by Tricia Ng (P6 2021)

              The warm rays of the sun peeked through the slit of my bedroom curtains.  Groggily, I looked at the clock — 12pm.  Sighing contentedly, I buried my face into my soft pillow.  It was the school holidays and I could finally sleep in!  Yawning, I rolled over in my bed.

              Just then, my stomach rumbled.  It was almost lunchtime.  Shuffling out of my bedroom, I was greeted by an empty house.  My parent had gone to work, leaving me alone at home.

              Walking into the kitchen, I found a note left by my mother, instructing me how to prepare my meals.  I tossed it aside after reading it entirely, and thought it was something that could wait.  After preparing my lunch, I savoured every bite of it, not dropping any crumbs.  I ran to my PlayStation 4 that my father had bought for me last month in celebration of my good grades.  Since then, I had been playing video games almost every day.

              Just then, a message popped up on my phone.  My mother had just sent me a message: “Coming home soon.”  Instantly, I remembered that my mother told me that I needed to take out the trash.  My mother was strict and often punished me for forgetting to do chores she had already asked me to do.  She always chastised me for the mistakes that I made.

              However, I had just started a new match of my game!  I was too lazy to throw out the rubbish my mom had told me to.  I could pause the game, but I was worried that my progress would be lost if I did.  I saw from the corner of my eye that one of the living room windows was wide open.  I thought to myself, “Can’t I just throw it out the window?  Mother isn’t even home.  Then, I can also continue with my game and not lose out!”

              I ran to the window and glanced down.  My eyesight was not very good, and I had left my spectacles in the kitchen while preparing my lunch.  Thinking that nobody would walk by in the next few seconds, I hastily tossed the trash bag down the window.  “Crash!” the trash bag landed with a loud thud.

              “Ouch!” a voice rang from downstairs.  Realization hit me like a 20 pound sledgehammer — the trash bag had hit someone!  There was someone downstairs after all!

              I rushed down the stairs to the ground floor and saw that an elderly lady was lying on the ground.  She was unconscious.  “What should I do?” I thought, my hands trembling.  I whipped out my mobile phone and punched in the number for the ambulance.  I informed them that an elderly lady was lying unconscious on the ground floor of my flat, while trying to hold back tears.  While waiting for the ambulance, I sent my mother a message that I was accompanying an elderly lady who is unconscious to the hospital so that she would not have to worry about me when she returned home.  I did not tell my mother about my throwing killer litter as I did not want her to learn the truth.

              When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics carried the elderly lady onto a stretcher and I accompanied her to the hospital.  “How could I be so self-absorbed?” I thought, burying my face into my hands.

              After the doctor examined the elderly lady at the hospital, he assured me that the elderly lady had only sustained a mild concussion and would wake up in no time.  Sure enough, after ten minutes, the elderly lady woke up slowly and was advised to stay in the hospital until the next day.  I apologised to her profusely and told her that I would never repeat this mistake again.  She accepted my apology but warned with a grim face, “Boy, you did more than litter, you threw killer litter.  It is very dangerous.”  I thanked her again for forgiving me and informed my mother about that incident.  She visited the elderly lady and insisted on covering her hospital fees.  After that, my mother and I returned home.  A pang of guilt hit me like a tidal wave, knowing I almost killed someone but I was also relieved that the elderly lady was all right.

              When we reached home, my mother chided me for being so inconsiderate.  I apologised to my mother and told her that I would never throw killer litter again.

              Through this incident, I learnt to be more considerate and realised even a small amount of being inconsiderate could have grave consequences.

 

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