Saturday morning
I was going to make myself some tea on Saturday morning. I wasn't going to eat anything because I knew I was going to go out for lunch. I went to the kitchen to boil some water.
I was waiting in my kitchen so I walked to the window to look out of the window.
I saw three men at the carpark looking up at something in unison, like they were looking at someone on the 10th floor.
I assumed they were contractors or doing something related and just looking at the building. I decided it was unimportant so I paid no attention to them or what they were looking at.
Then I saw my neighbour walking in the carpark. This guy around my age. I've seen him for years. I recognize his face. I had taken the lift with him the day before.
He was walking, and then he stopped dead in his tracks.
And my eyes scanned the entire carpark downstairs.
Towards the right, I saw a dead man. Face down. Body on the pavement, head on the grass patch. Blood around his head.
"FUCK!"
"WHAT?": My mother
"SOMEONE DIED"
Mum and the maid both came. Then grandma. Then finally papa who realized there was a racket going on.
"WHAT HAPPENED?"
"THERE'S A DEAD MAN"
Within minutes the cops came and put a sheet over him. I suppose I was the first one in my family who 'discovered' his body, and very early too.
I suppose the three men were trying to figure out where the body 'fell' from or jumped from.
Then I had to go out, so I did. Life goes on.
I walked out to take a bus to go to Kevin's house.
I went by the supermarket and saw that dumb chinese new year roadshows were going on. There was a kid (maybe younger than me) dressed in an ugly 财神 outfit. He was with a couple of younger teens. Holiday or part-time job, I suppose. They looked so stupid. I wanted to tell them that someone just died and his body is still below my block and they should get out of that dumb costume.
I got on the bus. In the traffic I noticed that there were two men who had gotten out of their cars and were fighting with each other about something. I wanted to tell them that someone just died today. Move along, that shit doesn't matter.
And then finally it was just me, and I could feel tears coming to my eyes. I felt crushed about the death. Maybe it was suicide, or maybe it was an accidental death. I felt really sad for his family. Their whole world has been turned upside down.
Then I came home at night after everything was over and noticed that the area where he landed had been cleaned. People who never know, will never know someone died there. Jia asked papa "why don't you park there? There's a lot!". Papa intentionally parked further away because that was the spot that a dead man lay just hours earlier.
These days when I walk to the MRT station or around in general, I can't help thinking that a body might fall in front of me, or that a car might just come by too quickly and smash our bodies.
Life is too fragile.
And I wish I could meet his family and tell them that I love them.
I was waiting in my kitchen so I walked to the window to look out of the window.
I saw three men at the carpark looking up at something in unison, like they were looking at someone on the 10th floor.
I assumed they were contractors or doing something related and just looking at the building. I decided it was unimportant so I paid no attention to them or what they were looking at.
Then I saw my neighbour walking in the carpark. This guy around my age. I've seen him for years. I recognize his face. I had taken the lift with him the day before.
He was walking, and then he stopped dead in his tracks.
And my eyes scanned the entire carpark downstairs.
Towards the right, I saw a dead man. Face down. Body on the pavement, head on the grass patch. Blood around his head.
"FUCK!"
"WHAT?": My mother
"SOMEONE DIED"
Mum and the maid both came. Then grandma. Then finally papa who realized there was a racket going on.
"WHAT HAPPENED?"
"THERE'S A DEAD MAN"
Within minutes the cops came and put a sheet over him. I suppose I was the first one in my family who 'discovered' his body, and very early too.
I suppose the three men were trying to figure out where the body 'fell' from or jumped from.
Then I had to go out, so I did. Life goes on.
I walked out to take a bus to go to Kevin's house.
I went by the supermarket and saw that dumb chinese new year roadshows were going on. There was a kid (maybe younger than me) dressed in an ugly 财神 outfit. He was with a couple of younger teens. Holiday or part-time job, I suppose. They looked so stupid. I wanted to tell them that someone just died and his body is still below my block and they should get out of that dumb costume.
I got on the bus. In the traffic I noticed that there were two men who had gotten out of their cars and were fighting with each other about something. I wanted to tell them that someone just died today. Move along, that shit doesn't matter.
And then finally it was just me, and I could feel tears coming to my eyes. I felt crushed about the death. Maybe it was suicide, or maybe it was an accidental death. I felt really sad for his family. Their whole world has been turned upside down.
Then I came home at night after everything was over and noticed that the area where he landed had been cleaned. People who never know, will never know someone died there. Jia asked papa "why don't you park there? There's a lot!". Papa intentionally parked further away because that was the spot that a dead man lay just hours earlier.
These days when I walk to the MRT station or around in general, I can't help thinking that a body might fall in front of me, or that a car might just come by too quickly and smash our bodies.
Life is too fragile.
And I wish I could meet his family and tell them that I love them.