Black October

My phone was ringing. I can hear my new ringtone Bubblepop by Hyuna. It was 8.30am on a Sunday morning. So reluctant to leave my comfortable bed to pick up my phone. I slide my phone to answer but it was too late. Missed call from my mum. Thought it's not important and crawl to my bed to continue my sleep.

Then my mum called my sister. Something bad..

My dad's shop was burnt down to ashes early in the morning. The shop is rented to a Malay guy for car wash business. They called my dad at 7am and informed my dad about the incident. My dad quickly rushed to his shop. But when he was on his way there, he saw the fire-engine was returning to the nearby stationhouse.

When my dad reached there, he saw only pile of ashes. Nothing left. All burnt down in less than 30 minutes. Short circuit was assumed to be the cause of the fire. The wooden shop was built in 1983 by my grandfather and my father with the help of some Malay contractors and workers.

My family ran a coffee shop and car wash business in year 1999. Business was good and we made heaps of money in the first few years. But others have started to open their car wash business too. Over the years, more than 10 car wash shops are opened and our business turned quite bad.

However, my brother, sister and I had an awesome childhood there. We spent most of our weekends at my mum's coffee shop, eating snacks that my mum bought for business. We watched cartoons and movies using the CD player and play at the big field behind our shop.

I miss all these. Memories which now was burnt down to ashes. I miss the shop. I miss helping my parents at the shop when I was in secondary school. I remember helping my mum to cook for customers and wiping cars after they were washed by my dad's workers.

Feeling so homesick now. Wish to go home and comfort my parents.