Hafiz was surprised.
Lab 3A was usually occupied whenever he came to do his assignments. But this time, it was empty. When he'd stepped into the elevator and pressed 1, he hadn't expected the computer lab to be vacant, but had decided to check it out anyway, seeing as he had nothing better to do. But once he'd looked in through the small glass window on the door, there was no one around. Smiling at his luck, Hafiz took note of the day and time.
Khamis, pukul tiga setengah, lab kosong!
The door creaked as he opened it, and instantly, Hafiz realized that he'd been wrong about the lab being completely empty. At the computer right at the back, where his friend Redzuan usually sat, there was a girl.
His heart sank. If it turned out the lab was being used after all, he would have to do his work on one of the cyber cafe's computers, which were all infamous for being infested with viruses. Just earlier that day Redzuan had let forth a stream of colourful swear words because a virus had wiped out all the files on his thumb drive. He didn't want that to happen to him.
Bilalah aku nak siapkan kerja Pn Sofia ni...
“Ada kelas ke?” he asked the girl.
After a beat, the girl shook her head, and Hafiz let out a sigh of relief. Now that he was feeling optimistic again, his male instinct prompted him to check the girl out.
She was one of those girls who, despite knowing that the university authorities didn't approve of dyed hair, had a headful of rainbow colours. Purple, red and green were the hues of this girl's choice.
What an assembly of colours, thought Hafiz. And none of them were his favourite. His favourite was black. Black was a good, solid colour. Nothing wrong with black hair.
Her head was all he could see of the girl. She was leaning forward over the keyboard, and the computer monitor was hiding her face from view.
Hafiz decided that she wasn't his type anyway, and sat down at the frontmost computer to get on with his assignments.
It always took him a while to get used to the iMacs in university. He was used to using PCs, and was always rather frustrated that the mouse couldn't right-click.
Most students, when presented with a computer and internet connection, would consequently log in to one of the following: Facebook, Friendster or MySpace. Hafiz was no exception. Redzuan was online, and they talked using Facebook Chat.
Before he knew it, it was already past 6pm. Redzuan had stopped replying in the chat box, so he was probably playing Yakuza Lords again. The guy was obsessed with Facebook games. Hafiz logged out, saved what work he'd managed to get done, and shut down the computer.
Getting up and slinging his bag over his shoulder, Hafiz looked at the girl again. For some reason, he felt another obligation to talk to her. It was probably his unrelenting hormones again.
“Tak balik ke?” he asked in what he hoped was a breezy tone.
After a second, the girl shook her head again. Hafiz began to think that that was the only reaction she could muster.
After a moment's hesitation, Hafiz decided not to pursue, and turned to leave.
“Balik dulu,” he said, to no reply. Hafiz could almost hear Redzuan in his head, sniffing in disdain.
Huh! Sombong!
The next day was Puan Amelia's class. She was one of those kinds of lecturers that all the students loved, even those she did not teach. She allowed them to call her Mimi, wear jeans, bring snacks to class, turn on music; as long as her assignments were up-to-date.
When Hafiz entered Lab 3A, where the class was always held, Redzuan was in his usual place right at the back of class. He had kicked off his scuffed Nikes and had his socked feet propped up on an empty chair.
“Yo, Hafiz my maaaaaan!!!”
Hafiz shook his head, holding back a laugh. Redzuan was such a clown. He was the first person to come up and talk to Hafiz, a kampung boy, during their orientation, four semesters ago.
Wei, tengok, Faci tu... muka macam beruk..!
They'd been best friends ever since.
“Busuk la kaki ko, Red,” he remarked, shoving Redzuan's feet off the chair and sitting down.
“Mana ada! Kaki aku lagi wangi dari perfume D&G, ok.”
“Ye lah, pergi lah jual kat Hugo Boss,” retorted Hafiz.
“Kaki aku mahal sangat lah, diorang tak mampu punya,” snickered Redzuan, turning to the computer screen and launching Photobooth to check his hair for the hundredth time that day. You never knew how much the careful arrangement of your recently-straightened bangs could change within the course of a few minutes.
“Wei, tengok!” exclaimed Redzuan. “Ada orang rekod video!”
He double-clicked on an undeleted video in the Photobooth panel. Recognition struck Hafiz as a head of purple, red and green appeared on the screen.
“Wei, tulah pompuan yang dok dalam lab semalam,” he said.
Redzuan's head swiveled to look at him, and Hafiz instantly knew he shouldn't have told him that.
“Ko dok dalam lab berdua-duaan ngan pompuan???” he said, hooting with laughter.
“Diam ah ko...” snapped Hafiz, and they both leaned in to watch the video.
Like Redzuan, the girl was also the kind of person who used the iMac's Photobooth application for grooming purposes. She arranged and rearranged her uneven bangs, striking poses every once in a while.
Suddenly the girl looked up from the computer, and someone else appeared in the video. Though only the lower part of the body was visible, it was obvious he was male. The two talked for a bit and the girl's expression gradually became angrier and angrier.
“Ni mesti ex-balak dia,” observed Redzuan, always the expert when it came to judging people.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement, and Hafiz's eyes recognized the glint of a blade in the hand of the boy. The two friends watched in horrified disbelief as the hand swung up and down, up and down, and the blade repeatedly punctured holes into the girl.
Hafiz had never been good at lip-reading, but he could see the words forming helplessly from the girls mouth as clearly as if he himself was saying them.
Tolong.
Then she was still. The boy – the murderer – stood there for a while. He must not have realized that he was being recorded, because he ignored the computer completely.
All of a sudden, the boy jumped, then dived quickly down and out of the video's view. All was still for a few minutes, and the two boys stared transefixedly at the girl's lifeless face. Then...
A bloody hand snaked up, seeming to come from below the girl's table. It grasped the girl's pale chin, and moved her head from side-to-side.
Ada kelas ke?
The girl shook her head.
The blood drained from Hafiz's face. Unlike Redzuan whose vocabulary was of the rougher and more vulgar range, Hafiz had never been one to swear, and especially not in English, but right now, he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Shit.
Lab 3A was usually occupied whenever he came to do his assignments. But this time, it was empty. When he'd stepped into the elevator and pressed 1, he hadn't expected the computer lab to be vacant, but had decided to check it out anyway, seeing as he had nothing better to do. But once he'd looked in through the small glass window on the door, there was no one around. Smiling at his luck, Hafiz took note of the day and time.
Khamis, pukul tiga setengah, lab kosong!
The door creaked as he opened it, and instantly, Hafiz realized that he'd been wrong about the lab being completely empty. At the computer right at the back, where his friend Redzuan usually sat, there was a girl.
His heart sank. If it turned out the lab was being used after all, he would have to do his work on one of the cyber cafe's computers, which were all infamous for being infested with viruses. Just earlier that day Redzuan had let forth a stream of colourful swear words because a virus had wiped out all the files on his thumb drive. He didn't want that to happen to him.
Bilalah aku nak siapkan kerja Pn Sofia ni...
“Ada kelas ke?” he asked the girl.
After a beat, the girl shook her head, and Hafiz let out a sigh of relief. Now that he was feeling optimistic again, his male instinct prompted him to check the girl out.
She was one of those girls who, despite knowing that the university authorities didn't approve of dyed hair, had a headful of rainbow colours. Purple, red and green were the hues of this girl's choice.
What an assembly of colours, thought Hafiz. And none of them were his favourite. His favourite was black. Black was a good, solid colour. Nothing wrong with black hair.
Her head was all he could see of the girl. She was leaning forward over the keyboard, and the computer monitor was hiding her face from view.
Hafiz decided that she wasn't his type anyway, and sat down at the frontmost computer to get on with his assignments.
It always took him a while to get used to the iMacs in university. He was used to using PCs, and was always rather frustrated that the mouse couldn't right-click.
Most students, when presented with a computer and internet connection, would consequently log in to one of the following: Facebook, Friendster or MySpace. Hafiz was no exception. Redzuan was online, and they talked using Facebook Chat.
Yo, bro! Ko kat mana?
Kat uni le... Lab kosong wei!
Ko kat lab buat apa? Buat project? hehehe
Byk la ko project. Buat keje le
...ko ni rajin sgt la bro
Before he knew it, it was already past 6pm. Redzuan had stopped replying in the chat box, so he was probably playing Yakuza Lords again. The guy was obsessed with Facebook games. Hafiz logged out, saved what work he'd managed to get done, and shut down the computer.
Getting up and slinging his bag over his shoulder, Hafiz looked at the girl again. For some reason, he felt another obligation to talk to her. It was probably his unrelenting hormones again.
“Tak balik ke?” he asked in what he hoped was a breezy tone.
After a second, the girl shook her head again. Hafiz began to think that that was the only reaction she could muster.
After a moment's hesitation, Hafiz decided not to pursue, and turned to leave.
“Balik dulu,” he said, to no reply. Hafiz could almost hear Redzuan in his head, sniffing in disdain.
Huh! Sombong!
* * * * *
When Hafiz entered Lab 3A, where the class was always held, Redzuan was in his usual place right at the back of class. He had kicked off his scuffed Nikes and had his socked feet propped up on an empty chair.
“Yo, Hafiz my maaaaaan!!!”
Hafiz shook his head, holding back a laugh. Redzuan was such a clown. He was the first person to come up and talk to Hafiz, a kampung boy, during their orientation, four semesters ago.
Wei, tengok, Faci tu... muka macam beruk..!
They'd been best friends ever since.
“Busuk la kaki ko, Red,” he remarked, shoving Redzuan's feet off the chair and sitting down.
“Mana ada! Kaki aku lagi wangi dari perfume D&G, ok.”
“Ye lah, pergi lah jual kat Hugo Boss,” retorted Hafiz.
“Kaki aku mahal sangat lah, diorang tak mampu punya,” snickered Redzuan, turning to the computer screen and launching Photobooth to check his hair for the hundredth time that day. You never knew how much the careful arrangement of your recently-straightened bangs could change within the course of a few minutes.
“Wei, tengok!” exclaimed Redzuan. “Ada orang rekod video!”
He double-clicked on an undeleted video in the Photobooth panel. Recognition struck Hafiz as a head of purple, red and green appeared on the screen.
“Wei, tulah pompuan yang dok dalam lab semalam,” he said.
Redzuan's head swiveled to look at him, and Hafiz instantly knew he shouldn't have told him that.
“Ko dok dalam lab berdua-duaan ngan pompuan???” he said, hooting with laughter.
“Diam ah ko...” snapped Hafiz, and they both leaned in to watch the video.
Like Redzuan, the girl was also the kind of person who used the iMac's Photobooth application for grooming purposes. She arranged and rearranged her uneven bangs, striking poses every once in a while.
Suddenly the girl looked up from the computer, and someone else appeared in the video. Though only the lower part of the body was visible, it was obvious he was male. The two talked for a bit and the girl's expression gradually became angrier and angrier.
“Ni mesti ex-balak dia,” observed Redzuan, always the expert when it came to judging people.
Suddenly, there was a flash of movement, and Hafiz's eyes recognized the glint of a blade in the hand of the boy. The two friends watched in horrified disbelief as the hand swung up and down, up and down, and the blade repeatedly punctured holes into the girl.
Hafiz had never been good at lip-reading, but he could see the words forming helplessly from the girls mouth as clearly as if he himself was saying them.
Tolong.
Then she was still. The boy – the murderer – stood there for a while. He must not have realized that he was being recorded, because he ignored the computer completely.
All of a sudden, the boy jumped, then dived quickly down and out of the video's view. All was still for a few minutes, and the two boys stared transefixedly at the girl's lifeless face. Then...
A bloody hand snaked up, seeming to come from below the girl's table. It grasped the girl's pale chin, and moved her head from side-to-side.
Ada kelas ke?
The girl shook her head.
The blood drained from Hafiz's face. Unlike Redzuan whose vocabulary was of the rougher and more vulgar range, Hafiz had never been one to swear, and especially not in English, but right now, he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Shit.
