Hailey saw the world move from left to right as she cracked her neck out of pure exhaustion. She had not been given a break for the past 4 hours and she was extremely tired already. Continuous studying was mentally exhausting, and her hands had just started to suffer from Writers cramps. Hailey sighed as she stared at the paper in front of her. She had to finish this before the time was up, or she knew she was going to get punished. Hailey felt the life slipping away from her body, and she knew she was becoming exactly what Mr Ng wanted her to be—lifeless and broken, ready to be moulded to what her mother wanted her to be. She had always made sure to retain her mental stability, even though she was not that god at it, she never allowed herself to to feel lifeless or depressed. If she did, things would just get harder for her. Now, it seems like that was exactly what was happening. Hailey wanted to huddle and cry, but she saw Mr Ng marking her paper with a frown, and she quickly refocused her attention to her paper. It was Mother tongue and she was being tested on...grammar. Just her luck. Hailey cringed as she swiftly made her way through the questions, her hands trembling all the while. Her Writers cramps were starting to reach an extremely painful stage that she did NOT enjoy at all.
Finally, Hailey had worked through at least 4 more full mock exam papers and she felt exactly like a robot, just receiving orders from the 'factory workers' (mr Ng) and churning out results. Hailey realised, that was exactly what school was making them do. Churn out results like they were robots or factory machines. Hailey walked up to the front of the room, and she still could not shake off the claustrophobic feeling she had every time she moved in this room. Mr Ng did not even look up from his paper as he said, "After you put down that worksheet, go shower and be on the chair in the 'living room' outside within 10 minutes. Go." Hailey sprinted to her room, and chose a decent looking uniform before heading to the cramped toilet. Within the comforts of the shower, she turned on the warm water (something she did not have for a Long time if you remembered) and started to let her tears flow freely, like the water rolling down her back. She made sure not to stay too Long in the shower, knowing Mr Ng would punish her for that. She sang a couple of songs that she knew were 3.5 minutes and she managed to get out within 8 minutes, much to her surprise. She hurriedly blew dry her hair and sat down on the chair just on time. She had expected Mr Ng to come out and talk to her, or whatever, but instead she found herself waiting there for another 10 minutes in complete silence. The walls seemed to be closing in on her, and she could only focus on her breathing. She was not going to allow herself to break down in front of this man that her mother subjected her to.
After what seemed like forever, Mr Ng finally came out. Hailey quickly sat up straight, and yet kept her head bowed. She was frightened of this man. He slapped a piece of paper on the table and hollered, "READ IT. OUT LOUD." Hailey slowly looked up at the slightly crumpled piece of paper before her, and she hesitantly read it. "Math..16 mistakes...s-science...20 mistakes...En-" Mr Ng hit her on the head and her ears started ringing. "Is this how you were taught to read?" He questioned. Hailey shook her head and did her best to read fluently. "Total...82 mistakes...." Hailey whispered the last part. Mr Ng continued to walk around her. "Look at the results yourself. Are you proud of yourself? Do you think you did your best? Will your mother be proud of you?" Mr Ng declared, causing echoes to fill the room. Hailey sighed silently, getting depressed. What Mr Ng said was true. She was doing all these to please her mother. While she detested her mother, she still wanted to be her 'perfect little angel' that she was once called. Now however, she was just that 'ungrateful good-for-nothing brat'. It was proven that she was just taking up space and resources in her house. Hailey held back a sob as she realised what she had done. She had let her mother down, and she did not even put in enough effort into her work. She was sure she could have done better.
Mr Ng sat down in front of her, his arms and legs crossed and he wore a stern expression. "Punishment time. 82 mistakes...and its only your first day. I'll just give you 41, and there is 6 lines on the wall...hmm..." Mr Ng started to grumble and yet let out a loud laugh that scared Hailey to her bones. "I have decided." Mr Ng declared. Before Hailey knew it, she was on the floor, and felt her bone hit the hard cold floor. She felt an arm pull her up and suddenly, there was pain everywhere. It was mostly on her back, on her legs, and some on her arms. Hailey let out a cry as she felt a sharp sting on her calves. She fell down once again and she could literally hear Mr Ng's words in her head. "You are nothing." "Are you proud of yourself?" "Now you could be a demure young girl" "Will your mother be proud of you?" Hailey clutched her head as she tried to rid herself of all these words. Mr Ng was yelling again, and Hailey was finally pulled from the floor again. "Good. Now that we are done with that, and I am feeling so much less stress, you can head to the exercise room and start on the treadmill. Go for a one hour run at a 6 minute pace." Mr Ng instructed before calmly going back to the study like nothing had happened before.
Hailey dragged herself to the exercise room and she could see stripes filling her calves through the mirror. Looking around to make sure no one was observing her, she quickly shuffled nearer towards the mirror to inspect her calves. After some time, she hastily ascended the treadmill and started her run. She huffed an puffed as soon as she started the run. Even though she had set the machine to increase her speed gradually, it was still too fast for her. She had not ran in such a Long time, and she had forgotten to stretch beforehand! Sighing, she focused on her breathing as she forced her legs to move to keep up with the machine.
An hour later, she was all spent and sprawled on the floor, her calves and thighs burning. She wished for water, but there was none in sight. Never had she ran that fast for a one hour run! Just then, Mr Ng came in. "What a disappointment. I want 50 squat jumps, 50 pushups and 50 sit-ups. Go!" He yelled. Hailey decided that she was going to start on the squat jumps, as he had instructed that first. She slowly pushed herself up and winced the moment she got into the squat position. She knew that she was going to be in for a Long journey.
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1264 words if you wanna know.
Hello everyone, I hope you are not mad at me for not updating much. I have been having a hard time deciding the plot of the story, and I am so sorry that we have been dragging this for so Long! Sorry for uploading so late! Thank you to everyone for supporting me through everything, I am so happy to be able to write for you guys. Hope you liked this chapter, remember to vote and comment! Stay safe and happy 😊 Peace out ✌️ 💓