forgot to ‘salam’ (pay respect?) with the family members including my parents. I completely forgot about it, yeah I know it’s hard to believe but my family is already dysfunctional. It was already less eventful to begin with. But then again I really was oblivious about it; most of my time was spent outside the house and when I was at home I’d be sleeping. I only realized about it in the evenings and at that time, I somewhat thought that ill just let it slip away and it was probably too late, hence I let it slip away. I sure hope that the family members won’t notice/remember it.
A few days passed by, and I noticed that I was already starting to expand due to the excessive eating’s, sometimes I just eat to remind myself that I wasn’t fasting anymore and could eat whenever I felt like it. It was a Tuesday; a friend called in the afternoon saying that they were going out to a friend’s house in Kuala Kubu which is situated far away from where we live. I readily agreed. I was excited of the thought of going on a long drive and to go to a kampung. I got prepared and as usual waited for quite some time for my friend to come and pick me up. When he arrived, we went to a friend’s house which was kinda like the ‘meeting place’ where everyone was supposed to meet.
We were the last ones to reach there and the guys were set to depart. There were six of us and so we decided to go in one car. It was an SUV and was supposedly supposed to be comfortable. It was, comfortable, but only to a certain extend. The seats at the farthest back were dreadful. The seats couldn’t be slanted back or adjusted in any way hence causing extreme discomfort. I might by stating this, risk sounding spoiled and whinny but believe me, it was terrible. I and one other unlucky friend had the privilege to sit there. What made it worse was that it was more sensitive. The slight bumps and curves on the road felt like riding on huge mountainous waves? (It was uncomfortable).We were experiencing headaches and stomach cramps.
After almost two whole hours of dreadfulness and now, dizziness we finally reached destination. I was really relieved that the ride ended. It wasn’t nearly the joy trip that I had expected. The Kampung air was nice but soon enough, overflowed with cigarette smokes. I saw my friends who smoked, light up their ciggies and somewhat looking at them I was convinced that it had to give them some sort of fulfilling sensation, judging by the look on their faces while smoking it. We went in, and this time I didn’t forget to ‘salam’ the parents of my friend and then found our seats. Some of the guys who were already acquainted went to the T.V room and browsed through the channels. We were served with chocolate cakes and some drinks. The cake was superb.
A few minutes later we went to the dinning table and stuffed ourselves up with more food. When we were done stuffing ourselves up, as usual the smokers went out for a smoke while the rest went into the T.V room and started playing winning 11 (5) on the PS console, so much for being at a Kampung. Nevertheless, it was entertaining and challenging as usual and the risk of getting into a fight was quite high seeing that most of the guys lose their cool rather easily.
After an hour or so of competing and cussing each other out and feeling rather worn out, we decided that it was time to return home. We said our thank you and headed outside. This time I and the friend who sat at the farthest back sat in the middle while the guys who sat in the middle before us, had no other choice.
The trip back was nicer and oddly shorter. We reached home sooner than expected. It wasn’t really far away but coming back home seeing the huge buildings, feeling the dust polluted air, and unfinished roads was a pleasant feeling, simply because it was home. We stopped at the ‘meeting place’. It was past midnight now, some had to go back while the rest who didn’t want to go home decided to go for a drink instead.
At the café, we found a good spot but didn’t really talk as much due to the weariness, I am guessing. Our times were spent looking around pointlessly and enjoying the cool weather and occasionally coming up with uncalled stupid jokes.
The guys who left for home were starting to come back and we once again felt hungry and decided to order for food. A few minutes later, the food arrived and we were about to dig in, a friends phone rang and he picked it up. We didn’t pay any attention to it and was about to help ourselves out with the food. He then stood up and said that the friend who was supposed to join us spotted some suspicious guys outside his house believed to be robbers.
The place we lived in was filled with criminal activities and was known for its dangerous-ness. Almost every family had their own share of experience of being a victim or at least seen someone get mugged. And anyone who walked alone in the middle of the night would almost certainly get mugged. Criminal cases were normal and I guess some of us, grew into it. I had a few friends who occasionally bragged about beating up bad guys that they caught, despite their own criminal doings. Even the police joined in and they too seemed to have their share of fun.
It was different this time though, it was much serious, and this time we might be dealing with really dangerous people. There were 5 of us. Three of us ran to the car while the other two was supposedly supposed to look after and guard the food. It wasn’t really far away, the friend’s house, and had been the target of robbers before: he had a car stolen before this. I guess those are one of the consequences of being rich, being the target of people in badly need of quick money.
We reached there in a matter of minutes. I was, just like my friends excited. We get to beat the hell out of someone and still get the glory. A phone rang again and during the brief conversation I heard that there were actually 4 of them and he said that they were Indians. That turned down my feeling of excitement. I was feeling nervous and scared now. I was imagining 4 Indian dudes with parang’s in their hands, grinning at us now.
Before we got down off the car, we searched for weapons that might be helpful. We only found 2, to be exact. One was a steering lock and the other was a broken umbrella. I got the umbrella. The other guy who didn’t get any weapon to attack or to protect himself with, was supposed to drive the car to the front side of the house to ‘ambush’ the robbers and using the car as his weapon, try to knock down the robbers by hitting them. That is, if things go according to plan.
As soon as we got out, to my surprise there was another car that stopped directly behind us. It was the police. Never before, I felt so happy seeing them. The friend whose house had been targeted must’ve called them. Two of them stepped out of the car with machine guns; MP5’s to be exact (thanks counterstrike). They looked so cool, then. I jogged into the tiny, pitched black alley surrounded by bushes led by my friend and followed by the cops. Here was when I started to once again lose my respect to the cops and I didn’t feel so secure anymore. My friend turned back and rudely said to the police, “seorang pergi kat depan arr, apsal semua nak ikut belakang!” one of the policemen replied, “okay-okay”, and when back into the car, which headed to the front. The policemen looked nervous too. They were human after all.
We now walked briskly yet, trying to refrain from making any noise. I walked side by side with my friend now and we came to a halt. I saw a man standing straight ahead holding a metal object looking at us. I grasped the umbrella in my hand tighter. We continued walking ahead, my heart started to beat faster and I was pretty much determined to charge forward.
I hadn’t been into a fight for a long time already and it somewhat felt strange. I remembered the last time I got into one, which wasn’t even my fight, it never was. I was trying to help my “nice friends” out from one. I succeeded in doing so but ended up being the one fighting against 15 or so other so called “gangsters” and my “nice friends” all of the lot, just stood there helplessly. My closest friend didn’t come to help till the very last moment. I didn’t really blame or cared much about the incident though, saying to myself that it was just not their way of settling things. Come to think about it, most of my so called nice friends wont even bother helping me out if I was the one facing the actual situation, they were too concerned for their own safety and I guess wouldn’t want anything to ruin their bright future.
But this time, I was trying to protect a friend and perhaps his family too. I tried to convince myself. However, I started thinking he wouldn’t really care about my intentions; he would just assume that I’d like to get into brawls and that would be the end of it. This is weird but, after it all ended I couldn’t help but thinking about the Indian dudes (the robbers) as well. All their lives they were cussed and looked down to. Some even looked at them as criminals even before they became actual criminals. And they didn’t get a chance for a proper guidance or a proper upbringing. And now, they were just meeting the public expectation. Weren’t they actually fulfilling their promised/destined life?
I brushed the thoughts off of me. This wasn’t the time for that. The man who stood across us now pointed the metal object at us and light came out through it. It was a damn torch light. Later, we found out that he was one of the neighbors. A very lonely man, I would like to add. We got closer to him and he started talking endlessly and even started reminiscing about his past experiences. We weren’t nearly in the mood to make new friends. I just nodded to what he said and so did the friend. I walked past the old man to look around for the robber.
The old man handed me the long metal torch as if handing down a burden. I took it and we began to search the drains. My “brave” (idiot) friend went to the extend of climbing down the drain to look for occupants in it. Luckily enough there was no one in there. I helped him out the sewage and we started walking up the black, back alley with the help of the torch, now in the friends hand. We thought that, there could be the possibility of the culprit still hiding nearby. So we looked around nervously, we tried to be as discreet as possible. We walked past houses looking through its fences and expecting someone to pop out all of a sudden, out of the blue. It almost felt like in the movies just more vividly real. After almost reaching the end of the alley, we decided that the culprit was already gone and that the show was over.
We walked to the front and were met by a crowd of people including the house owner, the guard and some other old dudes, who looked pretty much calm. They talked as usual and acted normal. It was over; I now realized that the friends who were supposed to guard the food were with us now. I guess they didn’t want to be missing out in the action. We got back in the car and returned to the café. The drive back was silent; one of the friends broke the silence by jokingly saying that he passed the responsibility of guarding the food to a waiter there. We returned and were glad to see the plates and drinks still on the table. It was uncared of and was already cold. Nevertheless, we finished it up in a few minutes.
I was glad that it was all over, but for some odd reason I felt disappointed too. The robbers might’ve known that they were spotted and must’ve fled even before we arrived. In the end it was all futile. No one did talk about the incident ever since, even at the cafe. I guess it was nothing much to think about. I returned home tired and it was the end of another day.
A few days passed by, and I noticed that I was already starting to expand due to the excessive eating’s, sometimes I just eat to remind myself that I wasn’t fasting anymore and could eat whenever I felt like it. It was a Tuesday; a friend called in the afternoon saying that they were going out to a friend’s house in Kuala Kubu which is situated far away from where we live. I readily agreed. I was excited of the thought of going on a long drive and to go to a kampung. I got prepared and as usual waited for quite some time for my friend to come and pick me up. When he arrived, we went to a friend’s house which was kinda like the ‘meeting place’ where everyone was supposed to meet.
We were the last ones to reach there and the guys were set to depart. There were six of us and so we decided to go in one car. It was an SUV and was supposedly supposed to be comfortable. It was, comfortable, but only to a certain extend. The seats at the farthest back were dreadful. The seats couldn’t be slanted back or adjusted in any way hence causing extreme discomfort. I might by stating this, risk sounding spoiled and whinny but believe me, it was terrible. I and one other unlucky friend had the privilege to sit there. What made it worse was that it was more sensitive. The slight bumps and curves on the road felt like riding on huge mountainous waves? (It was uncomfortable).We were experiencing headaches and stomach cramps.
After almost two whole hours of dreadfulness and now, dizziness we finally reached destination. I was really relieved that the ride ended. It wasn’t nearly the joy trip that I had expected. The Kampung air was nice but soon enough, overflowed with cigarette smokes. I saw my friends who smoked, light up their ciggies and somewhat looking at them I was convinced that it had to give them some sort of fulfilling sensation, judging by the look on their faces while smoking it. We went in, and this time I didn’t forget to ‘salam’ the parents of my friend and then found our seats. Some of the guys who were already acquainted went to the T.V room and browsed through the channels. We were served with chocolate cakes and some drinks. The cake was superb.
A few minutes later we went to the dinning table and stuffed ourselves up with more food. When we were done stuffing ourselves up, as usual the smokers went out for a smoke while the rest went into the T.V room and started playing winning 11 (5) on the PS console, so much for being at a Kampung. Nevertheless, it was entertaining and challenging as usual and the risk of getting into a fight was quite high seeing that most of the guys lose their cool rather easily.
After an hour or so of competing and cussing each other out and feeling rather worn out, we decided that it was time to return home. We said our thank you and headed outside. This time I and the friend who sat at the farthest back sat in the middle while the guys who sat in the middle before us, had no other choice.
The trip back was nicer and oddly shorter. We reached home sooner than expected. It wasn’t really far away but coming back home seeing the huge buildings, feeling the dust polluted air, and unfinished roads was a pleasant feeling, simply because it was home. We stopped at the ‘meeting place’. It was past midnight now, some had to go back while the rest who didn’t want to go home decided to go for a drink instead.
At the café, we found a good spot but didn’t really talk as much due to the weariness, I am guessing. Our times were spent looking around pointlessly and enjoying the cool weather and occasionally coming up with uncalled stupid jokes.
The guys who left for home were starting to come back and we once again felt hungry and decided to order for food. A few minutes later, the food arrived and we were about to dig in, a friends phone rang and he picked it up. We didn’t pay any attention to it and was about to help ourselves out with the food. He then stood up and said that the friend who was supposed to join us spotted some suspicious guys outside his house believed to be robbers.
The place we lived in was filled with criminal activities and was known for its dangerous-ness. Almost every family had their own share of experience of being a victim or at least seen someone get mugged. And anyone who walked alone in the middle of the night would almost certainly get mugged. Criminal cases were normal and I guess some of us, grew into it. I had a few friends who occasionally bragged about beating up bad guys that they caught, despite their own criminal doings. Even the police joined in and they too seemed to have their share of fun.
It was different this time though, it was much serious, and this time we might be dealing with really dangerous people. There were 5 of us. Three of us ran to the car while the other two was supposedly supposed to look after and guard the food. It wasn’t really far away, the friend’s house, and had been the target of robbers before: he had a car stolen before this. I guess those are one of the consequences of being rich, being the target of people in badly need of quick money.
We reached there in a matter of minutes. I was, just like my friends excited. We get to beat the hell out of someone and still get the glory. A phone rang again and during the brief conversation I heard that there were actually 4 of them and he said that they were Indians. That turned down my feeling of excitement. I was feeling nervous and scared now. I was imagining 4 Indian dudes with parang’s in their hands, grinning at us now.
Before we got down off the car, we searched for weapons that might be helpful. We only found 2, to be exact. One was a steering lock and the other was a broken umbrella. I got the umbrella. The other guy who didn’t get any weapon to attack or to protect himself with, was supposed to drive the car to the front side of the house to ‘ambush’ the robbers and using the car as his weapon, try to knock down the robbers by hitting them. That is, if things go according to plan.
As soon as we got out, to my surprise there was another car that stopped directly behind us. It was the police. Never before, I felt so happy seeing them. The friend whose house had been targeted must’ve called them. Two of them stepped out of the car with machine guns; MP5’s to be exact (thanks counterstrike). They looked so cool, then. I jogged into the tiny, pitched black alley surrounded by bushes led by my friend and followed by the cops. Here was when I started to once again lose my respect to the cops and I didn’t feel so secure anymore. My friend turned back and rudely said to the police, “seorang pergi kat depan arr, apsal semua nak ikut belakang!” one of the policemen replied, “okay-okay”, and when back into the car, which headed to the front. The policemen looked nervous too. They were human after all.
We now walked briskly yet, trying to refrain from making any noise. I walked side by side with my friend now and we came to a halt. I saw a man standing straight ahead holding a metal object looking at us. I grasped the umbrella in my hand tighter. We continued walking ahead, my heart started to beat faster and I was pretty much determined to charge forward.
I hadn’t been into a fight for a long time already and it somewhat felt strange. I remembered the last time I got into one, which wasn’t even my fight, it never was. I was trying to help my “nice friends” out from one. I succeeded in doing so but ended up being the one fighting against 15 or so other so called “gangsters” and my “nice friends” all of the lot, just stood there helplessly. My closest friend didn’t come to help till the very last moment. I didn’t really blame or cared much about the incident though, saying to myself that it was just not their way of settling things. Come to think about it, most of my so called nice friends wont even bother helping me out if I was the one facing the actual situation, they were too concerned for their own safety and I guess wouldn’t want anything to ruin their bright future.
But this time, I was trying to protect a friend and perhaps his family too. I tried to convince myself. However, I started thinking he wouldn’t really care about my intentions; he would just assume that I’d like to get into brawls and that would be the end of it. This is weird but, after it all ended I couldn’t help but thinking about the Indian dudes (the robbers) as well. All their lives they were cussed and looked down to. Some even looked at them as criminals even before they became actual criminals. And they didn’t get a chance for a proper guidance or a proper upbringing. And now, they were just meeting the public expectation. Weren’t they actually fulfilling their promised/destined life?
I brushed the thoughts off of me. This wasn’t the time for that. The man who stood across us now pointed the metal object at us and light came out through it. It was a damn torch light. Later, we found out that he was one of the neighbors. A very lonely man, I would like to add. We got closer to him and he started talking endlessly and even started reminiscing about his past experiences. We weren’t nearly in the mood to make new friends. I just nodded to what he said and so did the friend. I walked past the old man to look around for the robber.
The old man handed me the long metal torch as if handing down a burden. I took it and we began to search the drains. My “brave” (idiot) friend went to the extend of climbing down the drain to look for occupants in it. Luckily enough there was no one in there. I helped him out the sewage and we started walking up the black, back alley with the help of the torch, now in the friends hand. We thought that, there could be the possibility of the culprit still hiding nearby. So we looked around nervously, we tried to be as discreet as possible. We walked past houses looking through its fences and expecting someone to pop out all of a sudden, out of the blue. It almost felt like in the movies just more vividly real. After almost reaching the end of the alley, we decided that the culprit was already gone and that the show was over.
We walked to the front and were met by a crowd of people including the house owner, the guard and some other old dudes, who looked pretty much calm. They talked as usual and acted normal. It was over; I now realized that the friends who were supposed to guard the food were with us now. I guess they didn’t want to be missing out in the action. We got back in the car and returned to the café. The drive back was silent; one of the friends broke the silence by jokingly saying that he passed the responsibility of guarding the food to a waiter there. We returned and were glad to see the plates and drinks still on the table. It was uncared of and was already cold. Nevertheless, we finished it up in a few minutes.
I was glad that it was all over, but for some odd reason I felt disappointed too. The robbers might’ve known that they were spotted and must’ve fled even before we arrived. In the end it was all futile. No one did talk about the incident ever since, even at the cafe. I guess it was nothing much to think about. I returned home tired and it was the end of another day.
