Confessions of a Broken Marionette-Prologue

I climbed the last few steps and heaved a sigh. The huge twin watch towers were in sight, facing each other like two entwined brothers who were so close and yet so far. Complimented with dark green metallic roofs that reminded me of Peter Pan’s cap, they were painted in brownish-maroon, which were the same colour as that old easy-to-learn Malay guidebook that sat in my bookshelf.

It technically doesn’t belong to me and I never really have a use for it. One good thing about being multilingual is that it’s a gift that provides you the leverage to communicate and interact better with people. Although, it can be a curse, because you understand everything, even the bad stuff they speak behind your back even though you try to ignore them.

My friend Qiang was ahead of me, so I quickly caught up with him, walking around the foundation base of the watch tower and trudged on higher ground to gain leverage to get on it. Before long, we were sitting down on the stairs of the tower, catching our breath and chugging down our bottles of water that tasted almost like the nectar of the gods at the moment for me as it quenched our fiery thirst.

“I can’t believe it has been 4 years to the day since I came here,” I said as I wiped my mouth and dried my sweat.

“Yes, time sure flies by when you’re having fun,” Qiang replied, taking out his camera as usual to make his casual snapshots. I have to hand it to him; that camera was sure worth the money. I would’ve settled for a regular digital camera instead.

“Who would’ve thought one decision could change everything, eh?”

“You mean that decision to leave your mother?”

“Yeah, that.”

I took another sip, looking into the horizon, thinking back to the days that led to who I am and what I am now…

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