something to keep y'all busy ferawhile...

hello. well, i won't be blogging for a while. so to keep yous busy - i have posted up the 'introduction' to each of the 'long ass' stories that i've been working on. i've only finished SHAWN JOHN MICHAEL. it took me a year to finish it and that was approximately 5 years ago. wow.

BEDTIME STORY was something i started writing during the whole LOTR phase. i'm up to page 70-something and i don't think i'm even halfway through the whole plot that i've thought up in my head.

The Crow is a personal project. as you can see on this site - i'm quite a fan. so i'm writing my own version of it - a Malaysian version.

leave a comment if u like. read or don't read any of it if you like. if you want more - i'll try to accomodate. will recommence standard blogging after my exams. take y'all.
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The Crow.

It was one of those days that seemed like nothing was going to happen. I woke up in the morning like I usually did. I knocked my alarm clock off my bedside table without any hesitation when it rang. I freshened up, put on my jeans and T and left for the Café Respite. That’s what I did every morning.
I got into my car and drove there. It felt like any other morning. And I thought it was going to be like any other day. But I was so wrong.

“Hey Danny, get me my coffee and usual breakfast man.” I said as I walked to my usual table in a little corner at the back of the Café. But when I turned away from Danny and looked to my table – I saw a woman seated with her back turned towards me. She looked like any other woman but there was something different. It was an aura of sadness emanating from her. I felt a huge sense of loss and it came from her.

It was then I reverted my attention back to Danny as he spoke, “Sure thing man. Getting it done as we speak…” noticing my puzzlement at this stranger seated at my usual spot, “…yeah, she’s been here all night. I would normally have reserved that table for you man – but look at her. She looks like she needs it more than you do man.”

And I stood there with Danny looking at her seated calm and serene at my table. “Yeah, she does look like she needs it more than I do.” I looked around and found that this was a busy morning for the Café. All the tables were occupied. I considered telling Danny to pack up my breakfast. However, I felt unusually drawn to this woman and decided to approach her.
“Excuse me…” I was a little taken aback as she looked at me. That aura of sadness and sense of loss seemed to amplify by the thousands as her eyes met mine. Her gaze felt heavy, distraught, confused and resigned, “…I’m sorry but would you mind if I sat with you?” gesturing her to look around to find that there is no other place for me to sit.
She looked to the empty seat in front of her and shrugged a positive shrug somewhat reluctantly. Meaning to say, although she seemed un-inclined towards the prospect of the company of a stranger, she was not all that adverse to it either. And so I sat.

There was just silence as I sat there with this woman. I could not explain it. She looked like she definitely needed to talk. But who the fuck am I to initiate anything? So, I just sat there in silence. I observed and analyzed her. She looked like someone who had just been through more than one should in a short period and was in the midst of trying to decide if she had come out of the experience with more gained or more lost?

As my coffee and breakfast came, the silence broke and she spoke to me, “It’s crazy isn’t it?” she asks in a solemn / ironic tone as she fiddles with her fingers and stares intently into her own cup of steaming hot black coffee. Danny refilled her cup when he dropped off my order.

“I’m sorry, what is crazy?”
“Life…”
For some reason, I felt comfortable having a discussion of this nature with her and I said, “Yeah, it sure is…” but before I could continue.
“…Life, death and love…” And she looks at me once again. This time I felt her sadness. It hung over me like a dark cloud erupting with lightning and rain. She took me to her sadness. She let me in.
And this was how I came to hear of this story.


In the beginning,

Approximately 2 years ago…

It was 6am. My second brother Neil came barging into my room waking me up for college. And this would be how he did it: he’d turn off the fan, turn the light on, pull my blanket off me, snatch my bolster and start whacking me on the head with it.

“Get up! It’s time for you to go to college.”

Once I sat up, he’d throw the bolster back down and leave for work. I would get changed and he would drop me off at college before driving off to work. That was the morning routine.

At the end of the day, I would go home and cook up a little dinner. Nothing too spectacular, I’d usually just cook some rice along with some stir fried vegetables, a variety of eggs ( I try to cook a different style of eggs every day ) and some meat dish. It could be Chicken Curry, Steamed salted Pork, etc.

Usually, it’d be just Neil and I. However, my eldest sister, Lisa came home for a surprise visit. It was a good surprise. She worked overseas in Singapore and she had some extra ‘day offs’ that she decided to cash in on. When Neil came home, he wasn’t surprised but he was happy to see her. She must have called him earlier. I’m always out of the loop.

It had been a really long while since we were all together. We used to have dinner together as a family at least twice a month since my parents died in a tragic car accident. We made it a point to stick together and know each other for we knew the pain of taking things for granted. All we had left was each other. We had a great dinner. In fact, we were having such a good time, we decided to not just let the night end like that. We decided to go out.





Lisa was really excited about a coming promotion. She had been working her ass off for the past 6 months and I really missed her. We only spoke on the phone and even that was rather rushed – more like a quick ‘Hello – how are you?’ – than an actual conversation. She couldn’t stop talking about all the perks she’d be getting from the promotion. She was going on about how I would not have to worry about money for a while so I wouldn’t get stuck in something I didn’t really enjoy once I graduated from college. Lisa’s like a dream sister to have.

Even Neil held himself back from the normal ‘brother-sister fights’. I could tell, he must have missed having her around too. Neil and I were close and we did talk and have fun but having Lisa around just made the atmosphere seem lighter somehow. Or maybe it was the mere fact that we were all back together again after such a long period of time.

Like I said earlier, since my parents died years ago – we always met up quite regularly. But the job offer Lisa got in Singapore was too good to pass up. However, her recent promotion now allows for her to be here more. She’d be heading up a branch of her office here in Malaysia. Things were going to be a lot better.

We wanted to go to the mamak in Section 17 that we normally frequented. However, to our dismay, the place was closed for some unknown reason. So, we went driving around till we found a place. It looked a little dodgy but it didn’t matter, we were together.

The mamak was a hawker stall that was set up on the outside of an alley and the tables were set up inside the alley, out of sight from the main road. By the time we found this place it was already 3 am. Anyway, we sat down and ordered our drinks and started talking again. Neil started talking about his work and the troubles with women he was having. I remained somewhat silent and just soaked in the joy of having the three of us together again.

I can’t remember how long afterwards, it could have been an hour later, this guy holding on to a duffel bag and what looked like a four year old kid ran into the alley and fell over some of the mamak chairs and tables.5 guys came up behind him holding butcher’s knives, chains and sticks. The 5 guys looked like typical street thugs and they didn’t look too happy.

At this point, Lisa got up and said, “Shit. We better get out of here. This doesn’t look good.”

So, the three of us got up, turned our backs against the scene where the thugs surrounded the man and started beating him up. I felt so angry that we couldn’t do more than try to call the police who would take forever to come anyway.



But just as were getting into the car, we heard the man shout in Cantonese, “Do whatever you want to me but please don’t hurt my son! He’s done nothing to you!”
This was where Neil said, “Hell no! I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself I didn’t do something. Lisa, use my phone, call the police. Stay in the car and lock the doors. Michael, pop the trunk!”

I knew what he wanted to do. And I wanted to go with him but I was too afraid. Neil was a big guy. And he was tough too. He used to kickbox and was a mean ‘wing-chun’ martial artist. He grabbed a staff which he kept in the trunk and ran towards the whole ordeal almost without hesitation. He shouted, “Leave the kid alone!” in Cantonese.

It was amazing. I’ve seen Neil training and even in fights before but those were merely tournaments. This was for real and Neil beat the crap out of the 5 thugs. They didn’t look like they could even put up a fight. But then a van pulled up and 6 more thugs came pouring out of the van. This was far too much for Neil. I knew he needed help and the police were still nowhere to be seen.
I couldn’t just leave Neil. So, I told Lisa to drive out of there while I got out of the car to help Neil. He taught me how to kickbox and for a while, we put up some kind of fight as we tried to escape but to no avail. There were too many of them and I wasn’t strong enough. The man the thugs were chasing in the first place tried to help but he was too weak as well. We were all overpowered and got beaten up senseless.

It was then I heard Lisa screaming. They must have seen me coming out of the car and stopped her from escaping! One thug was pulling her by the hair holding a knife to her neck as he dragged her over from the car to where the rest of us were. This was when another 2 men stepped out of the van. One was smaller and dressed quite smartly in a coat, shirt and tie – black and white. Next to him was a bigger man, muscle bound, bald and had a scar on his face.

The smaller sized one spoke to the thug who held Lisa, “What the fuck is this?”

“We were chasing Paul and he ran here. Then that guy (he points at Neil) comes in…”

He was cut off, “ENOUGH!” He walks over to Paul who was bleeding profusely and was trying to beg for his son’s life. “You think you can rat out on me, steal my money and then beg for anyone’s life?” He then laughs a sinister laugh and continues, “Ok, this should be interesting. I’d like to see you beg. Get up on your knees and beg!”

I was so angry watching this insane man torture someone but my leg was broken and Neil was unconscious. I looked to Lisa and her eyes darted back and forth, when I caught her eye, I could tell, she was too afraid to do anything. I returned my attention to Paul. He tried his best to get up on his knees despite his broken arm and numerous injuries. He props himself up and started to plead for his son’s life, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Please…please…you can do anything you want with me…(sob). I’m sorry…but please don’t hurt my son, he’s still so young…(sob)” as he kow-towed grimacing in pain each time he moved a single limb.

The man just stared back at Paul with a blank expression. And his mouth cracked into an evil smile as he sported a bemused expression. He looked back at the muscle man and said, “Lee! What do you think? Should I grant his request?”

Lee just shrugged and said, “Why not?”

At that, the man nodded and in one swift motion pulled a gun out from his jacket and shot Paul in the head, point blank right in between the eyes. I’ll never forget that sight. Lisa screamed as Paul’s body fell to the ground and his son was going hysterical, crying and shouting, “Papa! Papa!”

The man then threw the gun to Lee and walked back into his car. Lee walked over to the thug who was holding Lisa and passed the gun over to him. “Leong Chai, do whatever you want to these people but make sure they’re dead once you lot are done with them ok?” he said in Cantonese.

Leong nodded and grinned. As Lee drove off with the other man, Leong and his gang of thugs dragged all of us into a warehouse nearby. They tied us all up. They raped Lisa right in front of me. They took turns. And they raped her. I remember her screams but what I’ll never forget is when she went silent. That didn’t stop them. They still kept on pounding at her, laughing. She wasn’t dead yet physically. But I knew they had already killed her spirit. Lisa was already dead inside. Her face was blank and devoid of any feeling, eyes barely blinking as she stared at thin air.

When Neil woke up and saw Lisa being raped, he screamed at the thugs, trying to break free of the ropes and tape we had been bounded with. “NO! Lisa! NO! You fuckers…! Let me go! Stop!”

Leong then walked over to Neil with the gun. He looked straight into Neil’s eyes, looking him down – and Neil looked right back with fury in his eyes. Leong then spat at Neil’s face and shot him in the head. The bullet went right through the side of Neil’s head. He had turned his face away, facing me as Leong spat at him. I watched the side of his head blow open as his eyes were open as well – shocked and blank – looking right at me as his body fell lifeless to the ground.

My heart stopped right there and then fell. My mouth was open but no scream came. I was at a loss. I didn’t know what to do.

I looked up and saw Leong walk towards me. “So, you still studying? How old are you?”
I just stared at him defiantly. Tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.

“Aww…crying like a little baby.” Then Leong slapped me across the face, “I asked you a question!”

I didn’t feel the slap at all. “I’m 22.”

Leong smiled, “Hey…same as me. We could be a lot alike, maybe even friends if we met under different circumstances. But you know the cardinal difference between you and I right now?” He pauses and looks at me, expecting an answer.

I was so angry, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.

“I’ll tell you. I’ll still be alive tomorrow.” And he shot me.

The last thing I remember as I went down was the sound of Paul’s son crying and the last thing my eyes registered was the body of Lisa lying across the room, motionless and then black.
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SHAWN JOHN MICHAEL…

Once upon a time, in a land unknown to all yet familiar to many, there lived a boy...no...more of a man...yet not...so I guess that would make him a half man...oh there's an official term for that. Lost and rebellious as in...he was a teenager. So he lived his life...dangerously...as in he ate a lot of unhealthy food.
Anyway, that's another story. So, one day, he met this really beautiful girl...no...more of a woman...(I think you know where this is going...) she was a teenager. And when he saw her. Stop. Look. Cannot stop looking. *Dup, dup, dup*(sound in head)*ring, ring, ring*(also sound in head)...then AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"(sound not in head, from mouth) he fell into a manhole. A BIG manhole. Very BIG. And it was full of fasces (just a more 'canggih' word for "shit")...other people's fasces. He felt stupid. Really, really stupid.
Then...the workers working on the manhole pulled him up. Actually it was just one of the workers who helped him out. The other workers were contented with covering up the manhole with him in there. They still get paid anyway, besides, when someone finally realizes he is down there. The workers would get paid again to pull him out. But worker Carl decided to pull him out. As worker Carl was pulling him out, he accidentally tugged on worker Carl too hard and worker Carl fell into an empty part of the manhole and landed on his head. Worker Carl died.

Installment 2
But wait a second. I’m getting ahead of myself. You do not even know this boy, no more of a man…(I’m sure you know where this is going…). I have not even told you of his name. Which I think would be pretty important wouldn’t it? Especially this fella’s name. He grew up with it(not unlike most of us…). A lot of habits bad or good have been formed because of his name. How he thinks, acts, reacts, etc. has a LOT to do with his name. So since I have somehow managed to come to the conclusion that this name is rather important, I suppose I should tell you his name.
His name is Shawn John Michael. Bet you’re saying to yourself what sort of name is Shawn John Michael! Yes, that’s the same thing Shawn or John or Michael has been asking himself all his life. Especially after he came home from the first day of school when the teacher thought he was joking when he was asked to introduce himself in front of his class. Plus it didn’t help much when he couldn’t answer little Kathy when she put up her hand and asked him what they should call him. He didn’t know. His parents and family who is the only people who call him, usually just refer fondly to him as “Boy…” or if they were angry they would go not so fondly, “ BOY!!!…” and if they were trying to comfort him they would go…”Boy…Boy…”. He was convinced that the reason everyone called him that because they could never remember his name. On the other hand, he can't say that for sure.
Shawn or John or Michael…(which ever you would like to call him, I’ll just call him Boy). Boy stood in front of the class for a long while, and pondered at this seemingly very baffling question. And then he cried. Laughing. Jeering. Kids could be so cruel at the age of 7. Boy ran out screaming for his Mummy. Things took a turn for the worse when he tripped and fell over his untied shoelace. Boy never wanted to go to school ever again. Every time he saw little Kathy, he wanted to kill her. When he looked at her, his mind stopped and could only register one word at a time. It usually went like this in his head, “Little Kathy. Kill. Gun. No. Push. Cliff. Building. No.-“(I think you know where this is going). When a 7 year old starts thinking like that, you sort of wonder what sort of man he would grow up to be. Kids also used to call him the kid with three first names and that used to crack them up. Boy never ever, till this day found the humor in that statement.

Installment 3
Elsewhere, somewhere in that place not known to all yet familiar to many, lived a woman…no more of a girl…yet not, so I guess that would make her a half girl. There’s an official term for that of course. She’s confusing and gets a kick out of teasing the opposite sex. Some people would say she’s a teenager. I’ll call her an extremely attractive teenager. Somebody with the style of a Queen, the grace of ballerina, the body of Hercules…(just joking, checking to see whether you’re paying attention) and the beauty of a Goddess. Not just any Goddess…but the Goddess. This time I will tell you her name first. It wasn’t an odd name. It wasn’t a spectacular name. It was just a name. Her name is Katherine Lee Bonk. I bet you just went, ”Katherine Lee what?” and my reply will be, “Katherine Lee Bonk.” Yes I did just say "Bonk".
I would go on and tell you her life story about how and why her parents named her Katherine Lee Bonk. There actually isn’t a “Bonk” in the family name. But the mother and father thought it appropriate to put “Bonk” in her name without thinking about the difficulties Katherine might face whenever she tries to introduce herself. There’s actually a really funny and interesting story attached to “Bonk”. But that’s another story.
Anyway, Katherine was walking along a street on her way to a party. She looked good, as usual. Good is really an understatement. She looked great. Super great. Greatness incorporated. But I’m getting carried away. I’m guessing you get my drift. Let’s just put it this way. She has the type of looks that would make any average ‘Joe’ with a low self-esteem problem go like this…”Stop. Look. Cannot stop looking. *dup, dup, dup*(sound in head)*ring, ring, ring*(also sound in head)...then "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"(sound not in head, from mouth)”. Sound of mouth usually comes when the average ‘joe’ runs into a lamp post or maybe falls into a manhole on the street.(hmm…sounds familiar no?)
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Bedtime story...

This is a tale of long ago, in a realm long forgotten. ‘tis a realm not much different than of our own but simpler. The name of this realm just like its existence is also long forgotten. However, it is known that it mainly divided into two parts, namely the Goodlands and the Darklands. Very few areas of this realm were in between. There were many struggles and wars fought among the inhabitants of both lands trying to defend or expand what land they already hand. The tale you are about to hear, is merely one of the few great ones.

The air was cold, the night was silent but the moon was shining bright. ‘twas so bright that the light illuminating from it was enough to light the path of a lonely traveler through the Dark Woods. However, in his haste, he did not notice a hint of mist starting to materialize. Soon the moon would be shrouded, and then this lonely traveler will then come to realize once again why the Dark Woods was given its name.

It was imperative for this to take place; this was something she knew all too well. Without the union of the two kingdoms, both will surely fall unto the hands of the dark forces that were rebuilding themselves somewhere in the Darklands. She was a Princess, thus meaning she would have to sacrifice certain things in the interest of keeping her kingdom safe.
She is well aware that her father, King Satur, ruler of the kingdom of Bravado, has tried every other means of gathering a force formidable enough to face the imminent rising of the dark forces. But nothing he did seemed to be enough. So, the only way was to marry off his precious daughter to the somewhat unruly King Beasely, ruler of the kingdom of Nautease. Nautease was a place where people who did not want to be found go to in the Goodlands. It was the only place in the Goodlands that would entertain those who did not want to be found. King Beasely was never known as a trustworthy King, so he always had a formidable size of an army but even he knew that it was sheer lunacy trying to face down the forces of darkness alone.
He needs the union just as much as the kingdom of Bravado needed it, but King Satur was a simple man and was tricked into believing that he did not and as a gesture of good faith, he promised his daughter Princess Sarine to him, the fairest Princess of all Kingdoms.
Thus, explains Princess Sarine’s journey to the kingdom of Nautease. Because of the urgency of this union, her route of travel had to be the quickest and the quickest way was to go through the Dark Woods. However, there are parties who do not want this union to take place, so she was traveling with light armor and very few but skilled guards of Honor. This was to avoid any sort of unnecessary attention.
Traveling through the Dark Woods is always dangerous but the beasts stay in if the moon is bright and according to the relevant calendars, tonight was supposed to be the night of the brightest moon. The guards were to busy trying to get out of the Woods as quick as they could, they did not notice a mist starting to form.

It began to get cold, the lonely traveler noticed the air start to stiffen as a light shade of a mist began to form right before his eyes and finally noticing the waning moon, he knew that he would not be able to make it out of the wood before total darkness engulfs all light and the Beasts of the Wood begin to roam.
Nobody has ever faced the Beasts of the Wood and lived to tell the tale. Myth has it that the Beasts used to be human. They were mean and ruthless men of riches and sold their souls to Evil in order to gain wealth. The Dark Woods was where these people ended up when their time was up in the land of mortals. They were cursed to roam the Woods for all of eternity not as the dead or the undead; they will always be in a state of limbo, one foot in and one foot out.
There was only one way to avoid these Beasts of the Wood, one would have to find the tallest tree that is closest and climb it and stay there till daybreak and hope that the Beasts do not suddenly decide to look up in your tree. The lonely traveler looked around and found one that was not as tall as he would want, but noticing the moon disappearing from the sky and the mist forming rapidly, muttering to himself, “Beggars can’t be choosers…” he climbed the tree and sat upon the thickest branch he could find.

The Princess began to notice that her carriage was beginning to pick up speed and the sense of urgency emanating from the guards seemed more apparent. They have finally noticed the rapidly forming mist and the dissipating light from the moon, soon it would be dark and nobody wants to remain in the dark wood when darkness overwhelms the light.
Princess Sarine was well aware of the dangers that lurk in the dark wood after dark. She queried her guards whether they would be able to make it out on time before darkness arrives. They seemed confident. So she remained calm.

This was not the lonely traveler’s first time being stuck in Dark Woods after light makes way for the dark. In fact, he still remembers vividly his close encounter with a Beast of the Wood. He was merely a few steps away before he was out of the jungle when darkness fell. Suddenly a figure, humanoid in form appeared directly in front of him blocking his path. It was a hooded figure with it’s back faced to him.
The lonely traveler’s instincts told him that this was no mortal. So his step became swifter as he walked around this hooded figure hoping to get by, but the figure reached out and held the traveler by his shoulder. With one swift motion the traveler unsheathed his sword and cut the figure’s arm off and ran towards the light outside of the jungle. He did not look back but he was very sure that the figure was right behind him all the way. He made it out and that was all that mattered. He heaved a sigh of relief thanking God for letting him live for another day.
Just then, darkness came and he heard the sounds of hooves and a moving carriage.

The guards began to panic. Darkness had arrived and they were nowhere near the edge of the jungle. They did not know how to face the Beasts of the Wood. However, they were the best of the best from where they came from. As of yet, they have not faced anything that they were unable to overcome. Hence, they felt that they would be able to rise to the occasion if they had to face these Beasts.
All of a sudden, the carriage stopped. Princess Sarine heard nothing. She tried to peer through the crevices of her carriage but the guard inside told her not to do so. But he looked outside.

He could see it all from where he was situated up in the tree. It would all be over in a matter of minutes. A band of five men is definitely not enough to face the Beasts. Normally, he would just leave foolhardy men such as these to their own fate. But then, he noticed the carriage door open and he saw Princess Sarine and everything suddenly made sense. He had heard about the fixed marriage and he thought they were only rumors. Besides he gave the King’s guard a little more credit because he thought they would have been against traveling through the Dark Woods.
Obviously, he was wrong. This lonely traveler has done a lot bad deeds in his life, most of which, he can never be redeemed. But this was too much; he had to do something. He saw the bushes rustling not very far away; he knew time was short. He had to act quickly or all would be lost.
He leapt off the tree and made a run for the carriage.

Before they could react, hooded figures were appearing out of the darkness. In a matter of seconds, the carriage and guards were surrounded instantly. There was no way out. Ten hooded figures wielding weapons from swords, axes, spears and such were just standing there. They did nothing.
Then a gust of wind blew. It was as cold as the chill of a winter’s morning and the stench of death reeked from the surroundings. And the within the wind, it seemed to say, “…kill…” a chilling whisper.
And they attacked.
It was gruesome. The Kings guards were men of honor and great skill. They put up an awesome fight. They managed to kill off 6 of the hooded figures before the remaining four finished them off. The remaining guard tried to lock himself and the Princess within the carriage. But the 4 Beasts were too strong. They pulled the carriage doors open and dragged the guard out.
The guard was fending them off as best he could.

Just as the guard was about to be slashed from behind, the lonely traveler arrived and killed the Beast and proceeded to help kill off the rest. The guard stumbled away as the lonely traveler took over. His skill with the sword was amazing. It was as if the sword was an extension of his arm. The strokes were flawless and swift. And within moments, the remaining 3 Beasts were defeated.
The lonely traveler then turned and faced the guard and Princess and said, “I must have lost my mind. Come, we must go, climb that tree.” They were just about to ask why when he said, “Don’t ask! There’s no time. More will come! Just do as I say if you want to live!”
The guard was injured and was unable to carry the Princess up the tree. Without any hint of hesitation, the traveler came and instructed the Princess to get up his back as he carried her up the tree.
When they reached a big branch where they could rest, the traveler said, “We’ll be safe here. Just be quiet and rest. You will need your strength. The Princess and guard had enough for one night. They did exactly what he said.
As they fell asleep, the lonely traveler looked out into the dense jungle of the Dark Woods and hoped to God that the Beasts do not decide to look up this tree. He looked down on the bodies of the slain Beasts…they were no longer slain. They were up again and they just retreated back into the darkness.
He knew there was a long journey ahead. This will be a gargantuan task. He did not sleep that night.