Personal Narrative: The Lovely Bones By Ray Singh

Statement of Intent:

My narrator is Ray Singh from The Lovely Bones. In this piece of writing, I am showing that he is in his late 30’s and single and has a flashback of his crush/love in high school. I am trying to pinpoint the moment when Ray and Susie first connected with each other and it changed Ray’s life and how he may have hada different life if this flashback hadn’t have happened.

While sliding my feet into my black leather dress shoes, my fingers grasp the mauve tie sitting on my unmade single bed. The noise from the washing machine bounces off the wooden acoustics, echoing throughout my small apartment. I walk to the bed and sit down on the edge, making a dip on the surface. My eyes dart to the wooden nightstand drawer, I yank on it for a while and it finally comes out. The collection inside the drawer includes multivitamin tablets, some Panadol, two medical directory magazines, a medicine prescription paper pad, a few bandages and several coins. However beneath the layer of my collectables there is a sheet of pitch black felt which separates my collectables from my treasures. I grab each corner of the felt and shift the pile to the

floor. Beneath lies a beige cardigan with a half exposed piece of paper, which contains words written more than two decades ago. The memories attached to that letter settle in my mind vividly since they were the turning point of my life.

It was my first day of junior year in high school.

The unpolished floors and graffitied lockers with pictures of the Beatles glued to them indicated to me that no summer cleaning had been done at school, for what seemed like several years. As I walked, a neatly folded piece of paper, which I placed in my pocket earlier this morning, grazed my outer thigh was not letting me forget its purpose. My palms were sweaty and all I could think of was that on the first day of school, I had decided to tell my crush that I liked her. What a stupid decision. I decided to wash my hands and then put my plan into action. My walk across the hallway continued till I reached the guy’s bathrooms. Just as I was about to push the door, it opened and out ran a blonde and petite girl. My crush. Her face was surprised and her hazel eyes were

frozen.

Snapping back to reality she hastily apologised and ran into the girls restroom right next to the boys restroom. I stood there at that moment, thinking of that note in my pocket and why I came face to face with her right outside the guys washroom. Coming back to my senses, I walked in and trudged straight towards the sink. Cold water gushed out of the tap and I threw it at my face. It was brilliantly calming. I combed by fingers through my curly, black and stubborn hair and strolled out of the toilets. I glanced towards my left and then my right. At that same moment, she walked out of the girls washroom with all her friends. Her laugh was the least audible and her face the most embarrassed. Her eyes drifted away from her friends and settled on mine while quietly murmuring to her friends. Soon enough, they strolled away and it was just me and her.

She slowly walked towards me and I knew that this was the moment. Before she could utter a single word I slipped my hand in my jean’s pocket and grabbed the small note. My hand with the letter extended forward, shaking slightly. Her face was puzzled. She took the letter with her right hand and studied the outside without opening it. She looked up and said “I’m sorry for earlier, it was a complete accident and what is this?”
“It’s something I have wanted to say to you for a while.”
She gave a small nod, turned on her heel and strode back to her friends while subtly slipping the note into her beige cardigan pocket

The day progressed and the reply came sooner than I expected. After the fourth period I trolled towards my locker to drop off my maths books and grab my binder for English. As soon as I opened the locker door I spotted a creamy light coloured piece of clothing spread over across my books. It seemed to be the same cardigan she had been wearing earlier this morning. I picked up the cardigan and in the pocket was the note. Fishing my hand into the pocket I grabbed it and opened it to see that it wasn’t just my handwriting it was someone else's as well. At the end of my letter she had written “ The feelings are mutual.”