This Girl's life (part 3)

“Here, my mother made fried mee hoon. More than I can eat. Have some,” said Sofia putting some mee hoon in the paper plate that she had brought along. Ana pushed the paper plate to Sofia.

‘I’m full. You finish it,” said Ana looking at the food as if it was some strange life form.

“I want you to have it,” said Sofia indignantly and pushed the plate back to Ana.

Seeing how earnest Sofia wanted her friend to take the portion. Ana obligingly obeyed and accepted the plastic fork that Sofia forward to her. Sofia was digging in her third fork full of mee hoon when she noticed that her friend hadn’t started eating and was busy scraping the mee hoon with her fork. Sofia was about to say something when Ana excused herself to go to the toilet. Sofia stared after her friend and looked back at the uneaten mee hoon on her plate.

This wasn’t the first time her friend had avoided eating. It was a month since they became close friends. At first Sofia didn’t find anything strange about her eating habit. They would go to the cafeteria together during break, Sofia would buy her food while Anna bought drinks, normally it would just be mineral water for her. When Sofia asked, she would just say that she had a heavy breakfast and changed the subject. Sometimes Ana would buy a bun when Sofia insisted that Ana eat along with her. Ana would take small bites on her bun. So small were the bites that they were hardly visible.

Sofia sighed and finished off her portion. A Chinese girl wearing a PBSM T-shirt approached the table at the cafeteria.

“Are you ready? We’re leaving for the Recreational Park now,” said the girl.

Sofia sighed again and threw her plate in the dustbin. She didn’t want to join their Red Crescent Society annual camping trip but their society teacher informed that it was compulsory for all members and the additional activity would help in their school records. Sofia reached for her knapsack and grabbed Ana’s knapsack along.

What was taking Ana so long? Sofia looked at the uneaten food on the table and sadly took the plate and threw it in the dustbin. There was no time to eat the food and it would be spoilt by afternoon.

Ana came soon after and the two girls along with the rest of the society members headed to the Seremban Recreational in a bus.

Camp wasn’t that fun especially when they had to set up tent at the side of a hill. The two girls were afraid that they might slide down the hill in their sleep! The park was a small valley surrounded with trees and below the valley was a man-made stream. Floating on the stream were two run down hunt that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. The wooden floorings at the entrance of the hunts were weak and some of them were broken.

They spent the first day of camp on First Aid Training, practice march and survival training through the course that the park had set up for campers. By the end of the day both girls were worn out and neither of them had any appetite for dinner.

It was at the end of the second day that things had gone wrong. The whole day was spent with activities, with First Aid Training in the morning, followed by treasure hunt and march practice in the afternoon along with sports. Their schedule was so tight that the only break time that they had was during their lunch and tea break. Sofia hungrily munched her doughnut and was so preoccupied with the food in front of her that she didn’t notice whether Ana had eaten her food.

The members were divided into different teams that afternoon, Sofia and Ana were in a different team. Both of them entered in the sack running competition.

Sofia and Ana got ready at the starting point watching one of the committee members, a short stocky Chinese boy getting ready to flag them off. Sofia got into the sack and held her sack firmly. She glance at Ana beside her.

“Do you want to bet who will reach the finishing line?” asked Sofia grinning at her friend. Ana smiled at her and focus at the flag off point, but before she turned Sofia noticed that her lips were pale and she looked tired. She didn’t have time to ask Ana whether she was alright when they were flagged ff. Ana leaped in front and hobbled forward holding tightly to the sack. Seeing her fast speeding in front, Sofia planted her feet at the two corners of the sack and made giants strides forward. She quickened her pace and didn’t even notice that she had passed Ana when she tripped knee first on the hard rocky gravel. Sofia struggled to get up and saw the committee and the rest of the members rushing towards her. At first she thought that they were rushing to help her, when all of them had passed her that she realizead something had happened to Ana.
Sofia turned and saw Ana on the ground motionless. Sofia’s first notion was that her friend had also tripped and slid down the hard ground. Sofia watched with big eyes as Ramlan and Bai Yoon, two of the committees turned her over. Her eyes were closed and her face was deathly pale.

Sofia forgot the pain on her leg and rushed to her friend. The rest of the Red Crescent members were crowded around them. Su Chee, a tall lanky girl in the same class as Ana was calling out Ana’s name. Ramlan was busy fanning her and ordering one of the juniors to get some water. Su Chee gently wiped a piece of wet cloth on Ana’s face. Sofia was relieved when her friend opened her eyes and looked around with a confused expression. Sofia rushed and hugged her friend in front of the crowd.
“Are you ok?” asked Sofia worriedly. Ana nodded her head weakly and tried to get up. She nearly fell if Sofia hadn’t grabbed her waist and steadied her friend. Bai Yoon got hold of Ana’s other arm and together the two of them managed to get Ana back to their tent. Sofia was surprised at how small her friend’s waist, there wasn’t much meat on her and her rib were jutting out. At the committee’s insistence that Ana got some ret before the next activity. Everyone was worried for her and wanted to send her to the clinic but he stubbornly decline and said that she was just tired.

Ssofia limped out of the tent feeling the sting of her own injury. Bai Yoon was outside the tent sitting on the man-made bench that her team had made earlier. He had a first aid kit on his lap.

“I don’t think Ana need that. She’s already asleep,” said Sofia sitting at the edge of the bench. Bai Yoon shook his head and pointed at her kneecap. Sofia didn’t notice before that her tracksuit was thorn at the kneecap where she had fallen. It was the first time that she realized her wound was bleeding. She was too preoccupied with Ana and forgot about it. Bai Yoo kneeled down in front of her and started to wash the wound with sterile water. Sofia watched him bandage the cut feeling more than a little touched by the boy’s kindness and also a little flattered. It wasn’t everyday that one of the handsomest Red Crescent committee member would take notice of you. His fair complexion, red blood smooth lips and short black spiky hair was enough to make any girl squeal. Sofia couldn’t help blushing when he smooth the side of the bandage with his fingers and accidentally touched her skin.

Bai Yoon got up and sat back on the bench.

“Thank you,” said Sofia feeling shy. Bai Yoon nodded.

“Your friend is very light,” said Bai Yoon. Sofia was still recovering from his touch when she realized he was talking about Ana.

“Does she always like to wear big clothes?” asked Bai Yoon. Sofia didn’t answer immediately. Ana did wear oversize clothes, sometimes she just wore t-shirts inside so that it didn’t look too obvious. It struck Sofia funny why Ana didn’t buy clothes that fit her, she didn’t come from a poor family and she was the only child in the family with her father as a single parent. Sofia had met him once when he came to pick Ana up from school.

“Did she eat anything for breakfast?” asked Bai Yoon disturbing Sofia from her trail of thought.

“I think a little. Ana doesn’t have a huge appetite.”

“You should insist that she eat. Our activities need energy. She must have been so exhausted without any food to give her some strength. That’s why she fainted. I’ll come over again and bring some food for her to eat,” said Bai Yoon getting up. Sofia thanked him again for his kindness and watched him walk off to join the rest of the members.

True to his word, Bai Yoon did come back later that evening bringing some buns and an orange juice for Ana. Seated in the tent together with Bai Yoon, Ana took the food and told him that she was feeling better and would eat the food later. Surprisingly Bai Yoon was stubborn as Ana and was very persistent that she should at least eat a bun before he leaved their tent. With Sofia and Bai Yoon sitting in front of the entrance and looking firmly at her, Ana finally gave in and took a bite from the bun.

“Satisfied?” asked Ana chewing a mouthful of the bun and looked sarcastically at Bai Yoon. Sofia looked from one person to the other. Why were they so persistent over a piece of food? Bai Yoon didn’t immediately leave, only when Ana had finished the whole piece of bun did he leave but Sofia noticed that there was a change of attitude in Ana’s manner after that. She was more cranky and moody.

That night was the last night of their camping trip. The committees had organized a barbeque for all of them.


Sofia coughed at the amount of smoke that was up her face. Her right hand was busy fanning the fire below trying to get it lit up and cook her poor cold looking chicken wings.

“Boo,” said a voice behind startling her. Sofia turned around, her eyes half closed, blinded from all the smoke that had gotten into it. Her nose was smudged black from touching the black charcoal and rubbing her itchy nose.

“How’s it going?” asked Bai Yoon smiling at her.

“Why don’t you committee members just torture us. I’m never going to get this chicken cooked,” said Sofia mournfully. Without warning she gave a loud sneezed, right into his white PBSM t-shirt.

“Yuck,” was the only word he said when he saw saliva plastered on his t-shirt. Horrified by what she had done, she grabbed a piece of cloth beside her and tried to wipe his t-shirt only to find that the cloth was dirty with charcoal dust. Instead of helping she had turned his nice white t-shirt into black smudges. Bai Yoon didn’t say anything and he didn’t look angry, he grabbed the fan from Sofia. He pushed her aside and like a pro at barbequing concentrated at the task of getting the barbeque ready for the poor hungry 42 members along with the committees who were eagerly waiting for the barbequed chicken wing.

Feeling stupid Sofia sat on a large rock and watched the campfire crackled while most of the members were busy eating the food laid on a picnic table. She was still feeling sorry for herself when a plate of chicken wings and fried rice was held in font of her. Sofia looked up and saw a grinning Bai Yoon looking down at her. He placed the plate on the ground beside Sofia and looked around.

“Where’s Ana?” asked Bai Yoon.

“She went to the toilet with Su Chee,” said Sofia through bites of the delicious sweet chicken wing.

“But Su Chee’s over there,” said Bai Yoon pointing to the lanky girl who was approaching the picnic table. There was no Ana walking beside her.

Bai Yoon called out to Su Chee. When Su Chee walked up to them, he asked where Ana was.

“She’s up at the tent. She said that she wasn’t feeling well. I came down to get some food then rush up to accompany her,” said Su Chee. Bai Yoon frowned.

Sofia was turning back to her delicious food when she felt Bai Yoon pulled on her sleeves.

“We better check whether she’s find or not. We should have sent her to the clinic. Probably she’s having gastric,” said Bai Yoon walking towards the camping area with Sofia walking behind him.


They approached Sofia’s tent. The gasoline lamp was hung outside the tent entrance but the two of them didn’t see any shadows inside. Probably Ana had fallen asleep.

“Hey, Ana. We brought some food for you,” said Sofia crawling inside the tent when she suddenly stopped. There was no one there. It was empty. Sofia quickly crawled out of the tent.

“She’s not here,” said Sofia to Bai Yoon who was waiting outside. Both of them were getting worried. Rule number one : never leave the camping area alone. Where could she have gone? The two of them decided to check the girls’ toilet located at the far end of their camping area. The lights of the toilet were always switched on during the night but its isolated location was the reason why the committees had encouraged the female members to go there in fours.

With their flashlight at hand, Sofia and Bai Yoon headed towards the ladies toilet. There was no path to the toilet. The park had been left unattended for so long, undergrowth and sharp thorny vines had covered the pathway to the toilet. In the dark Sofia struggled through the vines growing on the pathway. It would have been easier to see if they had brought the lamp along.

It was a small toilet area and the sound inside can easily vibrate through the small building and be heard outside. The two of them could hear someone coughing and then throwing up inside the toilet. It sounded like whoever it was having a bad case of food poisoning.

Sofia wanted to call out Ana’s name but Bai Yoon grabbed her shoulder and shook his head. The two of them waited outside and heard the person inside throwing up again. The person moaned in pained and coughed. Whoever it was inside didn’t sound so good. Sofia and Bai Yoon could hear the faucet turned on and heard splashed of water.

Sofia could see a figure starting towards the entrance.

Without thinking she jumped in front of the entrance door and shouted.

“Ana!” before she could continue further, Sofia saw the startled look on her friend’s face, her big eyes looked at her so startled, then those big eyes winched in pain. Ana doubled and clenched her chest. She was trying to get big gulps of air into her lungs. Ana looked up at Sofia with an expression full of pain her lips were pale and quivering. Before Sofia could do anything Ana fell to the floor motionless. Bai Yoon was immediately at her side. He felt her pulse. He looked up at Sofia’s face with a worried look.

“Go down to the committees and asked the president to call for an ambulance. GO!” shouted Bai Yoon. Bai Yoon was muttering something to himself. But Sofia could hear a little and it sounded like ‘ She can’t be having a heart attack. She can’t’

Sofia was so startled. How could her friend have a heart attack? She was 15 for goodness sake! She was still frozen at the spot when Bai Yoon shoved her shoulder hard. She fell to the ground still looking at Ana.

“What are you doing here? GO!” shouted Bai Yoon. Sofia scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could at the barbeque area. The president was talking to some of the juniors. She rushed up to him and quickly explained the situation to him. The committee members had a cell phone and he immediately dialed for an ambulance to the camping area. Then he and some of the committees rushed to help Bai Yoon.

Sofia watched as she followed Bai Yoon along in the ambulance to the hospital. She was still in a dazed. Did she caused her friend to have a heart attack. It was harmless joke. She only wanted to startle her friend for causing them to worry for her. How could she have a heart attack? She was only 15! She kept thinking about this while she was waiting outside the emergency room.

Bai Yoon approached her with two paper cups of hot chocolate. He sat on the sit beside her and handed one of the cups to her. Sofia didn’t say anything to him she was still in shock. She tried calling Ana’s father but his mobile phone couldn’t be reached. She didn’t know who else to contact and how to help her friend.

“Su Chee is keeping your knapsack wit her. She will send it to your home later,” said Bai Yoon softly beside her. Sofia nodded and mumbled a thank you. She was clenching the paper up with both of her hands, but her mind was numb.

“How could she have a heart attack. She’s just 15 “said Sofia still looking in front.

“The doctors are still looking into that. WE don’t know whether she had any health problem before. Her approval form from her parents didn’t said any heart problems. Did she ever fainted before or unwell?” asked Bai Yoon.

“Not that I know off. She moved into our school 2 month ago. We became friends about a month ago. She was healthy. She never had a fever only a few colds and coughing fits sometimes beside that nothing serious. Except that she hardly eats.”

“She is very skinny. When I was trying to help her on the stretcher, I could feel her ribs and hip bone. Does she have any problems at home?” asked Bai Yoon. Sofia shook her head. They hardly talked about their personal problems. Ana was always the happy one between the two of them although neither of them were very sociable with the rest of their classmates. They were more of a loner, the two of them. That was one of the reason the Red Crescent advisory teacher and also their Math teacher had encouraged them to go for the camping trip so that they could socialize.

“Did I caused her to have a heart attack?” asked Sofia looking at Bai Yoon. She looked so scared and so timid. Bai Yoon shook his head and touched her sleeve, he didn’t realize that Sofia was shaking. Sofia tried to call Ana’s father again and managed to leave a voice mail. She took a deep breath and looked at the clock. It was 12 a.m. Ana had been in the emergency room for an hour now.

What was taking the doctor so long…