"What do you mean I let you keep it?" Dai-Tai demanded. She was standing in Vicky's room with her hands balled into fists. She had just asked Vicky if she could have her keychain back, but Vicky said that she let her have it.
"I'm not lying to you," Vicky simply replied. She brushed a strand of long hair behind her ears and gazed innocently at Dai-Tai as she had been accused. "You said I can have it."
Dai-Tai shot the girl a glare and took a step forward. "I did not! I only let you borrow it."
Vicky shook her head. "You heard wrong then."
Frustrated, tears welled up in Dai-Tai's eyes. She clenched her fists so hard that she couldn't feel the fingernails digging inside her skin. She couldn't believe that Vicky was pretending that she let her have the keychain. She perfectly heard well that Vicky only wanted to borrow it yesterday.
When droplets of tears fell onto Dai-Tai's cheek, Vicky turned pale. Dai-Tai sniffed, and her glare remained penetrating hers. Shocked that she made her cry, Vicky didn't know what to do. Before Vicky knew it, she also began to cry.
"Give it back to me now!" Dai-Tai shouted with a trembling voice.
Vicky wiped the tears out of her eyes. "No! I want it!"
Dai-Tai stomped toward the girl and pushed her onto the ground. Vicky screamed from the fall as she landed beside the post of her bed. "Fine, you can have it back!" She hauled the drawer open and hurled the cat keychain toward Dai-Tai's direction.
The cat keychain smacked Dai-Tai on her right cheek, and she scowled. Rubbing her cheek with her hand, Dai-Tai picked up the keychain and tossed it in her shorts pocket. "I hate you," she began angrily, "I hate you!"
Vicky started to tremble, and when Dai-Tai was planning to hit the girl again, Vicky's nanny burst into the room. The woman's mouth hung open with shock as she gaped at the two girls.
"What in the world happened?" she demanded.
Vicky bolted toward her nanny with tears and hugged her. "Dai-Tai hit me! She hit me!"
Dai-Tai was about to protest, but she watched as the nanny brushed Vicky's tears. "Don't cry, Vicky," the nanny said softly as she embraced the whimpering girl. "Don't cry…."
A flood of tears built up again in Dai-Tai's eyes. Her side of the story was never going to be heard; everyone was against her.
~~~
Throughout the whole train ride, Dai-Tai's mother had been silent. She didn't speak to her daughter when she picked her up from Vicky's house. The nanny had reported to Vicky's mother that Dai-Tai had hit Vicky, and then Vicky's mother called Dai-Tai's mother. Once Dai-Tai's mother heard the news, she immediately left work and went to pick Dai-Tai up.
They were now back in their apartment room. As Dai-Tai's mother closed the door, her daughter knew what was going to happened next. Dai-Tai had anxiously played the possible scenarios in her head during the train ride. When her mother headed toward the umbrella stand, her daughter swallowed hard. Beads of sweat formed on the girl's skin as she bit her lower lip.
She nearly fainted when she saw her mother returning with the bamboo stick. Dai-Tai wanted to run into the bedroom and lock the door. She wanted to hide and disappear forever from the world. However, Dai-Tai only stood there; her body was frozen like a glacier.
Her mother approached her with the stick held tightly in her hand. Eyes burning holes into Dai-Tai's, she growled, "I'll teach you a lesson not to hit others."
Dai-Tai waited for the moment as she squeezed her eyes hard. Her eyes flew back open as an excruciating pain seared through her left arm. She flinched again as her mother struck the stick on her right arm. The girl fought back the tears forming in her eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of her mother again, so she tried to suck into every ounce of pain. She didn't dare cry; the beating would get worse.
The stick smacked her knee next. During each beating on every possible spot on her leg, Dai-Tai buckled her knees and bit her tongue to stop the cries escaping her mouth. She felt like she was a lion being whipped by a cruel trainer at a circus. Squeezing her eyes even tighter, Dai-Tai cried inside her mind for it to stop. She couldn't stand the beating anymore.
The hitting ceased when Dai-Tai realized that her mother's footsteps filled the room. Her body trembling from the soreness, Dai-Tai forced her moist eyes open. She felt relief wash over as her mother returned the stick inside the umbrella stand. Without turning around to face her daughter, her mother opened the door and slammed it behind her. Her footsteps eventfully died away.
Dai-Tai fell down to her knees and wept. She didn't care that the neighbors could hear her next door. As she clutched her aching arms, she wanted the world to hear her misfortune and injustice.
Why did this happen to me? I didn't deserve it; I'm innocent. Thinking about Vicky made her tear up more. It shattered her heart that the girl betrayed her. Dai-Tai really did like her, and it hurt so much that she would do such a horrible thing to her.
She thought about the nanny whom was on Vicky's side, and then there was also Vicky's mother and her own mother. Hate and anger flooded through her mind like lava. Everyone hated her, and she hated everyone. But most of all, she hated her mother the most. Her mother was the reason why she was so unhappy.
Dai-Tai wiped her runny nose. "I bet she wouldn't even care if I ran away," Dai-Tai mumbled miserably. She had thought about running away from home several times, but she never did it. However, Dai-Tai was going to do it this time. She was going to run away, and her mother wouldn't have to bother with her ever again.
The girl rose up and winced from the pain that shot up from her legs. Dai-Tai stared at them and realized that parts of her skin were covered by pinkish red bruises. Poking one of them with her finger, she flinched. They were tenderer than the bruises on her arms. Her mother hit her more on the legs than her arms after all.
Her aching body overall didn't stop Dai-Tai from planning her runaway. She was so determined to get out of her home and never to see her mother again. Dai-Tai fetched her purple book bag from the closet and filled it with spare change and fruit from the table. There was basically nothing else Dai-Tai thought about carrying with her besides food and money.
With that, Dai-Tai opened the door and took one more last look at her home. There was nothing to miss about it which made it easy for her to leave. Closing the door, Dai-Tai headed downstairs with no regret.
~~~
Entering Grand Street, Dai-Tai passed the busy markets and their customers. She was invisible just as any other passersby. The smell of sweet pancakes drawn the girl's attention, and she turned her head to see the mini pancake cart. Dai-Tai realized that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. She watched hungrily as a mother bought her little son a pancake.
Dai-Tai took out a banana from her book bag and ate it while she continued to walk. Soon she reached the string of tenements on the block. When she went inside Chenglei's building, she wondered if he held a grudge against her. I hope he doesn't hate me, Dai-Tai thought. If he did, well… it gave her another good reason that everyone really did hate her.
Chenglei and his brother, Xun, resided on the second floor. It saved Dai-Tai from doing all the walking since there were four floors in total. Knocking lightly on the door, Dai-Tai waited patiently.
The door didn't open within ten seconds. Dai-Tai knocked on the door again. After another ten seconds that passed, Dai-Tai concluded disappointingly that they were out. She fetched an old pencil from her book bag and decided to leave Chenglei a note on scrap paper that she was running away from home. When she was about to write, an old woman next door interrupted her. Dai-Tai recognized the woman whom sometimes scolded her and Chenglei for playing in the middle of the hallways.
"Grandma," Dai-Tai began.
"Do you know where Chenglei, the boy I play with, is?"
The old woman stared hard with ridicule at the girl.
"The landlord announced that they moved away yesterday morning. You didn't know?"
"They moved away yesterday?" Dai-Tai exclaimed. She felt she had been hit by a brick. It was impossible. Chenglei and Xun couldn't had moved; Chenglei would had notified her about it.
"Yes," the old woman replied sternly. She examined Dai-Tai's bruised arms and knees but didn't say anything. As she headed downstairs, Dai-Tai followed after her.
"Do you know why they moved away?" Dai-Tai asked behind the old woman.
"No," she mumbled without turning to face the girl.
"I'm not nosy about my neighbors. All I know is that they moved away."
Dai-Tai frowned hopelessly. It appeared that the old woman was serious that they moved away. Why didn't Chenglei ever mention that he was moving away though? Weren't they friends? He knew where she lived and could had at least told her goodbye before leaving. He could even had left her a note in the mailbox.
Or maybe it's because he still hates me, Dai-Tai thought with a sigh. I guess I deserve it since ma told me to stop seeing him.
When the old woman reached the bottom of the stairs, she took one last analytical look at Dai-Tai. "Where is your mother anyway?" she asked dryly.
Dai-Tai winced at the mention at her mother. "She's at work."
"Does she know you're out here?"
Dai-Tai didn't reply. The old woman grunted and departed without saying a word.
Dai-Tai ignored the grumpy old woman. For once she felt truly alone. She didn't know where to go now. Dai-Tai thought about the park and remembered the parkour man she wanted to see. He was there in the morning, and if she was lucky enough, he might be in the park now. Perhaps she could also spend the night there until she figured out where she was going to go next. Without hesitation, Dai-Tai headed towards the Columbus Park.
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