Smear on My Face

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It wasn't the way I wanted my arrival home to be.

I woke up late that morning, and had not it been my housemate, I might have missed the flight. I rushed to the airport and when I reached there, only few still in the queue, obviously they had not checked in yet, just like me. I had so many things with me, thanks to my relatives who were being nice and thoughtful, and therefore, they wanted me to give a 'little something' to my family in Sabah. I wasn't so very keen with this 'little something', especially when I weighted my luggage and saw that it was over the maximum 15kgs. I pushed my trolley to the toilet nearby and adjusted my things so that it would be less that the maximum weight.

When everything was nicely adjusted, I noticed that I had four hand luggage with me! How on earth would I make it past the boarding area when I had four hand luggage with me? Those pesky Air Asia people standing menacingly would push me away and tell me to go and put them in the cargo! The most number of hand luggage I could have with me would be two! Putting my other two things in the cargo would cost me a lot and I didn't have any cash left, not when I had spent them so decently in Kinokuniya the day before.

So when these Air Asia crews were busy arguing with a lady (obviously she had more than two hand luggage), I tip-toed through the boarding gate and within few seconds, I was safely inside the departure area. Yay! Such accomplishment does not come every day. But when I was about to land my butt on the seats, it was announced that my flight had just been delayed for the flight from China had yet to arrive. Though I had been so used with flight delays (All from Air Asia so far), I was so mad. I was so damn exhausted and all I wanted was to be home as soon as possible.

So you could imagine my fury when I eventually arrived at Tawau Airport and knew that my parents were still at home! My legs were without bones, my hands were hurt, each hand with two heavy bags, so I kicked the trolley (which I had put my luggage from cargo) towards a corner where it had few empty chairs. I smashed the things on the floor and lay down on three chairs arranged vertically. I took out a novel and started reading.

This was when two young girls came towards my direction.

I quickly got up and sat on the chair. I put the novel down and scrutinized these two weird girls. I studied their faces for a few minutes and came to a conclusion that I had never met these two. They looked at me also, with a puzzled expression. Maybe a little startled with they way I had reacted to their sudden presence. Well, it is a cruel world after all, you should never let your guard down at any time.

All of a sudden, they took out a sharp object and got down on my feet! I swiftly pulled my legs up on the chair! They both looked at me with the same puzzled expression they had thrown at me before and started scratching something on the floor using the object in their hands. It took a few odd minutes before I realized that they were working, and their job was to scrape out foreign things that stained the marble-floor.

Scrape out foreign things that stained the marble floor.

The first time I set my eyes on these two girls, I wasn't seeing them with disgust, not at all. I was looking at them, thinking "What are they doing here? Waiting for family members who have not arrived yet?". They were so young, the most could be 16-year old. And scraping foreign things that stained the marble-floor for a living?

These two girls put me to shame. The shame I had never felt before. I was only waiting for a family who had not arrived, and I was already out of control. I was already sad and hurt. And here before my eyes, were two girls, fittingly to be in school, but life had obviously not been kind to them. They scraped on the floor for a meal on a plate; for a cup of water. Was it sadness and hurt that I saw in their eyes? Could it be shame? No. None of these. They were doing it as if that was the normal thing every 16-year old girl did out there.

I wish I could look at them a little longer, those innocent eyes, that had seen nothing but hardship and harsh world. I wish I could do something, maybe a small talk, or at least ask their names.

But my parents came and I had to go.




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