Second Place - Form FIve Writing Competition

I found this writing way superior than the champion. Don't understand the decision of the judges.

Title: Never Forget

I was taking a puff on a cigarette when my doting girlfriend pulled my arm. I looked at her casually and she requested innocently that I give up smoking. Without thinking twice, I burnt her soft and youthful skin with the lighted end of the cigarette and asked her, “Does it hurt?”

She smiled and said, “As long as you are happy, no, it does not hurt.”

I threw the cigarette butt on the floor and got up to get myself a bottle of wine. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that she was rubbing the singed part of her arm and at once I felt a pang. Why did I do that to her? I threw myself on the couch and started drinking. The room was filled with the stench of nicotine and alcohol. I started feeling drowsy after my second bottle. Just then, she dimmed the lights in the room approached me. In the dim light, she looked more beautiful than ever.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked. But before waiting for an answer, she gently pushed her lips against mine. The warmth of her lips aroused me. However, under the influence of alcohol, I could not control my excitement and accidentally bit her lips. She pulled away and covered her mouth.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“No, it does not. But, as long as you are happy…” she said, smiling weakly. I saw her lips turn a bright red and blood peek out of her wounds. She shrouded her pain with a cheerful grin, but the tears in her eyes gave her away. The incongruence of her expression made it clear to me that she was hurt, her pure heart was hurt. I got up and instructed her to leave.

“I will be back tonight, then,” she said as she struggled.

“No.”

“No?”

“Leave me. Find someone else better who could treat you right. You and I do not belong together.”

She left instantly. I could not expound my feelings to her. I loved her but I did everything that hurt her. A boy like me did not deserve a girlfriend so impeccable.

A few weeks had passed and everything seemed quiet between us. She did not call me anymore. I knew that she had got over me, but I really missed her. In a desperate attempt to intoxicate myself with alcohol, I strode into a strip club. I needed a distraction to stop myself from thinking about her.

But suddenly, I noticed the star stripper of the night, it was her! I pulled her aside and asked her what she was doing.

“As long as you are happy, it does not hurt,” she whispered. She had drowned herself in immoral activities because she was upset over our breakup?

I held her arm and almost shouted at her over the loud music, “Let’s go!”

She would not budge. Either she was immensely strong or I was very weak because of emotional fatigue, she drew back her arm and asked, “Can you wait?”

“What for?”

“Until I am fit enough to be your girlfriend again.”

Ever since we parted ways, she surrendered herself to wild partying and got offered a job as a stripper. She knew that I could never match up to her. But, she made the decision to sacrifice her innocence so that she could match up to me. She had even started smoking and drinking.

I hugged her tightly and we both cried. I apologized and told her that it was not her that needed to change, but me. After months of dating, I finally realized that differences should not stop us from loving each other and that is why, I shall never forget this day for the rest of my life.