Blk 1 The Conversion by Sharifah Liyana...

Sharifah Liyana Nadzira Binti Malai Haji Hashim
Tutor Group B6

‘The Conversion’

I am 17 now, it has been 12 years since my father left my mother. I am the second daughter and am known to be much like my mother. I have her looks, her character and needless to say her talent in cooking - I’m Mommy’s girl.
This incident started on a normal day when I was only 5 years old and my older sister was 7 years old. All of us, Daddy, my sister, and I were getting ready for the day’s events, school, work - Mommy was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Then, we all sat at the dining table waiting for breakfast to be served. My mother came out from the kitchen holding her tummy and carrying her pan in her other hand - she was 8 months pregnant. Then we had our family breakfast. Everything was normal, everything seemed fine. I gave my Mommy a kiss on the cheek and we all left the house.

My father dropped us at school. School was the same as it usually was. I had play time, I had recess and I was happy in school as I always was. After recess, I came back into my classroom and was ready to learn addition and subtraction. I was so excited that everyday whenever I got home, I would tell my Mommy and Daddy what I had learnt that day. At that time I didn’t know my mother was in the office asking for my sister and me to be pulled out of class. I would definitely learn subtraction later.

A lady then came into my class and told me that my mother was waiting for me in the office. I packed up my crayons and my papers and left class with the lady. All the way to the office she was talking to me, but I wasn’t even listening - all I could think about were the different reasons why I was going home early.
I saw my mother and my sister at the office and I ran to my Mommy and hugged her leg. I couldn’t believe I was ever that small. I was ever that innocent that I didn’t even know something was going to happen to me that could happen to anyone. My sister and I both reached up to hold our Mommy’s hand, we walked to the taxi waiting outside the office and the driver brought us home. In the car, I asked my Mommy why we were going home early and she only said that I was too young to know.

We arrived home and my mother told us to go straight upstairs. My sister left the room door open, we heard screaming and arguing. Both of us didn’t know what was happening. More screaming, more arguing, more confusion. Then BANG! My mother came to the room and shut the door close. She told us that we were going to leave the house, my Mommy and Daddy were getting a divorce. Subtraction…

From then on, life was a blurry dream of endless custody and court battles, visitations, confusion and hatred. I used to believe that we were the happiest family - we would go on family vacations together, there were endless family times at the beach and we had fun in all the things we did. Eventually all happiness ended in one day. After the final custody was fought, I ended up with my mother and my older sister ended up with my father- I guess it was because I was known as Mommy’s girl and was closer to her than to my Daddy. I couldn’t believe I was going to be separated not only with my Daddy but with my sister - Who’s going to play Barbie dolls with me? What if the baby happens to be a boy? So many things happened, so many stories to tell, I could go on forever. But I won’t!

I went through so many hard times. The whole ordeal pushed me to grow up fast. I didn’t realize that until later on in life. After the divorce, we had to stay at my Mommy’s friend’s house. Mommy eventually gave birth a few weeks after the divorce. At the hospital, my Mommy’s best friend took care of her - not that I knew how. I recall not seeing my Daddy or my sister at the hospital when I was outside the theatre; I heard my Mommy screaming in pain and I was scared anything would happen to her - I didn’t want to lose the only person I’d got.
Another sister was born, I wasn’t sure whether it was good news for me. It was not that I wasn’t happy to have another sister. But wasn’t it going to give my Mommy more burdens since my Daddy didn’t even send us money and my mother had to loan some from her friends and start paying them when she got a job? Nevertheless, until today we have lived well without receiving any maintenance from my Daddy.

My sister was moved out from school and I have never heard from her ever since. I was rebellious. I didn’t believe in ‘happy family’ anymore. Whenever my friends talk about their happy times with their family, I would just ignore them and tell them that all the happiness that families enjoy can suddenly vanish in one day.

(Grade B 74%)