The surprise | Essay for 10 year olds | Elijah Wee | Singapore

"The surprise" tells about an unpleasant and tragic turn of events ... 

    The surprise.

    A memorable day. What was Father going to bring back home? I had done well for my final year examinations. My raven dark hair danced in the light breeze as though it was celebrating my success with me.

    “Amy, stop jumping around! You will soon collide into something. And what if it is fragile?” Mother warned me. “What if? I do not care!” My loud reply reverberated throughout the otherwise silent house. I was simply on top of the world! I am the apple of my father’s eye – he would definitely bring back something nice I had thought to myself.

    A few hours later, my sheer happiness soon began to die down. My eyes which were sparkling like stars soon stopped. Anxiety engulfed me. When is Father coming back home? He should be back by now. I tried to contemplate positive thoughts but it was impossible. All at once, I began to feel as though something had happened. The question was – What was it?

    Then the call came through.

    It all started with the shrill ring of the telephone. It seemed to ring with deathly shrillness. When Mother answered it, the sunny smile of hers which always brightened up the room seemed to fade away. What followed next was not music to my ears at all.

    “Are you serious? Can I ask if you can give me more information? My husband could not have been fatally killed in the plane crash, could he?” Uttering out the words seemed extremely tortuous to her.

    The words of doom.

    The words struck me like a sledgehammer’s blow, My heart wrung in seething pain. I simply  could not take it any more. Reality seemed to hit me like a tonne of bricks.

    “Really! Is that all you can say? May be you are calling the wrong number. I am hanging up.” After placing the receiver down, Mother folded her arms and looked down. She was as quiet as a mouse I cannot believe what I had heard. Apparently a police offer had called Mother telling her that Father was fatally killed in a plane crash. This was atrocious! How could a police officer fabricate such nonsense?

    With bated breath, Mother switched on the television. At that time, the news channel was talking about the SQ006 plane which had recently crashed. Wait – SQ006 was the airline that Father was returning home in.

    Oh my God, oh my God! Why on earth is God so unfair to us? On hearing the news, Mother began to sob, a picture of inconsolable devastation.  Father who has been her companion for thirty years has been taken away from her life. My heart fell like a tombstone, my chest unable to bear its weight.

    As the first rays of the next morning tiptoed through the open window and landed onto Mother sitting unmoving in her usual oakwood chair, the saddest sight of all was her eyes – they were filled with extreme loneliness and despair, as if she had lost all meaning in life.


Till the next time,
Elijah Wee, Singapore