Just A Drop Of Water, Rin Tan Qian Yong [learn to read books txt] 📗

Dark clouds rolled in the gray skies, the people look up, not knowing how to react. They should cheer, for it had not rained for months but then, they should not, for even when it rains, it is acidic water. The raindrops splatter on my windows and I could see a flash of lightning somewhere. I flinched at the loud rumble of the thunder before picking up my school bag and grabbing a large and thick umbrella forcefully. Umbrellas that were used before were useless now that the only thing that comes down from the skies are acidic water and holes were very possible to appear on the umbrellas that were used before due to the acid. I walked to school carefully, not wanting to slip and fall into the puddles of water made up by acid.

I walked through the rusty school gates and into the crowded school hall and spotted my friend, Preal. “What’s all the commotion about?” I asked her. “Well, it seems that the government is providing each of us with a bottle of water today for free!” She answered cheerfully. My eyes lighted up as I heard the news and I replied simply, “That’s really nice.” We then lined up in a row as the principal, Mrs. Chlon, gave a bottle of water to each student cautiously. Water was very precious nowadays and nobody wanted to waste even a drop of it. I cupped my hands around the bottle of water when it was given to me and hugged it protectively to my chest.

In the afternoon, during lunch, I walked towards the classroom. As I pushed open the wooden toilet door, I screamed aloud, unable to keep it in. There, lying on the dirty washroom floor was my classmate, Treval Caspen, whose head had a continuous flow of blood. I stood rooted to the ground, shocked, and I felt a something damp roll down my cheeks as I wiped what seemed to be like a tear of fear away from my face. I instantly turned my head around when I heard a screech as the toilet door opened and Preal walked through the toilet entrance. “What’s wrong, why are you cr-” She stopped as abruptly as she began when she saw Treval on the floor. She ran out of the washroom almost immediately. I heard the door slam shut behind me, followed by her cries for a passing teacher’s help. Then, the door opened suddenly and our Science teacher, Mdm. Losgne, entered hurriedly. “What is it?” She asked. Well, I was sure she could see it for herself but I still answered her question in the chaos. “T-Treval, Treval is… She… she’s not, right?” I asked as the truth hit me hard. She was dead. Mdm. Losgne squatted down and placed her right palm over Treval’s nose before shaking her head dejectedly. “She’s gone.” The Science teacher softly whispered. The tears that were threatening to come out of my eyes rushed out when I hear those words. “Don’t cry.” The sobbing teacher said, more like to herself than to Preal or me. “You’ll lose the water in your body and if you cry too much, you’ll get dehydration, so don’t cry.”
The next few days, the entire school was solemn, no one cried in joy when they heard the news, not even the few notorious troublemakers from the school. The doctors that checked on her body said she had leukemia and that the loss of blood and large amount of bruises from constant falls was what led to her unfortunate accident.

“Eat, my dear.” My mother said soothingly when I was at home and it was time to eat. “Please eat.” She begged. “If you don’t eat, you’ll fall ill. Please, at least eat a spoon of rice or two.” Then, she raised the spoon of rice and inserted it into my mouth. “But she’s dead mother, I was the first person who saw her dead.” My voice cracked into what sounded like a low whisper as I felt fresh tears roll down my cheeks. “I know, honey. But it’s all right, it’s not your fault, you didn’t cause any of this.” She tried to assure me in a gentle voice. Even without her saying so, I knew I wasn’t at fault, I didn’t do anything wrong. But I still remembered her body posture as she lay on the floor, twisted in pain. As if she had been rolling on the ground in agony just before I entered the toilet. And I felt guilty that I could have prevented this from happening if only I had gone to the washroom earlier.

First March, then April, then May. All these few months have passed since I had found Treval dead in the washroom. The guilt and regret of which when I first found her in the washroom dead had slowly disappeared. It was June now, the 14th day of June and just 15 days away from my birthday. It was only natural to have my feelings recovered after such a long time and be excited about the presents I would receive. The present I wanted to receive the most was water. Right now, in these days, phones, computers and those cool gadgets that were popular before were only for the rich. For only they have enough money for water, which was currently most expensive around the world, and can still spare money for the gadgets. The poor were always green with envy when the richer students bring out their phones and cameras. Most of the poor hated the rich students, like a friend of mine named Clisten. We hate them as the rich students held their heads up high wherever they went. They would look down on the poor and make friends only with the other wealthy pupils. I was half-half, not that rich but not poor at all either. I was okay with the wealthy pupils since I had a phone, though it was a rather old one, but I don’t really hang out with them as they were way too cocky for my tastes.

Kilan walked from the crowded school canteen and into the deserted school field. The sun was shining hard on his face as wet drops of sweat rolled down his face. Kilan inhaled deeply, he had not tried any of the sports this school had offered a few decades back. There were sports like swimming, basketball, soccer and all the others that his parents had told him about. He had invited some of his wealthy friends for a game of soccer just a week ago but they turned him down, saying that their parents allowed no such waste of water since they would be perspiring. Then, a rustle of the bushes behind him awoke him from his deep train of thoughts. Kilan whipped around instinctively, nobody other than him should be on this grounds, he had been here for the past few weeks consistently and he had seen no one on the field other than the occasional patrolling teachers and surely teachers don’t jump out