“Hurry up, Ah Ge! We’ve got to hide before he finds us!”
Wilfred cried out as he peered cautiously through the gap of the cupboard door at his brother, Anthony, still fiddling with the violin case in his hands.
“Shhh! I’m trying to find a place to hide this!” Anthony said, index finger across his lips.
“B—” Wilfred opened his mouth to coax but the words never escaped his lips.
Quickly, Anthony turned towards the door; his eagle eyes catching even the slightest movements, heart hammering against his chest.
A zephyr broke the stagnant air, unveiling the pitch-black night hidden behind the curtains at last. No one was there. The brothers breathed a deep sigh of relief. It was a false alarm.
“No, Wilfred, he’s not here yet. How many times have I told you?” Anthony lectured, crouching over as he tried tucking the white violin case beneath the cupboard.
Still, a sense of foreboding hung over Wilfred’s shoulders.
Somehow, he knew it was not over.
Bang!
The door slammed open, making way for the darkness to enter, the menacing aura almost suffocating Wilfred.
“What are you trying to do, huh?”
A familiar sound thundered in Wilfred’s ears, paralysing him to the spot, the terrifying sensation grasping him in a vice-like grip.
Subconsciously, he shifted two steps back, where the glint of light could not reach him. The voices of Anthony and Father constantly invading.
“No … Ah Pa, I …”
“Don’t talk back to me…”
The pulse beating in Wilfred’s ears blocked out all other noises. Knees against his chest, he suppressed his mouth to stifle any sound.
“Ah Ge’s gonna be fine. Everything’s gonna be fine,” Wilfred lied to himself, eyes shut.
He stayed where he was in the cupboard for what seemed like hours, not moving an inch. The pummelling seemed to have stopped and once again, there was silence.
Plucking up the courage, Wilfred crawled to the door to peer out. He gasped. The scene before him made his heart stop.
***
Wilfred did not want to believe that Anthony had left him alone. Since childhood, they had always been together and even in the worst of times, they had each other.
“… he couldn’t have left me alone …” Wilfred whispered again and again.
Why?
The question ran riot in his head.
Wrapping his arms around himself, Wilfred tried to block out the thoughts, like how he always did.
Yet, the chilly wind cut through him like knives, making the cold truth impossible to ignore.
He had been abandoned.
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from ‘Untold’ by Isabella Thang Xin Ying. It is part of a series of short stories – Secret & Lies: A Young Writer’s Anthology. Priced at RM31.90, the book is available at BookXcess. Royalties from the sale of the book will be channelled to Thrive Well’s (formerly SOLS Health) community centres.
