Congratulations to our student Devin Ding for achieving a Gold Award for Creative Writing at this year’s SPAF 2021. All of us at J Carter Centre is so proud of your achievement. You can read his wonderful story below:

An Act of Kindness By Devin Ding

“Help!” A familiar voice rang out. Noting that the sound was coming from the other side of the park, I limped towards the source of the noise. Hiding behind the bushes, I peered over them…

“Are you done yet?” My brother shouted up the stairs. “Almost done! “I replied. I bolted down the stairs to join my brother. It was an average Sunday morning, and the sun was shining majestically. “The perfect weather to rollerblade, “I thought. Clad in protective gear, I was ready to roller skate with my brother. “Let’s go! And last one to the lake is a rotten egg!” He sped off, leaving me grumbling about the unfair head start he got. I soon followed him, determined to make him succumb to defeat! Soon, I was gaining on him, and we were still a distance away from the lake. “Oof!” I crashed into a bush. I had failed to notice the innocuous stone in the middle of the path until the very last minute where I swerved right and crashed into the bushes. “Looks like I’m the rotten egg again!” I sighed.

Getting up, I felt something trickling down my leg. I looked down, only to see vermilion blood all over my knee. Taking my gear off and placing them into a small bag, I made my way to the toilet and managed to clean my wound. I then placed a plaster over it. Resting on the bench, I looked off into the distance, lost in my reverie. “Help!” a voice screamed, breaking me from my trance. The voice was familiar, but I could not make out the owner of the voice. Worried, I made my way to the source of the sound and hid behind some bushes. Peering through the gap in the bushes, I screamed internally in horror. Sarah, my classmate was being bullied by Jake, our school bully! Must have been because Sarah told our teacher what Jake was doing behind their backs. Though I was larger than him, he was known to put up scuffle with anybody and in the process, seriously hurting them! If I decided to confront him, I would be beaten like piñatas!

I was caught in a moral dilemma as I pondered what to do. “Go and help Sarah, Sam.” A voice in my head said, “You should stand up to bullies and help your classmates.” “But what if he hurts me? “I murmured, waiting for a response. However, the voice was no more, reduced to a mere echo in my head. “Okay, I shall help her.” With that, I stood up walked into the open field.

“Stop picking on her, you bully!” I shouted at Jake, who turned his head around and looked at me in shock. All of a sudden, he threw his head back and hollered with laughter. “You think you can stop me, wimp? Of course not! Stop trying to be the hero!” He replied maliciously, amused by my sudden outburst. However, I was not at all affected by his untrue words. “No, you are the wimp! You bully others because you just want people to know that you are strong, but you’re not!” “How dare you…” With that, he charged at me, his fists raised.

The blow never came, and I slowly peeked out of the tiny slits in my eyelids. “Sorry, sir!” Jake was apologising meekly. Looking around, I could see my headmaster, towering over Jake, arms akimbo. Turning towards me, he smiled kindly. “Are you okay? I am proud that you stood up to Jake!” he said, before turning to Jake, his face stern again, and said, “As for you, I will call your parents!” Mumbling, I said I was okay. “Thanks, Sam! Thanks for helping me!” Sarah said gratefully.

I then walked home with my brother, who had a perplexed look on his face as he had searched for me around the park but had not found me until now. As I related the incident to him, he gaped in awe and patted me on the shoulder said, “Whoa, brother! You stood up to Jake? Cool! He will know never to mess with us again!”