Margaret scrapped one end of the chalk with a coin then she pinched the powder and patted it onto the blisters on her palm. There, she thought to herself, I would be as right as rain in a day or two. And just in time too, for just as soon as she placed the chalk back on the teacher’s desk, the end-of-recess bell rang.
Pupils in navy blue pinafores and white shirts began to trickle back into class, giggling in groups like stalks of daisies bunched tightly together. But as the clip-clop of the class teacher’s heels reached them, the trickle turned into a mad rush that quickly filled empty seats. Margaret sat in the farthest corner and hunkered down over her desk.
The class teacher, Madam Loi, stared her way for a moment then placed the armful of exercise books on her desk. She called out the students’ names one by one, and they went up to her by turn to collect their homework. Finally it was Margaret’s turn to go to her, but there was no book.
“Margaret. This is the second time this week you did not pass up your work.”
“I am sorry teacher. But I have run out of exercise books.”
“Well, you have to tell your parents, so they can buy you new ones. And when you go home today, please wash your uniform and shower.”
Margaret cringed at the sound of giggles erupting behind her. She kept her head bowed as she returned to her seat then stayed there unmoving and ignored until school ended.
After all the other girls had been picked up and just as the gardener started to heave the main gate close, Margaret dashed out from behind the students’ toilet, slipped through the gate and ran down the cracked pavements. After about a mile, she turned down a dusty lane hedged by decrepit wooden homes on either side.
Soon she reached the edge of the abandoned homes and pushed aside the thick creepers to reveal a faint path in the thicket. Not more than ten yards in, she crawled into a little niche inside the latticed roots of a century old fig tree. She ate a bunch of ripe figs piled in the corner then, as the light began to fade, she lay down and fell asleep.
Almost immediately she woke in a sun drenched field peppered with rainbow colored wild flowers. In a circle around her, six girls with hands entwined sang and danced. They stopped when she sat up.
The most beautiful girl who had long black hair, elongated earlobes and swanlike curving neck sat down by her side and asked, “Why do you sleep so long, Mayang?”
“I must go to school. Mother told me that the police will put me in jail if I don’t go.”
“You can stay here. Nobody can catch you here.”
“But I always get tired after we play. Then I will fall asleep.”
“That is true,” the girl said, then she reached out both hands and said with a more cheerful tone, “But you are here now. Let’s play.”
Margaret was dragged to her feet and she danced and sang with them. Then she danced and sang some more until she had to sit down. As she watched the other girls play, she lay down and soon feel asleep.
With a start she opened her eyes – in the school garden. Margaret got up and brushed the leaves and dirt off her uniform. She heard the main gate slide open and the joyful morning laughter of girls as they rushed in to throw their bags by the side and chase each other in the schoolyard. Margaret hurried to the common washroom where she washed her face and tidied her hair as best as she could. However, there was nothing she could do about her soiled uniform.
“Eew, what is that smell?” Amy her classmate said while pinching her nose.
Her friend Lucy, who was standing behind her, said, “It’s Stinky Margaret.” Her remark was immediately followed by a burst of laughter from three other girls.
Blood rushed into Margaret’s head and she was suddenly overwhelmed by an uncontrollable rage. She grasped the wooden handle of a broom and swung it hard at Amy. Laughter turned to screams as Amy’s friends ran out of the washroom hollering for their class teacher.
When the discipline teacher, Madam Salmah, reached the washroom, she found Margaret standing over an unconscious Amy who was bleeding from her face and head. On seeing that Margaret was about to take another swing, she grabbed the girl’s arm and was shocked by the strength she felt resisting her.
Margaret began to scream a torrent of profanities and curses as Salmah grabbed the broom handle with both hands and wrested it free from her grip. Then she grasped the girl’s shoulders and shook her but Margaret would not stop screaming.
More teachers appeared and two of the men had to hold Margaret down after an exhausted Salmah released her. Suddenly Margaret was silent and her body went limp. As both girls were being carried out of the washroom, Salmah said to the gaping clerk, “Call an ambulance.” After a moment she added, “And the police too.”
The paramedics and police soon arrived and based on Salmah’s account, they restrained Margaret for the whole trip to the hospital. Amy woke that evening but Margaret stayed in a coma for three days.
Dr Raju, a child psychiatrist, studied her charts while he waited for the doctor on duty to make his rounds. When Dr Ling arrived, the psychiatrist asked, “All the test results have come in then?”
“Yes. We can find nothing physically wrong with her. Have you talked with the police inspector?”
Raju nodded. “They went to her house and found that her parents and younger brother had been bludgeoned to death. Only her palm and finger prints were found on the laundry stick.” A pause. “That is the problem with these old-fashion bungalows. Nobody can hear or see anything.”
Ling let out a sigh. “Who would have believed that a girl as young as this could do something like that.”
“She might have been driven to it. Her class teacher told me that she is a timid pupil, and that she is always teased by her classmates.”
Margaret’s leg jerked and her eyes began to roll under the lids. Then her body struggled against the straps that held her down. It continued for about twenty minutes as the doctors observed her. Abruptly her eyes flew open and she stared at both doctors with terror and surprise.
“Hello, Margaret,” Raju said, “Don’t be afraid. This is Dr Ling and I am Dr Raju. You are in a hospital. You are safe now.”
“I must go to school. I must go to school,” she said as her eyes rolled from one man to the other.
“But you are sick,” Raju said, “You don’t have to go to school today.”
“But I must. Or else I will stay stupid forever.”
“Who told you that you are stupid?”
“Papa and mama. Amy says I am stupid too.”
“Do your teachers call you stupid?”
“No, but they always tell me to study harder. I try. I try so hard, but I am always tired.”
“Why are you so tired?”
“I have to do my chores before I can eat or do my homework. But usually after I eat, I will fall asleep.”
“What kind of chores do you do?”
She looked at Raju strangely then explained, “I have to sweep and mop the floors. Then I have to wash the laundry.”
“Everyday?”
“Yes, everyday.”
“How much laundry do you do?”
“It depends. Sometimes a lot, because people send their curtains to our house to wash by hand.”
Raju sat at the edge of the bed and gazed kindly into her face. “The police told me that they found a lot of laundry hanging in the yard. I guess you must have done all that work. Did you run away from home?”
She looked away before saying, “My friends tell me they will look after me.”
“Who are your friends?”
“Six fairies who live in the jungle.”
“Do they have names?”
She thought for a moment then said, “No. But they are kind to me.” She began to tremble as though from a sudden chill.
Raju gripped her hand and said, “I must let Dr Ling take care of you now. We will talk again later, okay.”
She did not reply and her eyes began to roll back, showing white. Ling quickly checked her vitals and gave her a mild sedative to calm her.
“An epileptic seizure?” Raju asked.
“It appears to be so. I will have to do some tests to be sure.” He sighed. “Do you see this kind of case often?”
“Recently, yes. She is the fifth girl I’ve met this past two years who tell me about the six fairies living in the jungle.”
“Maybe it is a comic book or a story.”
“I thought so too, but I have never been able to find one with specifically six girls. Why six?”
Margaret woke up in the sunny field of wildflowers and found herself looking up at six beautiful smiling faces.
“Welcome back, Mayang,” one girl said. “Do stay,” said another.
Margaret sat up and stayed.
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