I AM IN DEVASTATION

Clothes lie everywhere. Books pile here and there. A girl stand on a bed, trying to do push ups. Which actually, look more like a seal desperately trying to get up. Afterwards, the girl sits on the bed. Her eyes are dull, as if she hasn’t slept yet (which is actually the case). She mumbles to herself, hugs a stuffie close to her chest, then signs. What a long, long day. She thought to herself.

That girl is me. Why I am locked in a room, trying to do boring stuff like push ups? Well, it all started on a boring Friday afternoon, such as yesterday…

I was walking down a perfectly painted street, with marbles perfectly shaped, round and shiny. But I am not happy. I kicked the a marble while looking down at my test with a shiny, scary 54%.

No,no,no. Mom is not going to be happy with this. Mom promised me that if I get a 90% on the test, I can get ten bucks to get Tomato, my grey cat, a new toy…

(Now,now, tomato. Don’t raise your fur like that. I know I am actually getting chocolate bars with the ten bucks. You don’t understand what is called an excuse.)

But now I only get a 54%. I failed! I cannot believe this! I studied so hard! Oh, dear, how am I going to persuade my mom to sign the test? How am I going to tell my mom about the score?

“Well, well,” A soft voice murmured, “your parents are not going to be satisfied.”

I jumped. Marie is smiling at me. Her wild hair is like a crown, set high above her head. I let out a breath.

“Oh, Marie. You scared me.” I replied, recovering from the shock.

Marie smiled mischievously. She put a finger on her lips. “You are my best friend. So I will only be telling you this.” She whispered  in my ear.

“Okay!” I murmured back.

Marie looked around, alerted. Then relaxed. “I heard about an old folktale around here,” she said. “It is believed that if a child is able to get an object out of his or her parents’ bedroom while they are sleeping in it, then the child will be able to get a wish, to let his or her mistakes be forgotten. My eyes widened.

“Really?” I breathed.

This is perfect! If I am able to get a thing out of my parents bedroom, I can be forgiven for my test! Then I won’t have to have a bad day! I will still get my allowance. Only…

“Marie?” I asked, raising my eyebrow,”are you sure this is true? Cause after all, it’s a folktale.”

She nodded. “ I am positive. My old friend Janie tried it. And she got the scholarship even though she got three c’s in her first term.”

I thought about it. If someone tried this tale, and succeeded. That means that the folktale might be true. What harms can it bring to try?

“Fair enough. I will try tonight.” I told Marie.

She patted me on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

“Farewell.”

Now, dairy, you might notice that I am not that smart. But in such a desperate case like mine, who can reject an opportunity like this one? So I test it out. And believe me, it was a really bad idea.

So I got home, opened the front door, put my sneakers away, and went to my room. But mom catch me.

“Hey, kiddo.” She said in a sing-song voice, “ how was your day?”

“Ummm...Good?” Maybe because I was nervous. My voice was trembling.

She raised an eyebrow (By the way, I am always jealous of people who can raise a single eyebrow). “Okkkay…..”

I can tell she was not convinced. Because her eyebrow is till hung high above her head.

“Well. I am going upstairs. A lot of homework!!” I bolted up the stairs, panting as closing the door. Phew, that was a close one.

I pulled out some coloured markers and a huge graph paper.

“Now, where should I start? So this should be the route… I can go this way. Tomato! Get your paws off the paper. Cinnamon(the brown cat)! Graph paper is not a bed! Get in your real bed!”

Now you can see why sometimes, I really don’t like my cats.

After the “cat fuss war 189.0”, tomato and cinnamon finally wriggled away and went back to their kingdom.

I drew and coloured, thought and doodled. Finally, the draft of the graph of “how to sneak into my parents’ room, aka the wisdom of sneaking” is done. Hmm. I thought, I do have wonderful drawing skills.

After a whole night waiting, and homework, the time has finally came to me.

“Lisa! Time to go to sleep!” My mom yelled at me.

“Okay!” I replied. I closed the light, snuck into my bed, and slept soundly, faking the snores.

After everything seemed to be settled down, I crept up. I blinked my eyes a couple off times to adjust them to the darkness around. Then, I slowly slipped into my slippers and opened the door, and went down the hallway, to my parents’ bedroom’s door.

I slowly opened the door with a tiny little creek, letting a little light in to guide my way.

What should I take? I asked myself.

Then I saw it. A brown pie, with the softest crust I have ever seen. Even in the moonlight, I am able to see a little bit of gold dust, on the soft, chewy top of the pie. The pie has a faint smell of caramel, sweet and yummy. This is it! I told myself. This is the object I am going to take. I crept up to the pie, tiptoed to reach the desk. I took a deep breath, and reached…

“Meww!” A loud cat purr filled my ears. I whipped around. Cinnamon. She must have came through the little creak I left open!

Before I can react, my mom’s voice ringed out.

 “What was that?”

 A light shined. I immediately covered my eyes to adjust to the light. My mom stared at me.

 “Lisa? What are you doing here?” It is still unclear to her what am I doing until she saw the pie in my hand.

 “Are you so desperately hungry you are trying to steal the pie, young lady?”

“No!” I wailed, “it’s because…”

So I explained to them, about my test grade;about the folktale; about everything.

My mom signed. “Oh, dear. You know we won’t blame you for only one bad test grade, right?”

I looked up with teary eyes. “You won’t?”

“Yes. And also, it’s not correct to take stuff without permissions. It’s practically stealing. Which is wrong.”

So that afternoon, I got a whole lesson about what is right and what is wrong; what I shouldn’t do. And I got a lesson about how folktales are not real…

Finally, my mom nodded. “I hope you get a lesson from that.”

‘Yep. I did.”

“Good girl.” She patted Cinnamon, who is avoiding my gaze. “ And you are a good cat.”

Even though Cinnamon did not do the wrong thing, I will not give positive or negative comments.

“Can I get my allowance, still?” I asked, smiling with exactly seven teeth.

Now, that was a bad question.

My mom put on her stern face. “No, young lady. You are having a time-out.”

“Oh dear.” There goes my chocolate bars.

So now you learned how I ended up locked in my room, and why I am so bored that I am beginning to do push-ups. However, I truly understand what I did wrong. And I know what I should learn from this experience. Here are my morals.

Morals of the experience from June 17, 2017

1)Don’t trust folk tales

2)One time bad grade is okay.

3) Taking things without permission is NOT OKAY AT ALL

4) Cats are not cooperative with their owners.

Don’t look at me with that poor eye, Cinnamon. I still love you. It’s just that I will make a mental note that I should beware of you.