A Warcraft Victim.

My examination would be in a few weeks' time. Determined to improve my grades, I planned to do consistent revision. Just when I was about to browse through my Science textbook, I heard the notification from my computer telling me that my friend had just gone online.

Swiftly, I checked my computer and realized that it was Joan, one of my closer friends.

I immediately responded to Joan. “Hi Joan, shouldn’t you be revising now?”

After a few seconds, Joan replied, “I just found out a really cool game “Warcraft”! I think you should try it out!”

I glanced at my textbook which I was about to revise earlier on. I was in a quandary- should I study or should I play the game?

“Nah, I would just play “Warcraft” for a few minutes and after that I’ll revise,” I assured myself and started typing the website address that Joan had shared with me.

Only ten minutes in the game, I concluded that “cool” was not an apt word to describe the game. “Fascinating” and “addictive” would be much more appropriate.

From the moment I entered the game, I knew that I would be addicted once I played for fifteen minutes. Indeed, after thirty minutes, I could not get my eyes off the computer screen. They were totally stuck to the screen like glue.

Since then, after school, I would play "Warcraft" till the wee hours of the night, paying no attention to schoolwork.

Hours spent on the game turned to days and days turned to weeks. One night when I was completely engrossed in playing “Warcraft”, my mother called out from the living room, "Dear, it’s time you turn in. Don’t you have an examination tomorrow?”

I froze and my eyes widened in shock. “Oh no! I’ve completely forgotten about the examination!” I moaned, slapping my forehead. In a flash, I turned off my computer and jumped to my seat at my desk. I had to burn the midnight oil.

Beads of perspiration formed on my forehead and my stomach churned with anxiety. I scanned through my textbook, trying desperately the impossible task of memorising the concepts in the textbook.

Soon, the clock struck twelve and my eyelids grew heavier and heavier. I stifled a yawn as I flipped the pages feebly, forcing myself to stay awake a little while longer.

The next day, I bent over the desk with my eyes squinting at the words on the page in front of me. “The life cycle of a butterfly starts from an egg, to a pupa, then……” I mumbled as I rubbed my eyes. “I know I studied this last night….”

Frustrated, I threw my pen down on the desk and let out a prodigious yawn. I looked around me and saw that everyone was scribbling down the answers to the test. Just then, I caught sight of Joan's answers while she was flipping her paper. Gingerly, I turned to the correct page and filled in my answers, or rather Joan's answers.

Having done that, I let out a breath of accomplishment. I glanced at the invigilator. She was not looking. Straight away, I adjusted my position, straightened myself to crane over to search for more answers.

“HEY! What are you doing?” a voice thundered. I jumped out from my skin. I spun around and found myself staring at the invigilator, her face livid with fury.

I wanted to explain myself but realised it would be better off not to do so. The invigilator ordered me to follow her to the principal’s office. Hobson’s choice, I trudged towards the principal’s office with a heavy heart, expecting the worse.

Waiting outside the principal’s was the worst moment of my life. Seconds stretched to minutes as time crawled by. Blood drain from my face as I overheard the principal calling up my parents. I knew I had to face the music and I vowed to myself never to spend more than two hours on the computer, ever again.

Contributed by Ao Ming Yi, Belinda
Class of 6-9 2009