It was a crisp Autumn morning in October; I was eight years old living in China with my family. Slowly and gently, I tried to get up from the warm, soft bed but I couldn't get up. I felt the heat in my body increased and saw the entire room was spinning in circles and that made me dizzy. I couldn't even open my eyes wide enough to see things. Before I could get help from my mom, I fell deep asleep. It left me to the darkness and the emptiness of the room. After a few days of resting, I enjoyed being sick because I hated school and I thought it as a doom for me to go to. I always feel uncomfortable around any students and especially teachers, because they made me feel uneasy and I was too shy to say anything to them.
When I got better from the sickness, I was ready to go back to school but something had changed my mind for staying home. My mom scrutinized me to see if the fever was gone, but before she could say anything I lied to her that I didn't feel so good. To my surprise she let me stay home. On the next day and the following days, I lied to her about not going to school. I felt lazy and naughty because whenever my mom told me to do something, I just continued playing with my toys without a reply. My mom knew something was fishy.
The next cruel day came; I was asleep when I heard whispers in my bedroom. I thought I was dreaming but when four strong hands were on me, I was wide awake and frightened that I screamed on top of my lungs! I was surprised to see my two uncles and my mom grabbing me. I was confused but they immediately dragged me to get up and down to the apartment stairs. I struggled to get free but they carried me tightly like a pig.
"Why are you guys doing this to me?"I yelled at them. "Where are you going to take me?"
"To school." My mom replied in a dry tone.
When she mentioned school, I could feel the grumblings of my stomach and thought I was going to the jail for not going to school. My stomach did a somersault and felt cold when a gentle zephyr blew past me. I couldn't stop crying and screaming.
We were at the empty street market, John, my younger uncle, was grabbing my legs and feet from kicking and Andrew, my other uncle, held my arms from hitting. I looked at my mom on my left with hate, I wanted to go home. My mom didn't look at me and at the very moment I felt pain and loneliness towards them. I didn't know what was right or wrong and all I knew was that they weren't listening to me. They all had sad and worried expressions but I didn't care, so I started to kick viciously and struggled to get free. Instead, they grabbed me even tighter. Crying, I felt tears forming in my eyes, making it harder to see. I cried out loudly that actually woke people up because someone had screamed at us from their windows. I grabbed onto my mom's silk, blue dress and ripped the sleeve. She was angry, but didn't respond and I was beginning to feel frustrated and annoyed.
"I want to walk by myself, put me down!" I yelled with all my might. I could even feel the sticky saliva spreading out of my mouth and felt the lips split.
When we finally approached to the school, I felt goosebumps forming on my arms. Andrew brought me in to the school; I cried even louder and couldn't control myself. I started to grab Andrew's dark, thick and short hair hard enough to put me down and bring me home, but he didn't turn back even though it did hurt him badly and tried to release my hand from grabbing his hair. He brought me into the four story building, we passed class by class and all the students including the teachers were looking at me with amazement from their windows. Angry and scared, I felt my stomach sink when we reached the classroom. By the moment we stood at the door, the classroom was in complete silence and all the curious faces and wide eyes were on me. My strict teacher walked towards me and I was stunned and shook a bit when she commanded me in her harsh voice, "Get down, Lizhu!" Right away I let go of my uncle's hair and got down on the ground. Standing there, shaking, and not knowing what she will do to me, I found myself frozen in the middle of the room. After what seemed like a year, I jumped when the teacher stretched her arm out and grabbed me to her desk. Before I realized what had happened, there was a welt on my left leg that was hit by a thick, wooden stick. I felt the great pain swell up on the leg like an icicle just struck through my heart and tears sliding down my dried skin cheeks. Some students held their breath when they saw the commotion of punishment and some were in awe. I was too shocked to move and I didn't know how to react except staring deeply at my teacher's disappointed eyes. She asked me what had bothered me for not wanting to come to school. I stood quietly for awhile then it struck me that I didn't even know how to answer it. After a moment of silence, I shook my head, I felt lost in the damp room where all eyes on me, trapped in the maze of confusion. Although the teacher hit me, she showed me the path of understanding life.
- Lizhu Chen
Freshman of Spring 2006
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