Family

There was a noise of chattering in the corridor. Then the door of the student accommodation burst open by a fierce gush of the cold wind bringing the snowflakes inside.

‘Come in, quickly, and close the door after you!’ Ying said in a hushed tone. ‘Ling is still asleep, be quiet.’

‘Not anymore.’ Ling replied in a weak voice, she looked pale.

‘Well, good. We just came back from the canteen. Let me see.’ Ying climbed up the ladder of the metal bunk bed. She rubbed her hand together furiously and put one hand on Ling’s forehead. ‘A fever is coming up. You need to eat.’

‘I um, no, I am ok. You guys go ahead.’ Ling stayed still in her bed and closed her eyes.

‘Ling, I called your mom this morning before class. Did she come to pick you up?’ Feng asked.

‘Um, she did.’

‘She did? Then how come you are still here?’

‘She came and told me she is divorcing my dad and needed money.’

‘Oh? That shit again? Has she not her own money?’

‘Yeah, but she needed to pay for food, hotel and lawyer. They cost a lot.’

‘How much did you give her?’ Ying asked.

‘All of it.’

‘What? She cleared your bank account?’

‘Yeah.’

‘So now, you have no money to buy food.’

‘...’ Ling’s eyes stayed closed.

Ying climbed down the ladder and nodded to the rest of the girls. ‘Hey, Ling, I got more food than I needed from the canteen. The diner lady is awfully generous today. I would like you to have some. Look, I will put a little bit of each into your tin here.’ Ying started dishing out into a metal tin and everyone opened their food tins and followed suit.

‘Yeah, Ling. We all got more than we needed so you will have some of these too, yeah?’ The other girls all got busy and started arranging the food for Ling.

‘Oh no, no, that’s more than enough. Thank you, guys. I have no words.’ Ling looked over her bed and tears glided off her cheeks.

‘Don’t be silly, Ling. It’s only a little bit of food.’ Ying reached up and wiped Ling’s tears off with the cuff of her blouse then she climbed up, piled up the pillows from all the beds she collected and helped Ling to sit up.

‘Ready?’ Ying asked the girls.

‘Yeah, here you go.’ One of the girls handed the tin to her.

‘Here, have some food at least, it will keep you warm. This weather is no time to brave the cold, you need the strength to battle the fever, ok?’ Ying handed the tin to Ling.

‘Ok, thank you all so much.’ Ling felt the warmth of the tin and tears started to circle in her eyes again.

‘No, don’t thank me. If you thank me, you don’t consider me a friend. Huh…’ Ying rolled her eyes and looked back down, ‘Eh, dipshits, how is Ling gonna eat her food without chopsticks? Give me one of those plastic forks you hoarded from McDonald’s Feng.’

‘Oh, yeah, here.’ Feng opened one of the drawers in the desk and took out a plastic spork in a plastic wrapper.

‘There you go. Now get some of this warm food down ya and call me when you finished, ok?’ Ying climbed back down and got on with her own diner.

‘I say Ling, your mother, we told her you were sick and she needed to bring you home to look after you properly. What does she do? She got you to go out in this weather when you are sick and took all your money.’ Feng shook her head.

‘She needed it.’ Ling replied.

‘Sure she does. But what about you? Hm? Don’t you need to eat yourself? Had she thought about that?’ Feng sighed.

‘I agree with Feng on this one. I mean, what kind of mother is this? Not only did she failed to care for you but she also robbed you clean when you are ill. I say she’s either retarded, heartless or both.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’ The other girls all nodded.

‘I know what you mean. I don’t know what to say.’ Ling nodded, looking at the hot steam rising from the food, hitting the lamp in the centre of the ceiling.

‘Your pocket money, Ling. Who gave you?’ Ying asked.

‘My dad.’

‘I reckon your mom was trying to revenge on your dad by taking all his money.’ One of the girls commented.

‘It makes sense.’ Ling replied.

‘Don’t make excuses for your mom Ling. It only makes sense if you are a complete psycho. Sure, she wants to hurt your dad, whatever. I don’t care what’s going on between them, it’s their mess to sort out. But you are not just your dad’s child, aren’t you her child too? How can she derives joy from your suffering?’

‘Yeah, that ain’t right.’ The girls nodded.

‘I often thought about it too, to be honest.’ Ling said.

‘Yeah, you don’t have to hesitate to tell us. Everyone here has stories, after all, we are the only kids who are not living in the comforts of our own homes.’ Feng replied.

‘It says something, doesn’t it?’ Ling replied.

‘Yeah, it certainly does.’ Ying nodded. ‘I haven’t seen my parents since, since like forever. My grandma is too old to look after me. Anyway, I’ve been around, so I know this world is no Disneyland.’

‘I finished.’ Ling said.

‘Good, good.’ Ying climbed up and took the tin, gave the pillows back to the girls and helped Ling lay back down. ‘Now you rest.’

Ling fell back to sleep, the girls started washing up and the night got dark fast.

‘What time is it?’ Ling woke up.

‘Hey Ling, you’ve been sleeping for hours. It’s half past midnight, how are you feeling?’

‘Not so good.’

Ying climbed up and felt Ling’s head again. ‘Shit, you are roasting! The fever is getting worse. Anyone got any medicine?’

‘No.’ The girls looked at each other and shook their heads.

‘Great. It looks I need to take a trip to the pharmacy.’

‘You joking? Have you seen the depth of the snow? It’s up to your knee. How you gonna get there? And there’s no pharmacy open at this odd hour.’ Feng replied.

‘I know a pharmacy that opens 24/7. I’m going.’

‘You serious?’ The girls asked.

‘I got my bicycle. I’ll be alright.’ Ying nodded, putting her leather boots and jacket on. ‘Look after Ling while I’m gone.’

‘Of course, but…’

‘No buts, I’ll be back, ok?’ Ying grabbed her keys and went out into the dark.

An hour passed and the door opened again.

‘Hey, look who’s back! Ying’s alive!’ Feng cheered.

‘Yeah, I’m alive alright.’ Ying rubbed her fingers together.

'What are these?'

'Only a few bruises. The ice on the ground becomes slippery at night when they refreeze. Anyway, don't mind me. I'm ok. How’s Ling?’

‘She’s getting worse. You made the right call. She does need some medicine, the fever is not going on its own.’

‘Well, don’t just stand there, put the kettle on.’

‘Oh, yeah yeah.’

Soon the water is boiled and poured into a cup to cool.

‘Hey, hey Ling. I know it’s difficult but I need you to take these.’ Ying nudged Ling awake and put the tablets into her mouth. ‘Drink it down, the water is just right. There’s a good girl.’

‘Thank you.’ Ling smiled weakly.

‘Remember what I said? Don’t thank me. Because we are in this together. Fuck our parents, we got each other, ok? From now on, we look out for each other, I am your family, yeah?’

‘Yes.’