Setting (Picture)

Tommy walked into the dark alley. He felt depressed about his schoolwork and test results which were disastrous. He kept thinking," What am I going to do...My mother had very high expectations of me. I cannot tell her about my results...She is going to be very sad..."

Now what can you infer about the story? Have a good time thinking!
Source: Google Image.

Short Story Draft 1
The Disciplined
On 28th August 2010 in Singapore, Tim was dealt with a heavy blow which made him bent on quitting the gang. This was the day his grandmother died and on her deathbed, she said, “Tim, you are on your own now. I hope your behavior will change for the better and you would be well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood in time to come. I cannot clean up your mess for you already. Take…care.” Tim was “awakened” by the words his grandmother said to him and swore to change.
Tim was only twelve when his parents left him with his grandmother in a tragic car accident. Upon the death of his parents, Tim was very sad as he became an orphan overnight. He was afraid of being discriminated by his friends and thus, decided to join the gang. He hoped to get a sense of security there. The gang was notorious in Singapore and his grandma was very upset about him, joining the gang. Nevertheless, she still loved Tim and hoped he would change into a good person. She cleared up all the mess Tim had caused when he was in the gang, mainly by compensating the victims and begging them to forgive Tim.

Once, the gang asked Tim to steal some money from a provision shop. Tim was arrested as there was a CCTV installed in the shop. Upon knowing that, his grandma when to the provision shop owner and begged him to drop the charges against Tim. She swore that such a thing would never happen again and gave him twice the amount of money that Tim stole. Luckily, the police was not informed, therefore, the matter was solved easily. However, Tim did not stop at that. He thought that stealing for the gang was a thing to be proud of as the gang leader praised him. He continued with such acts and each illegal act he did got worse and worse. First, it was stealing from the provision shop, then it was hurling vulgarities at the teacher, and then it was beating up a “nerd”. The list goes on. His grandma had already gone around the city begging people to forgive her grandson, Tim. She had also visited Tim’s school many times to meet his form teacher for his misconduct.
As grandma’s age caught up with her, she slowly became sick and could not get off the bed already. She knew that she would be leaving Tim very soon and in her heart, she had always wanted to complete her mission- To make sure that Tim would change into a good person and become useful to the society. Neighbours had told Tim about his grandma’s wish but he did not care about them.

When his grandma died on 28th August 2010, he woke up from his mistakes. He knew that he could not continue his life like that or he would be letting down his grandma and his parents. He approached the gang leader and said that he wanted to quit the gang. As he was very “useful” in the gang, the gang leader would not agree. Tim was at a loss. First, his grandma died, then he could not quit the gang. He did not have any qualifications and could not find work.
He had no choice but to continue to “work” for the gang. Two months later, a series of gang fights happened in Singapore. His gang was involved in a few of them and although he was not sent to fight for the gang yet, he was afraid that it would be his turn next. He was scared that he would suffer the same fate of his gang mates who got either hanged or were jailed for a very long time with a couple of strokes on their bottom. This made his desire to quit even stronger. He knew that he could not continue his life like that.

He thought hard on what to do and decided to turn to the police. He acted as if he was “working” very hard for the gang so as to gain the gang leader’s trust. With his trust, Tim would be able to know many secrets of the gang. He gathered evidence of the crimes the gang committed and handed them over to the police. He also informed the police whenever gang activities are held, hoping that the police could bust the gang so that the society would be safe and that he could quit the gang as well.

After several months of “war” between the police and the gang, the whole gang was finally busted. Tim thought of what to do next. He had to do something useful. He decided to work and study at the same time.
It was a very tiring journey for Tim as he had to wake up at 6 a.m. to go to school and after school he had to go to work straight. He reached home only at 12a.m. and had to do his homework and revision till the wee hours. However, he did not think of giving up. Whenever he thought of giving up, he would think about what his grandma said and all that she had done for him.
His efforts paid off as a foreign businessman saw what he did. The foreign businessman met him in the place Tim was working at and understood his predicament. He took Tim to his country and gave him a job in his company as a clerk. He promised to promote Tim if he had better qualifications. He also sponsored him to study in the polytechnic, and then in a university. As Tim was hardworking, he got the qualifications he needed and quickly rose in position in the company.
Despite his success, Tim did not forget his country, Singapore. He went back after being successful and contributed back to her. He had completed his grandma’s wish and also became a volunteer at a counselling center in Singapore. He went back regularly to give a talk in the counselling center about his life, hoping to change the life of those who had similar encounters like his.

The Disciplined

On 28th August 2010 in Singapore, Tim was dealt with a heavy blow which made him bent on quitting the gang. This was the day his grandmother died and on her deathbed, she said, “Tim, you are on your own now. I hope your behavior will change for the better and you would be well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood in time to come. I cannot clean up your mess for you already. Take…care.” Tim was “awakened” by the words his grandmother said to him and swore to change.

Tim was only twelve when his parents left him with his grandmother in a tragic car accident. Upon the death of his parents, Tim was very sad as he became an orphan overnight. He was afraid of being discriminated by his friends and thus, decided to join the gang. He hoped to get a sense of security there. The gang was notorious in Singapore and his grandma was very upset about him, joining the gang. Nevertheless, she still loved Tim and hoped he would change into a good person. She cleared up all the mess Tim had caused when he was in the gang, mainly by compensating the victims and begging them to forgive Tim.

Once, the gang asked Tim to steal some money from a provision shop. Tim was arrested as there was a CCTV installed in the shop. Upon knowing that, his grandma when to the provision shop owner and begged him to drop the charges against Tim. She swore that such a thing would never happen again and gave him twice the amount of money that Tim stole. Luckily, the police was not informed, therefore, the matter was solved easily. However, Tim did not stop at that. He thought that stealing for the gang was a thing to be proud of as the gang leader praised him. He continued with such acts and each illegal act he did got worse and worse. First, it was stealing from the provision shop, then it was hurling vulgarities at the teacher, and then it was beating up a “nerd”. The list goes on. His grandma had already gone around the city begging people to forgive her grandson, Tim. She had also visited Tim’s school many times to meet his form teacher for his misconduct.

As grandma’s age caught up with her, she slowly became sick and could not get off the bed already. She knew that she would be leaving Tim very soon and in her heart, she had always wanted to complete her mission- To make sure that Tim would change into a good person and become useful to the society. Neighbours had told Tim about his grandma’s wish but he did not care about them.

When his grandma died on 28th August 2010, he woke up from his mistakes. He knew that he could not continue his life like that or he would be letting down his grandma and his parents. He approached the gang leader and said that he wanted to quit the gang. As he was very “useful” in the gang, the gang leader would not agree. Tim was at a loss. First, his grandma died, then he could not quit the gang. He did not have any qualifications and could not find work.

He had no choice but to continue to "work" for the gang. Two months later, a series of gang fights happened in Singapore. His gang was involved in a few of them and although he was not sent to fight for the gang yet, he was afraid that it would be his turn next. He was scared that he would suffer the same fate of his gang mates who got either hanged or were jailed for a very long time with a couple of strokes on their bottom. This made his desire to quit even stronger. He knew that he could not continue his life like that.

He thought hard on what to do and decided to turn to the police. He acted as if he was “working” very hard for the gang so as to gain the gang leader’s trust. With his trust, Tim would be able to know many secrets of the gang. He gathered evidence of the crimes the gang committed and handed them over to the police. He also informed the police whenever gang activities are held, hoping that the police could bust the gang so that the society would be safe and that he could quit the gang as well.

After several months of “war” between the police and the gang, the whole gang was finally busted. Tim thought of what to do next. He had to do something useful. He decided to work and study at the same time.

It was a very tiring journey for Tim as he had to wake up at 6 a.m. to go to school and after school he had to go to work straight. He reached home only at 12a.m. and had to do his homework and revision till the wee hours. However, he did not think of giving up. Whenever he thought of giving up, he would think about what his grandma said and all that she had done for him.

His efforts paid off as a foreign businessman saw what he did. The foreign businessman met him in the place Tim was working at and understood his predicament. He took Tim to his country and gave him a job in his company as a clerk. He promised to promote Tim if he had better qualifications. He also sponsored him to study in the polytechnic, and then in a university. As Tim was hardworking, he got the qualifications he needed and quickly rose in position in the company.

Despite his success, Tim did not forget his country, Singapore. He went back after being successful and contributed back to her. He had completed his grandma’s wish and also became a volunteer at a counselling center in Singapore. He went back regularly to give a talk in the counselling center about his life, hoping to change the life of those who had similar encounters like his.