KISAH Futures Anthology
Din wasn’t so lucky. He was one of the orang luar, who still lived in an apartment in the city and made his living outside of his dwelling. He did the odd jobs that couldn’t be done over Zoom, because as much as the orang dalam pretended that their COVID- proof lifestyles were the yardstick of normal, it couldn’t be sustained without people like Din. Still, Din felt no animosity for the orang dalam. After all, every sen he earned was so he could be one step closer to becoming one of them. He didn’t even mind the gigs that required him to quarantine in a holding centre for two weeks before entering the home of an orang dalam; they offered a glimpse into the kind of life he was aiming for. This was why he was here at a beautiful three-storey house in Kampar, Perak, with another orang luar workman named Lau, patching up the leaking ceiling belonging to a lady named Mrs. Jaish. Later, when asked about the incident, Din would say it happened too quickly to register. One minute Lau was on his ladder, smoothing out plaster on the ceiling of the dining hall. A heartbeat later, Mrs. Jaish’s three-year-old son had appeared out of nowhere, running at full speed towards Lau’s ladder. Din gave a shout of warning and Lau scrambled down in haste, but then – The unthinkable happened. Lau’s hand clamped down on the little boy’s bare arm, just as his three-ply mask slipped down past his nose. And Mrs. Jaish walked in and saw it all.
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