When I was 7, my teacher asked me to recite the aliff, ba, ta, and when I did, he repeatedly slapped me halfway through recital. None of the other kids got slapped. I think he just didn’t like the way I look. He slapped me so hard that kids from the other classes came to watch.

Nak dijadikan cerita, a few weeks after the incident, he got into an accident and lost a leg. He never came to school after. I think. For 3 whole years. I never really asked what happened. I never really cared that much anyways.

I saw him back in school when I was around 9 or 10, we met at the school gates, and he just limped back into school with a crutch and a missing leg. He looked at me with some form of regret in his eyes. We never spoke a word.

And I never actually remembered his name. Just what he did. It’s funny how we always remember the best and worst of people.

And me being half blind, I don’t exactly remember his face too. Just the description my brain inscribed of him. “Muka bulat, mata sepet, ada janggut sikit”