I still remember the day when I was called to the mission
I still remember the day when I was called to the mission. It was an ordinary day, just like any other day when I returned home from school. Without saying a word to my mom, I ran into my room and locked the door.
I enjoyed laying in bed with my eyes gazing at the ceiling, hoping that one day some kind of creature would appear from the ceiling. My mom always urged me to get some fresh air and sunshine to keep my body and mind healthy. But I didn’t bother. I was never the kind of boy who always stuck himself to a group of energetic pals to play soccer, basketball or any kinds of team sports. The after school hour was my most precious alone time when I didn't need to care about learning, manner, people, rules and assignments.
I knew that very soon my mom would knock on my door to remind me of homework.
“Oh! Come on!” I was talking to myself. “Just give me one perfect hour of alone time, please!! Or least 45 minutes!”
I always practiced these lines thinking that one day I could talk back to my mom. But it never happened.
It was exactly 1 year ago when I ran through my daily routine after school. Just when my eyes were fixed on the ceiling, I was about to ponder what I would do if some kind of creature popped up. Would I ask if it got supernatural powers? Then could it transfer the power to me? Or simply grant me a wish?
“No, no, no, wait! Should we take a selfie first? A photo with an unknown creature will be something phenomenal!” I was fantasizing.
“But…. Wait a minute. What if it has a scary monster face that I don‘t even dare look into its eyes?”
Just when I was starting to worry that I might be scared off by the unknown visage of the creature, I suddenly heard a murmuring sound coming from my laptop. It sounded like radio interference that I heard from my grandma’s radio when it was not properly tuned. I crept over to my desk to listen carefully, and turned to the wall side to shut the window and close the curtains. Just when I turned my body from the window back to my desk, the sound was gone. Leaving behind was a dead silence. Wait, It’s not silent. I could hear my heart pounding which got faster and faster just like the audience beating hands for an encore in the last part of a concert.
All of a sudden, “Boom! ” My laptop clamored the loud sound of an explosion! A cloud of white dust rushed to my eyes and I couldn’t help but to close them tight.
Just before I could get back my mind, my room returned to silence. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a cloud of dust as if I was in an explosion site. The dust was gradually subsiding. After I blinked my eyes to get rid of the debris laid on my eyelids, a shadow appeared behind the subsiding dust. Another round of drum beats knocked into my eardrums. I clearly knew that they were not from anywhere but were the sounds of my heartbeat, clear and loud.
The shadow became clearer and finally came into sight. It was not any creature that I have been imaging before. Instead, a man wearing a doctor's gown stood right in front of me. He was about the age of my dad, around 35, I guess. His hair has been combed and waxed, similar to what my dad did to his hair when he attended banquets. After a quick glance, I kept my head down and was too terrified to look up. I stared downward and saw his shiny pair of leather black shoes which were not covered by any piece of the falling dust.
On my trembling feet, I raised both my hands to the front of my chest to show the sign of peace. Then I slowly pressed my right hand to my chest trying to show him my heartfelt welcome.
“Stop your hand gestures! They are distracting me!” The man shouted. Then I restrained myself from motion.
“Look into my eyes and speak up!” I hesitated and then whispered, “H-Hello!” My voice sounded so weird that even myself could not recognize it.
“Ahem!” The man cleared his throat. “Hey kid, I am from the nation’s Secret Mission Department. Everything we do is top secret.” He started to speak solemnly.
“Kid, I have observed you for a while. You seem to be a very lip-tight person. Here’s a mission that you are capable of taking up.” The man went on speaking. Seeing my puzzling face, he changed his tone to speak gently.
“In my observation, you are a mature and responsible kid. You appear to be an introvert, but I can tell that you have a big heart. There is something out there that you want to search for and by achieving so your heart will be whole. All you need is the courage to step out and look for it. I now give you a chance to take up this mission and look for something that is important.”
Feeling skeptical, I tried hard to figure out what was going on but my brain was as hard as a stone.
“Okay….What do you want me to do?” I finally dared to say a full sentence.
Hearing my question, the man broke into a grin
“Well, every Saturday afternoon, you go to the woods near the West Park. Then you spend 1 hour there digging the soil next to each tree for a meter deep. If you find nothing in the holes, just cover them with soil as if they were untouched. I think it will take you at least 1 year to finish this mission.”
“Then what am I supposed to look for under the soil?” I asked.
“Something important. You can tell it when you see it.” The man was smirking.
“Then what reward will I get?” I asked.
“Ah! Smart kid! That‘s a good question! For the reward, hmm….you will be granted the thing that you want the most after you have completed your mission.”
I was not certain about what I wanted the most. Definitely, I had some desires: more video games, more chocolate chip cookies from the famous bakery shop and more alone time. But I had no idea about what I wanted the most.
Just when I was looking down and wondering if this would be a fair deal, I heard a sound of wind and when I looked up, the man vanished. Everything in my room looked the same as before as if no one had ever come in.
Perplexed, I was laying in my bed that night, and the images of the strange incident kept flashing in my mind. I had not been assuming any important position in school while at home I did not contribute anything. I wonder why I was chosen for his mission? Just because I am lip-tight? Or are there other reasons? Not long after these thoughts emerged, I fell into a long and deep sleep until the next morning.
On the following days, I could not help thinking about this man and the mission he gave me.
“Shall I just ignore him?” I asked myself this question because the whole thing did not make sense to me. Yet, my curiosity pushed me to keep contemplating. Finally, I decided to give it a try.
On the following Saturday after I finished my weekly routine near West Park, I took a shovel and walked towards the woods. Feeling scared and uneasy when looking at the road which led to the entrance of the woods, I stopped there and hesitated with my body shivering. This was a strange feeling which hindered me from going further.
After standing there for 5 minutes feeling puzzled and dazzled, I was woken up by the chirping sounds of a flock of birds flying by. I then brushed my eyes to get myself together. With great courage, I took a deep breath and pushed myself inside.
The woods were quiet. Inside there were over hundreds of trees each having different forms and shapes. I looked up and saw many different shades of greens which were fluttering in the wind. I kept walking until an acacia tree came into my sight: a tree with a tall main trunk which spread out a few branches to the sides just like a raised arm opening their fingers wide. This acacia tree looked very much like the one in front of my house. I stopped there and took off my jacket and put it on the ground. Then I rolled up my sleeves and started digging next to the tree. The soil was not too hard to dig but still took me a while to dig to 1 meter deep. There was nothing inside the hole. I just covered it back with soil and started digging another hole.
I kept digging and soon found my shirt soaked with sweat. Seldom had I become so sweaty as I was usually very inactive. Most of the time when there was no school, I just stayed in my room and refused to go out.
After one hour, I couldn‘t dig out anything. Exhausted, I went back home empty-handed.
“What a waste of time!” I grumbled.
The next Saturday I struggled whether to go on. Driven by curiosity, I finally went to the woods again to carry on my digging mission. Yet, nothing was found. Feeling frustrated, but I did not lose hope and decided to continue the mission until something is found. Very soon it became my Saturday routine to dig holes in the West Park woods. Although I was disappointed each time for being unable to uncover anything, I was not upset. I found this whole process quite a soothing experience for me. Working under the sunlight which peeked through the tree leaves, listening to the birds chirping and feeling the light breeze, I was sometimes mesmerized by the different shapes and forms of trees. Very soon I started to enjoy and appreciate nature. My arms have built up muscles after my constant digging exercise and I was no longer a weak and skinny boy.
52 weeks later - Yesterday
My Saturday routine went on until yesterday when I continued digging the holes next to the last few trees which I have not touched before. Just when I was listening to the breeze and birds chirping while digging the soil, there was a loud din coming from the hole when I shoved my shovel into the soil. It’s a high pitched sound of metal! I put my hand into the soil along the shovel until I reached something cold and hard. I grabbed the thing out with my fingers and pulled my hand out of the soil. Brushing away the soil that covered the metal, I saw a piece of rusty metal in bullet shape! When looking at it very closely, I saw something engraved on the metal. I tried hard to peel out the rust using my nails and saw some alphabets engraved on it.
“D” was the first letter and another “D” at the back. There were still 3 alphabets in between. I then took out my key to scrape its surface and gradually the third and fourth alphabets came into sight. They were “V” and “I”. I felt the sweat on my forehead and neck, and my blood running down all over my body! The rust on the second alphabet was finally scraped away. I saw the alphabet “A”.
Shivering under the tree. I saw my name engraved on it “D A V I D”!
I returned home hastily in an attempt to take out a magnifying glass to inspect the metal bullet, hoping to discover something more. When I got into my room and shut the door, I saw the man who gave me this mission 1 year ago.
“Hi David! It’s so nice to see you again!” Looking calm, he came close to me, giving me a hug. Feeling confused, I stood there without moving.
“It’s almost 1 year since I last saw you. You have grown up a lot! Now you got your tanned skin and a much stronger body than before. I am so pleased to see you progressing in a good way.” I felt a sense of warmth in his arms. He let go of me and gazed into my eyes. In his watery eyes, I saw that there is so much he wanted to say, but he made a pause there. We didn’t talk for 15 seconds.
“Oh yes! Congratulations! You have completed the mission. You have found the important thing!” He finally broke the silence.
“You are proven to be a persistent boy who is willing to work hard to attain your goal. Your parents must be very proud of you!” He added.
“Is this bullet what you want me to look for? But what a coincidence, it has my name on it. Is this the reason why you assign this mission?” I finally cleared my head and handed him the bullet.
“Well! You got what we both need to get and now you may keep this. For the reward, you will get what you want very soon.”
His eyes were fixed on me. After a short silence, he continued, “I need to go now. Since you have accomplished the mission, I can retire from my job and take a long rest. You probably won’t be seeing me anymore. Now you have grown up so much, you can go on and explore new missions outside. There is no need for me to assign you any mission. Take care, David!” He put his right arm around my shoulder and used the other one to hold my hand tight. He bid me farewell.
“Goodbye!” I said quietly. He then released me, slowly turned around and walked to the door.
“Oh wait!” I took out my phone from my pocket.
“Let’s take a selfie!” I then grabbed him close to me and made the biggest grin ever.
“Chakk...” I pressed the phone button. I saw his smile on his face and slowly he walked out of the door.
I stayed up last night until very late. I sat at my desk staring at the bullet, trying to think what this bullet was about. Then I fell asleep on my desk and made some dreams about my childhood.
The next morning - Now
“Buzz…..” The alarm clock wakes me up. I stand on my feet and rush down to the kitchen to look for my mom, who is preparing breakfast.
“Mom! I found this bullet from the woods in West Park! And last night I dreamt of going there when I was like, 4 years‘ old. I think I left it there 10 years ago!” Feeling excited, I show her the bullet and I’m about to share with her the whole story of digging and the man who gave me the mission. Just when I lift my head to look into her eyes, I see her tears are bursting out. She holds me into her arms, crying.
“David! You are all good now! You have finally recovered!” Feeling shocked that mom looks more emotional than I am, I just stand there without saying a word.
“Ding-dong!” The doorbell rings. Mom rushes to open the door for her sister, Auntie Miranda.
“David can speak now! I haven’t heard him talking for 10 years already!” Mom cries. Auntie Miranda walks in front of me, looking puzzled.
“Are you alright, David?” Auntie Miranda looks skeptically at me and asks.
“Hello Auntie Miranda! There’s just something amazing that happened which is difficult to explain…” I can‘t wait to tell her the whole story but don’t know where to start.
“Oh! My God! David finally can talk!” Auntie Miranda suddenly screams out.
“David, do you know how worried your mom has been over the past 10 years?” Auntie Miranda continues her speech without giving me time to think. “Ever since you know that your dad has died in a car accident 10 years ago, you refused to talk.”
“You can’t blame him, Miranda! David was traumatised!” Mom stops Auntie Miranda from talking and she continues.
“David liked playing NEUF gun when he was little but complained that the bullets were too soft to look like a real bullet. His dad wanted to give David a key chain made of a metal bullet as a gift of surprise. So his dad went into the woods to hide the gift. But when he came out from the woods, a car did not see him passing and knocked him down.” Mom is talking while her tears are falling down like rain. She could not talk any more.
“Poor kid, you were too shocked and too small to know what happened. You refused to talk since you knew your dad passed away. You only used hand gestures. Your mom tried every way to help you, and insisted on bringing you to see a therapist every Saturday afternoon at the West Gate Hospital, hoping that the therapy will help you to recover one day.” Auntie Miranda says.
“Thank God! Every hard work pays off. Now I have my lovely son back!” Mom is truly relieved.
I do not remember what made me unable to speak. Disease? I thought this must be the reason. I know Dad died when I was four years old and I still remember his face, but that’s all I can remember.
I take out my phone from the pocket to check the selfie that was taken with the man yesterday. I see my face wearing an utterly big smile. But next to me there is no one….
Everything makes sense to me now. Dad came to me to help me get out of my traumatized phase. He didn’t want me to get stuck in the dark stage. Now I am over with the saddened time and am ready to move on in my life.
Thank you Dad! I’ll miss you!
