I am jailed !

All 6 of us kept our mouth shut. The warden was writing with a pencil and a yellow 3” time 4” cm notebook. The police had asked 10 questions for statements and we answered yes, no, with a reason, just like an open ended question in the English Exam paper. Ramli, who sat at the far right of the bench, provided 6 reasons, he spoke one word at a time and his eyes were red.i mentioned I was there studying and was looking when the junior was punched ans kicked and slapped by the 10 boys. Was a a culprit as well? I told him what I saw, zali was quiet and only answered two questions from the police, where were you and what were you doing at that time. My phone vibrated and I didn’t answer it, the warden was breathing behind my back and I would not waqnt any more headaches.every 10 of us kept a straight face, and paid attention just like in a science theory class.

Abas was looking down to the police’s desk, his eyes half closed. When the police spoke abas looked at him, no matter the question was for him or for others. He has never squashed a mosquito in his entire life. He had a pencil’s end sticking out from his blue shirt and the pocket looked like it was filled with a folded A4 paper. Abas liked to jot down, and he intended to do just that at that time.

The night, 4 am outside a patrol car stopped, the police came out and prattled. Their mouths murmured as if avoiding others from listening. All our stuffs were in plastic bags and we were only given a blanket and our clothes were taken.

I dislike the look of the police station walls, all four walls were blue in colour, there were cobwebs on two corners facing me. The one and only window were grilled with iron bars, black and had rigged edges. The bars form rectangles and squares. There was only one fan, but everybody was fanning their faces with papers. The 40 year old lady wiped her forehead with a tissue paper, one 39 year old guy unbuttoned a button up his throat, there were sweat marks on his front shirt. The two benches, 2 metre long benches were filled with people. There were no desk police entertaining and the clock shows 2.30 pm, after lunch hour. One pressed the fan button and nothing happened.

The station had a wooden 5” to 1” long table, and a table fragrance coloured light yellow with a lemon picture on it. The price tag written RM 3 was still not peeled of at the front of the can. An ashtray with its loads spilling over and grey ashes line around the ashtray. The police could pass away faster this way than get stucked in a shooutout.

I opened a storybook titled “How Not to Spend Your Senior Year”, by Cameron Dokey. I recently  borrowed from the school’s reading village and headed straight for the bookmarked page 140, it said on the page Rule # 3, No matter how dire things get, do not panic. It should take like 3 hours for the police guy to take our statements, and waiting time should be reading time ! look at me, at the moment, I was sitting with six of my friends, the student leaders, and woken up at 2 in the morning, hushed to the police station and the wardens had all the necessary information for us to book a ticket for a jail night check in and worse we would be expelled from school, I had not brushed my teeth last night, and I stinked like a DS rotting food and this book, this bokl which is already past due date, advise me to calm down ? the warden was behind us talking to some guys. My phone beeped and vibrated but was never answered. I hit the red button and was never heard off again.

Chu, a town kid, lavish and always online, was the apple of the eye. He was never out of cash and dressed well too. Chu kept an eye for Hanan as well, but would never betray his friend. Chu could woo girls like a sticky paper with bait to a hungry fly, but he seldom kept one more than a semester. To the school Chu was one well-off mischief that the school could not afford to expel. The R.O machine, the newly painted office, the principal’s new settee, well. Chu was the one who spat on Helmi’s face, but that was what the boy did. In the room where the only lights was from 100 metre away street lamp and you did not what others were doing, Helmi could accuse him of laying punches on his cheek until he was half alive.

The music studio had like rows of chairs. In front, there were a bongo, a set of drums a ten year old organ. Pictures of His Majesty, The Queen, the Prime Minister and the TYT was hung 5 foot from the blue carpeted floor in front of the room.

Why don’t you just stay away from her, I slapped Helmi’s face with a pink envelope I found in his diary at the partition. Helmi’s English journal gave way too. Helmi wiped his face the the back of his right hand, and there were liquid trickling at his corner of his mouth. When I walked away from him, Helmi was coughing and he was pressing his stomach with the left hand kneeling, right hand on the floor, his head downward coughing and he spatted. Jimmy came near and swung his right football leg upwards to Helmi’s tummy that sent him lying on his back and facing the ceiling. Somebody switched off the lights and everybody , except Jimi, gasped on what they were seeing. That was not the original plan.

10 punches on the ribs could have ruptured Helmi’s right ribs, the lowest one. Helmi got asthma.

Jimmy, in t shirt black plus white with a skull and crossbone covering his back of his shirt. The dog tag resting on his chest did not move he dozed off.  Jimmy never liked the idea of bullying, but was dragged into the mess because he was just there. Was he a witness or a culprit ?to the police that was not a problem to find out, to the wardens, they could rescue Jimmy saying his task was to bring Helmi to the Music studio.

At 4 am, outside a patrol car stopped, the policeman came out and prattled with the desk police for a while. Their mouths moved as they mumbled. Police always mumble because they did not want others to hear what they were sharing. All our stuffs were in the plastic bag and we were only given a green blanket. Only our underwears were not taken by the police. ‘Tell us if you boys want to use the bathroom, don’t just pee like cats on the cell wall” the police said. The warden yawned and waived at us before driving away to the school, 2 kilometres away from the police station. That was the time I feel wardens were the only ones who could pull us out from this mess. To settle a problem involving police could take only 3 or 4 days the most, but when we got to school there would be a lot of answering to a lot of concerned people. Everybody was like wanted a piece of the juicy case.

 I climbed the wall to peek outside the 10’ X 10”” metre room through a window. Two cats were battling against each other over a mate and the sound was deafening.