Little Box of Secrets

You grew up thinking you were special. It’s not such a surprise since so many people treated you like you had it in you to make it big…to make something of yourself. Teachers favoured you, giving you the usual words of encouragement when you ended up not making it to first position during a certain term examination. They would single you out for school events to do this and to do that. Others weren’t as admirative as the teachers. Some would look at you with envy…their spiteful, venomous eyes shooting out laser beams of hatred; the sight of their bitter, scouring lips making you shudder and shut yourself deep inside your own soul. Fifteen years later, and the image still vividly plays in your memory when you close your eyes. That girl with the round face and tightly-pulled-back hair...whispering into the ears of all the girls in your class...turning friends into foes and best friends into strangers. You have forgiven her over the years but her voice and her scour still ...