I woke up the next day with my knees clicking whenever I bend and straighten them. My bones made cracking noises as I stretched. My whole body was surprisingly sore from the mini training yesterday. It didn’t occur to me that those small movements can cause such a horrid ache on my triceps.
When I left my corner, Mr. Huang was already in the kitchen, making some breakfast for the both of us. I took my toiletries and proceeded to walked down the short corridor to the toilet to brushed my teeth. After freshening up, I walked back to my corner to drop my toiletries and strolled into the kitchen, taking an apple and biting into it. The juice flooding my taste bud. The sour tang stood out and it popped my eyes open.
“Good, you’re awake. Now, let’s eat. We’ve got a lot to cover and I expect you to master them. Since we only have two weeks or maybe even less, we can’t waste any more time so eat up.” Mr. Huang didn’t even bother making small talk and I followed through. I picked up the wooden chopsticks and started eating.
It was a lot of trouble trying to eat using chopsticks because I’ve always preferred spoons and forks over them. I’ve used them once or twice but my parents always told me that the way I held them was kind of weird and they never corrected me. I suspected Bryant had something to do with that because he was the one who’s always believed in uniqueness and he had always encouraged me to do things differently.
It took some time for me to finish up because of my unskilled fingers in using the utensil but I finally shoved the last bit into my mouth and rinsed the dishes quickly. I tied up my hair and put on some deodorant to get ready to start training again. Walking out of the cabin, I jogged to where Mr. Huang was standing, eyes closed and legs slightly apart while his hands were clasped together behind him.
“Today is going to be the day you revise.” I frowned at that, not liking the sound of the idea.
“You mean going through that routine, again? Oh hell no. No, do you know how sore these limbs are? If I have to do another set of hitting empty air, I’m not going to be the least bit surprised if they suddenly fall off my body,” I ranted. No, I couldn’t go through another set of that workout. No more. Yesterday was hell enough for me.
“Nope, you can’t make me do it. I’m not doing it. That thought can burn in hell for what it’s worth. Not doing it!” I declined, I was tired of looking like some stupid idiot, hitting the thin air in front of me. Uh, doing that for another hour with my already sore limbs already sore like they are right then? No thanks, I’d rather not.
But turns out Mr. Huang had other ideas. Minutes later, I was standing in front of him, trying to catch some paper money mid-fall. It fluttered to the ground gracefully, mocking me. You think they’re falling slowly to the ground and that it’s easy as fuck to catch them? Try it. It won’t burn your house down, try it. I dare you. You can’t call me a whiny bitch until you have tried it for half a day after hitting thin air for the other half, trying to do the near- impossible. (Make sure the fingers you’ll be using to catch it is at least 5 inches away from where it’ll be dropped)
Thank the holy man above, Mr. Huang finally allowed me to stop and take a short break. I cherished the time I had before training resumed again and only then did I realize how crazy Mr. Huang might be.
‘At least he’s a crazy master of the martial arts and not a crazy homeless beggar that strolls around naked in the streets.’ My thoughts piped up humorlessly, flashing me memories of that one time I caught a naked man walking the streets of my bustling city. Cars were zooming by here and there and this old dude was there, strolling unbelievably leisurely like he’s got all the time in the world. At least have the decency to cover up, dude.
There was a part of me that felt bad for the guy but I mostly felt pity for my eyes.
Back on track, stop digressing author. Focus.
So, after my short break where I drank surprisingly cold water and cooled down, I searched for Mr. Huang who had excused himself to wander off for a while. When I caught sight of him, I skipped happily towards him, trying to lift my own mood. Who knows if I tried acting happy and cheerful, it might actually become a real feeling and be contagious to my bitchy conscience. It’d be nice to have her compliment me once in a while.
“I’m ready.” I called out to him. He turned around to face me and started instructing me to get a black huge plastic bag that is usually used for trash before explaining what I was supposed to do then.
“Today is going to be ‘Go Green’ day; meaning, you’ll be picking up trash along this place and down the hill where the hikers usually pass by when they’re trekking.”
I frowned. I’m going to be the garbage-woman? What?
“Excuse me?” I begged his pardon and he rolled his eyes. “Your brother had the same idiotic look in his eyes when I told him to do this once. You spoiled lot are all the same.” He snatched the plastic from my hands and dropped a plastic bottle. He bent down, grabbed it and faced me. He gave me a pointed look that sereamed ‘see this?’, before dropping the bottle into the plastic.
“Got it? Okay, now go.” He handed the plastic bag back into my limp hands and turned me towards the path that led to the hiking track. Without further notice, he pushed me in that direction and shooed me away.
‘Way to make me feel welcomed here,’ I retorted mentally with a roll of my eyes but kept on walking straight ahead.
“That was probably the smoothest way to get rid of someone that you can’t stand out of your sight. Well played, Mr. Huang.”
My conscience mused. No wonder he was a Shī Fu (master), he’s a smart dude.
I started my journey and ended up cleaning the entire trekking path. Since I didn’t bring my bag with me, I didn’t have any plastic bags to cover up my hand while picking up the trash that was scattered all over the place. Some of them must’ve been there for weeks because majority was half buried underground. I found cigarette butts, candy wrappers, empty cans of a variety of drinks and canned food. It was everywhere and I swear if I find the people who left them there, I will choke them on the spot. I wouldn’t care if they were wealthy, I would still kick their asses for leaving such a mess for God knows who to pick up.
It turned out that the track was a long one so I spent the whole day trailing along, worsening the ache in my back every time I bent over to pick up another trash.
I finally took a break by a huge tree that had wide branches serving as a good shade from what’s left of the sun. The sun was beginning to set soon and I’ve still got a few meters more to cover before heading back; which, mind you, was not a short walk. All I could think was ‘this is the most ridiculous task ever handed to me’ and ‘I should be receiving a goddamn pay from the government for doing this shit’.
With a heavy sigh, I got back onto my feet and resumed my community service the rest of the way. At the end of that track, There was a huge ass surprise waiting for me.
Guess what it was.
Well if you thought that it was 7 different piled up trash, scattered over the area that could be the size of a mole hill then you guessed right. I remembered looking up at the clouds, giving out a loud groan and cursing out all the hikers that left these God forsaken trail of trash in their wake. What happened to ‘appreciating nature’?!
I tried to clean up as quickly as I could but once I bent over and straightened up too fast, my back cramped up, causing me to almost all to the ground because of it. Dammit, this is so much worse than those training sessions. Aching arms, I can deal with. Cramped up back? No thank you. I’d trade the latter for the other any day.
It took me another hour, judging from the dark sky, to finish up the whole thing. I still had to carry the full and stinking plastic bag all the way back to Mr. Huang’s cabin, which was a workout itself. I tied up the mouth of the plastic bag to make sure nothing spills out and hitched it onto my left shoulder.
The second that I was standing in front of Mr. Huang’s cabin, I dropped the plastic bag and fell to my butt on the grassless ground. “Please tell me you have some food in there just begging to be eaten because I am completely starved.” I pleaded with him and he simply laughed at me.
“Oh, and please tell me that’s the last task today because I swear that if I have to do one more, I’m going to pass out from exhaustion and suffer from cramped up limbs.” Mr. Huang chuckled and waved at me, telling me to get into the cabin.
I cleaned up and ate dinner afterwards, bidding Mr. Huang good night and retiring to my spot.
The second my head hit the covers, I passed out and darkness surrounded me.