Black Gloves (Part 1)
Prolog:
Zhun is sleeping in class. He suddenly wakes up and realizes that he needs to wash his face thoroughly. He goes to the toilet to do so. After he leaves the toilet, Jun Jie exits a toilet cubicle and washes his hands, but not thoroughly.
[Show Anomalous Object title card]
Introduction & Conflict (1):
Zhun is eating with Dan Neil and other classmates. Meanwhile, Jun Jie finishes his food and steps outside, crossing a badminton game. He gets hit by a shuttlecock and argues with one of the badminton players, Marcus. Jun Jie goes to the general office to tell on Marcus, even though he is in the wrong.
The Discipline Master, Mr Tan, leaves the general office to find Marcus. Jun Jie finds a right-hand black glove in a box, but does not take it. Zhun and Dan observe Mr Tan and Marcus arguing. Zhun discusses with Dan about Jun Jie’s behaviour and decides to do something about it.
Conflict (2):
Dan drops off Zhun at the library where he finds Jun Jie and sits with him. Zhun wants to talk about something and Jun Jie says that as his “only friend”, he is willing to listen out for his problems. Zhun replies that it is Jun Jie who has a problem.
Zhun talks with Jun Jie about why Jun Jie was annoying at the badminton court. First, Zhun explains the incident from Marcus’ point of view. Second, Zhun notes several flaws in Jun Jie’s behaviour. Third, Zhun suggests what Jun Jie can do to heal the relationship between himself and Marcus. However, Jun Jie still insists that he was right.
During their talk, one of the Indian boys accidentally plays a high-pitch noise with a broken MP3 player. It plays out loud and everyone in the library hears it. A lot of people, including Jun Jie, cover their ears in reflex, but Zhun does not for he is numb (This foreshadows how Jun Jie will be defeated). Jun Jie goes to the toilet, leaving Zhun in the library.
Discovery (1):
Jun Jie discovers a left black glove in a cubby hole near the toilet and puts it on. He clenches the black glove, and it feels nice to him. With his glove still clenched, he goes into the toilet and opens the cubicle door outwards, but discovers that someone called Felix is using it. Jun Jie covers his eyes and asks why Felix didn’t lock the door. Felix says that he did, but the lock broke. Jun Jie apologizes, but he leaves without closing the door, even though Felix is calling at him to do so repeatedly.
Black Gloves (Part 2)
Prolog:
Zhun wakes up from another nap and goes to the toilet that Jun Jie went to. On the way, he briefly pauses to observe the broken MP3 player on the librarian’s desk (foreshadowing). In the toilet, he finds the broken cubicle with Felix still in it. He finds the broken lock on the floor and picks it up. Felix tells Zhun to close the door. Zhun closes the door and leaves with the broken door lock.
[Show Anomalous Object title card]
Discovery (2):
Dan guides Zhun to his seat. They are back in class, and Jun Jie is also there. Jun Jie observes the left glove he is wearing and examines the black glove for fun. Meanwhile, Marcus tells his friends that Mr Tan almost sent him to detention for cursing. Marcus notices that Jun Jie now has a glove added to his clothing. The words “bulletproof jacket” and “indestructible gauntlet” get mentioned. Basically, Marcus talks trash about Jun Jie.
Jun Jie takes offence and approaches Marcus. Marcus refuses to apologize because of the argument earlier. Jun Jie somehow angers Marcus with a finger poke, and Marcus pushes Jun Jie. But because Jun Jie was clutching his left glove, Jun Jie is unmovable like a rock, and Marcus pushes himself backwards off Jun Jie's body. Both Jun Jie and Marcus are confused. Then the teacher walks in. Everyone in class returns to their seats, and the fight does not escalate.
While the teacher prepares his stuff, Zhun confronts Jun Jie by placing the broken lock on his table. Zhun says “Explain this.” and “Where did you get that glove?” Jun Jie tells Zhun everything he knows and that he will return the glove to the general office. Zhun calls Jun Jie out for not returning it during Mother Tongue period and sternly instructs Jun Jie to return it in the next period, Lunch. After not hearing and making Zhun repeat himself (angrily), Jun Jie casually says ok. But he does not mean it.
Discovery (3) - Need to build up to the Arm Wrestling by exploring the potential of the black glove and developing tension between Jun Jie and others:
Jun Jie starts to realize that the feeling he gets from clenching the glove might mean something.
Jun Jie breaks one of the thin metal poles underneath the table to test out his strength. He first tries bending the metal pole with his right hand without clenching the glove. It does not bend. Then, he tries bending it while clenching the glove - it not only bends but also snaps. Jun Jie now understands that the glove gives supernatural strength when he clenches the glove.
Later, during lunch, Jun Jie is reluctant to return the glove. He is sitting on a metal guardrail, inspecting the glove and wondering how it works. When he looks at the students walking by, they give him weird looks back. Jun Jie feels that he is ostracized and has no friends, so he feels like he must do something to gain the respect of his classmates.
Turning Point:
Lunch period. While the rest of the students of class 3-8 are eating at their table, Jun Jie comes to visit. Jun Jie challenges Marcus to an arm wrestling match. Marcus declines (3rd time he had to meet him that day). At first, Jun Jie apologizes to Marcus in a sarcastic and condescending tone for the two other meetings that day. He even says that he “forgives Marcus” for “talking bad about my drip”. To make it up to Marcus, Jun Jie says he will buy Marcus a drink if he wins, the catch being that if Jun Jie wins instead, Marcus must buy Jun Jie TWO drinks. Marcus flexes his giant muscle and asks “Why do you think you stand a chance?” Jun Jie replies “I have a hunch.” while looking at his glove.
Marcus and Jun Jie arm wrestle with their right hands. Jun Jie overpowers Marcus and takes him down violently. Marcus is hurt and exhausted. Jun Jie stands on the chair and table and exclaims “Guess who’s got 2 free colas!” While there was a crowd, everyone was silent. Jun Jie shouts at the crowd to clap. Out of fear, the crowd starts clapping. Jun Jie welcomes it as if the whole school was cheering him (delusional). Zhun is not clapping. He becomes serious.
Mamta rushes over to Marcus to inspect his injury.
"Can you still flex it?"
"Yes."
"Then no bones were broken. Com’on, let’s go to the sick bay."
Jun Jie picks up Mamta with his super strength and yells at her: “Don’t ruin the moment, girl!” (Jun Jie discriminates against girls). Jun Jie throws Mamta onto the table. He steals some money from Marcus' wallet and says "Who wants some drinks on me?". No students follow Jun Jie as he goes to the drinks stall to buy some drinks.
Black Gloves (Part 3)
Empathy (1):
After the incident with Marcus and Mamta, lunch has long since ended and class resumed. Jun Jie was acting aloof in class, i.e. putting his legs on the table. To get some privacy, Zhun excuses himself to the toilet and brings Dan with him.
Zhun talks to Dan about this, about how this is all possible. Dan, being a baseline for a normal guy in this arc, rationalizes that Jun Jie’s sudden display of supernatural strength was due to being enraged at the moment. But Zhun points out that he was not angry when he took down Marcus. Zhun says that the glove corrupts him somehow, but not in a literal way. It is a tool that allows Jun Jie to grow his destructive nature.
Dan still is not sure about Zhun being right. Thus, Zhun concludes that he must be the one to stop Jun Jie since he thinks that only he thinks this way, and he will do it when school ends (Zhun has his own stubbornness). Dan says he cannot let Zhun do this, because he promised Zhun’s mother that he would keep Zhun safe. Zhun says that he must make an exception today, or else no one will be safe. Also, he will take the blame if anything happens.
Dan asks Zhun "Do you have any idea what you're doing?". Zhun puts his hands together and makes a quick, silent prayer. "I don't just have an idea, I have a plan." Zhun says while he taps his head with an index finger (a reference to the "Roll Safe, the Guy-Tapping-Head Meme").
The school bell rings, marking the end of the school day.
Empathy (2):
Jun Jie walks down the hallways with a chestful of confidence. He goes to an occupied bench table, chases away the students there and occupies it himself so he can do homework. Zhun and Dan observe this, and so Zhun decides to start his plan.
After taking some time to prepare some things, Zhun and Dan approach Jun Jie. Zhun asks why he humiliated Marcus.
Jun Jie, laughing madly, downplays the incident, saying he was “just having fun”. Zhun gets worked up and starts shouting “You sprained Marcus’ arm! IT IS NOW IN A SLING”. Jun Jie tells Zhun to go away, or he will force him. Zhun starts to make a few guesses about what is going through Jun Jie’s mind.
Here is a few thing he says:
- “You and I are not so different…”,
- “You think that everyone else is wrong and you are right…”,
- “You wonder why everyone is against you…”,
- “You are incapable of observing the hurt you cause to those around you…”,
- “You complain that you have no friends, yet you push everyone away…”.
Eventually, Zhun gets into Jun Jie’s head. Only then, Zhun asks why Jun Jie still hasn’t returned the glove.
Jun Jie snaps and throws a fake left hook at Zhun, stopping his left gloved fist just before it touches Zhun’s face. Momentarily shocked, but remaining serious and unsmiling, Zhun says “You really gonna hurt your only friend?” Then Zhun puts out his hand “Hand over the glove. It’s not yours.”
For the first time in Zhun’s life, Jun Jie shows the first signs of remorse/regret/sadness. Jun Jie verbally lashes out at Zhun. Zhun says something along the lines of "My words are wasted on you" or "only the most stubborn will win". Then, Zhun challenges Jun Jie by yelling "Three drinks… if I take those gloves, you owe me THREE DRINKS". Jun Jie, feeling challenged, accepts the fight with Zhun, saying "You're on!"
Struggle:
Jun Jie and Zhun fight (I’m not specifying how. Choreographing of the fight happens later), but Zhun does say aloud that Jun Jie needs to clench the black glove in order to activate its power. This is important.
Zhun unbuttons his shirt, revealing that he strapped a small hardcover book to his chest, as well as two paper bombs.
Zhun uses the two paper bombs to make a loud noise close to Jun Jie's ears and stun him momentarily. Zhun manages to connect a few hits, but they are ineffective since Jun Jie is indestructible. Zhun eventually retreats into the library. Jun Jie walks into the glass doors and shatters them. Jun Jie looks at the other students in the library. Jun Jie gives out a battle cry, scaring all the students and the teachers out of the classroom.
Zhun picks up the broken MP3 player and connects it to the AV box. He plays the broken MP3 player through the library speakers.
Zhun hides in a classroom within the library and shuts the door. High-pitched noise blasts through the speakers for a short while. Zhun wonders if it knocked out Jun Jie. No, it did not. Soon, the noise is cut. Jun Jie bursts through the classroom door. He had stopped the MP3 player to bits and pieces. Jun Jie slowly approaches Zhun, who is sitting against the wall in a fetal position. Jun Jie raises his left hand to attack, but he is so exhausted that it is not fully clenched. Seeing that Jun Jie's invulnerability is not activated, Zhun rushes at Jun Jie one last time, pinning him to the ground. Zhun interlaces his right-hand fingers with Jun Jie’s left gloved fingers to prevent him from clenching again. Zhun struggles with Jun Jie until he pulls the glove off. Zhun punches Jun Jie in the jaw. Jun Jie becomes limp. Zhun won the battle.
Conclusion:
Zhun collapses onto the ground, next to Jun Jie. Dan leads Mr Tan and a few policemen, plus the vice principal, into the library. Since Zhun is clearly injured and Jun Jie was already labelled as the perpetrator of the cafeteria incident, Zhun is seen as the victim and Jun Jie as the perpetrator. Zhun gets to leave Scott free. Jun Jie is arrested by the policemen and carried away, leaving his fate unclear. (He’s definitely not returning for at least a few more arcs.)
Zhun gives a left black glove to Mr Tan, saying that it does not belong to Jun Jie. Dan then helps Zhun out of school. Dan asks Zhun "Did you give Mr Tan the real one or the one you bought from the Mama Shop?" Zhun shushes Dan profusely.
Zhun says:
- "The glove breaks the laws of science as we know it."
- "No one can know that such a thing exists"
Zhun then takes the lid off a public trash can. Zhun takes out another black glove, squeezing it into a ball in his right hand. He holds the glove over the trash can, saying “You see this? This never happened.” He drops the glove into the trash can, followed by an ignited lighter. The bin burns, along with the glove. Dan stares into the fire. Zhun walks away from the fire and calls to Dan, “You following?”
Thus, the story arc ends.
Notes
Zhun bought a lighter and a pair of black gloves similar to Jun Jie's from a large convenience store (the "Mama Shop") near the school before confronting Jun Jie in the final fight.
The fake left glove he gave to Mr Tan.
The fake right glove he burned in front of Dan.
Zhun is now secretly in possession of the real black glove.
Anomalous Objects Chapter 1: Black Gloves (Part 1)
The boy stared into the distance, focusing on nothing. He was sitting upright in a chair, trying to listen to the teacher's lecture. The woman's voice echoed through his mind, and sounds of gibberish melted into each other.
However, out of the noise, one word started to repeat.
June…? Joon…?
"…Zhun? Zhun? Do you need to go to the washroom to wash your face?"
Zhun woke up. He realised he was slumped in his chair with only one eye open. He managed to fall asleep while sitting. Again.
"Dan, can you accompany Zhun to the washroom?"
Another boy on Zhun's left dragged his chair back and was about to stand when Zhun stopped him with a hand raise.
"No, I'll go on my own," Zhun muttered.
"What?" The teacher asked.
"I. Will. Go. On. My. Own." Zhun enunciated in a clear, monotone voice. He dragged his chair back, stood up, and walked out of the classroom.
Zhun dragged his feet down the open hallway towards the men's toilet. With no energy to carry himself, he let his body slouch and his head droop. He also kept close to the wall on his right by dragging his fingers on it, making sure to not break contact.
In the men's toilet, Zhun relieved himself at the urinal and went to the sink. He pumped the soap dispenser vigorously with one hand just to receive a meagre squirt of green liquid dish soap in the palm of his other. He wet his hands under tap water briefly and lathered his palms, fingers, wrists and the back of his hands before finally repeating the same rubbing motion under running water, for at least a full minute.
Finally, he cupped his hands under the tap and waited till they filled with enough water. Zhun threw the water at his face.
Splash!
The water wet every part of his face except his eyes, which needed it the most. Zhun cursed under his breath. After taking his black rounded-edge rectangular glasses off and placing them on the basin, he splashed some more water onto his face and rubbed his eyes. Zhun wiped his hands on his uniform's long pants and wiped his glasses dry with his shirt before putting them back on.
Zhun raised his head. There was his reflection in the mirror.
Zhun stared at his reflection. Then he stared at himself.
Even with his face completely relaxed, the combination of his narrow eyes, slightly furrowed eyebrows and unsmiling lips gave others the impression of ferocity rather than deadpan, which was what he intended to look like.
A small price to pay for hiding one's emotions.
Zhun drew a few laboured breaths through his mouth, then closed his eyes and waved at himself with his right hand.
Right.
He reopened his eyes and turned clockwise, to his right—not to be confused with the left—and he walked forwards, towards the exit.
Before he opened the toilet door, he stopped and turned around.
"You following?"
"Guess not yet."
Zhun opened the door, walked through and shut it slowly and quietly.
The toilet fell into silence…
…
Flush!
A toilet cubicle door opened partially. A boy wearing a jacket poked his head out. He looked around the toilet to find who was talking to him, but there was no one.
The boy with the jacket opened the door and stepped out. He went to the basin and rinsed his hands under a weak stream of water for about a second and made a beeline to the exit while flicking water droplets from his hands all over the floor.
As he left, he pulled open the door.
SLAM!
The sound reverberated throughout the enclosed space, but the boy did not look back and kept walking.
Later in the school canteen, Zhun was walking behind Dan while keeping hold of Dan's shoulder to prevent himself from accidentally straying behind. Dan was holding two ham-and-cheese sandwiches. One for Zhun, the other for himself.
Dan led Zhun to a long table where their classmates sat and they joined two girls, Gloria and Mamta.
"What animal was your favourite?" Gloria asked.
"Well, I would say the bunny… if not for the gorgeous orange kitty. It was so fwuffy!" Mamta exclaimed as she pressed both her paws into her cheeks. Zhun looked up from his plate.
"Wahd yoob taulking about?" He spoke with a mouthful of food.
"What?" Mamta asked.
Zhun swallowed and repeated himself slowly.
"What are you talking about?"
"The mobile petting zoo."
"What mobile petting zoo?"
"The one that came last week."
Zhun gave Mamta a blank stare.
"You know…" Mamta said. "…last Thursday? During lunch?"
The gears in Zhun's head started to turn.
"Oh sh—shoot!" Zhun put his hands on his head. "I think I was pooping during lunch."
"No wonder I couldn't find you," Dan exclaimed amusedly.
"Why am I the last one to hear about this? Always the last!" Zhun wined. He pulled at his hair in frustration.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Gloria said. "There were no announcements made about the zoo visiting Bukit Grove. It just… showed up out of the blue."
"I thought Mr. Tan made an announcement about this," Dan said.
"No. Nobody ever said anything, I'm sure," Gloria said confidently.
"Ok so, what else—what other animals were there?" Zhun asked.
"Hmm… there was a goat," Dan said.
Zhun turned around slowly and faced Dan with his eyebrows furrowed. Zhun scanned Dan from the tip of his horns to his floppy ears and the tip of his snout.
"Haha. Verrrry funny," Zhun said sarcastically.
Meanwhile, at a small table tucked into a far corner of the canteen, the boy in the jacket was finishing his packed rice. This boy had wavy, black hair and he wore a PE T-shirt instead of a uniform despite not having a Physical Education Lesson that day. The jacket he wore on top of that T-shirt was made of dark grey cotton.
When he was done eating from his lunch box, he put it away in the inner pocket of his jacket. Then, he put his hands in the side pockets of his jacket and strolled out of the canteen.
The boy in the jacket stepped outside, where the students occupied every free space to hold different sports games like netball or badminton.
During the first break period, Recess, it was normal for both the football court and the parade square to already have students playing large matches with some sort of ball, since the school allowed free use of their PE sports equipment during this time. As a result, those who wanted to play smaller, less competitive games tended to take up small areas like the narrow brick roads that weaved between the school blocks.
The boy in the jacket was walking forwards and crossed one of the narrow brick roads halfway when a shuttlecock hit his head. He stopped walking and winced in pain. He bent down and picked up the shuttlecock that showed no respect for his skull.
"Jun Jie, get out of our badminton game!"
Jun Jie rubbed the side of his head. "Marcus, do you mind being more careful next time when someone walks through here?" He asked irritatedly.
"You shouldn't have walked through here in the first place."
"Well… why not?"
"Because we're playing badminton! You would get hit by a shuttlecock! Plus, you would interrupt the game!"
"You hit me with the shuttlecock because you were careless. That's not my mistake. Look, this small area here is a shared space. I have as much right to walk through this shared space as you have the right to play badminton here. On another note, you and your friends should be more make a better effort to avoid hitting a passerby." Jun Jie explained calmly.
Marcus' face flushed red.
"Are you saying that if you walk through an intense, fast-paced badminton game where the shuttlecock is always flying across the centre, we—the badminton players—should go out of our way to create a path for you to just waltz through? All to respect your entitlement of using this 'shared path'?"
Jun Jie tiptoed to match up to Marcus's hulking figure and strained his neck to meet Marcus eye to eye. He flashed an irritatingly wide grin in front of Marcus.
"It is not an entitlement. It is a right." Jun Jie stated.
Marcus brought his large hand to his forehead and wiped large beads of sweat off it. His friends were staring. Marcus extended an arm and pointed out of the brick road.
"Get out of here!" Marcus roared impatiently.
Jun Jie's smile dissipated. He turned and started shuffling away. The surrounding students stopped watching and decided to continue with their day. That was until Marcus muttered…
"Thickhead."
Jun Jie's head perked up. He turned back towards Marcus and waved his right index finger at him.
"Uh-uh-uh, Marcus. You said a bad word. I'm telling Mr Tan!" Jun Jie said gleefully. He started jogging briskly towards the school's general office.
Marcus gaped at Jun Jie.
"I said thickhead! Th-ick! Not di—ah never mind."
Jun Jie walked into the general office. He went to the lady at the front desk. "Where's the discipline master?"
"Yes?" Asked a man nearby in a red T-shirt.
"Mr. Tan, my classmates were playing badminton just outside the canteen, and they were mad at me for walking through their playing area even though I made sure to cross the middle of the area, where they were not standing. Then, one of them hit me with a shuttlecock!"
Mr. Tan shook his head. "Jun Jie, you have been getting into these small fights with your classmates more and more frequently. Can you maybe let it slide, just this time?"
Jun Jie bit his lip. "Hmm… okay fine. Though… Marcus called me the d-word."
"What?!" Mr. Tan exclaimed. "Marcus, you say!"
"Yep." Jun Jie replied.
Mr. Tan stormed out of the general office. Jun Jie smirked and sat down on a chair.
He pondered the times when his classmates and teachers told him off for being stubborn. Were they not being stubborn themselves? Why did they always disagree with him?
Then, he noticed a cardboard box next to him. Jun Jie took a closer look. The box contained a bunch of junk. Folded onto the edge of the box was a piece of scrap paper with "Lost & Found" written on it.
He called out to the lady at the front desk, "Hey, what's this box about? It wasn't here the last time I was here."
"I don't know," the lady said. "I guess if a lost item is found, it should be put in there."
Jun Jie reached into the box. He took out the objects one at a time, inspecting them before putting them back in. One of them caught his interest the most. It was a black, fabric glove. Jun Jie flipped the glove over so the palm of the glove was facing up. He observed that the thumb part of the glove was on the right. A right glove.
Jun Jie considered pocketing the glove. "It would be nice to match it with my jacket," he whispered to himself. However, Jun Jie quickly dismissed the idea of stealing it and put the glove back in the box.
A common school bell tune chimed over the PA speakers.
"Ah, Recess is over. I need to go back to class. Bye, madam." Jun Jie waved goodbye to the lady behind the desk. The lady waved back as he left the general office.
Zhun put his hand on the pillar and cautiously poked his head out.
"Bro, what are you doing?" Dan asked as he looked down toward Zhun.
Zhun was bent down behind a thin pillar that did not hide his posterior from the students outside. Zhun straightened up, but let his back arch so he could meet with Dan's slightly lower eye level. He raised his hand and pointed towards the brick road outside the canteen.
Outside, Mr. Tan and Marcus were having a heated debate. Marcus seemed even angrier than Mr. Tan, and he was waving his hands through many gestures as if desperately trying to explain something.
"Jun Jie was out there in another argument. He walked straight through a badminton game. Marcus called him a 'thickhead'," Zhun explained. "Daniel, why do people dislike Jun Jie?"
Dan was looking at the fuss outside. He turned to Zhun.
"What?"
"He is… annoying, but finding the words to describe how he is annoying is hard. Is it because Jun Jie is a self-centred, unlistening, and obnoxious person?"
"Uh… yeah. That's exactly why we dislike him."
"Have you ever wondered why he is like that?"
Dan sighed with a look of disappointment on his face. "I don't know, I don't really care. Jun Jie has been in the same class as you and me for the past two years. He's always been like that."
Zhun stared into the distance.
"Well, I think I know, and I'm gonna ask him about it."
Zhun walked through the double glass doors and was greeted by the cooling air-conditioned atmosphere of the school library. The librarian nodded at Zhun with a smile as he passed by the front desk. He walked along the perimeter of the library, keeping contact with the wall again.
The library was furnished with plenty of round tables and chairs that could accommodate many students during break periods, but now most of them were vacant since Recess had just ended. It was Mother Tongue now so the tables were only occupied by students taking Higher Chinese, Higher Malay and any other students who did not take the Chinese, Malay or Indian language—students like…
"… Jun Jie." Zhun found him at a table near the bookshelves, which were deeper within the library.
Zhun made a beeline for Jun Jie's table, inadvertently bumping into another table he did not see at first. After feeling all over the obstacle with both hands, Zhun fumbled his way around it and drew a chair for himself.
"Hey, um… Jun Jie, let me sit here."
Zhun plopped down close to Jun Jie. Jun Jie was holding up a large book with the title: Guinness Book of World Records 2017 Edition.
"Hmm? Oh, hey Zhun."
"Can I ask you a question, Jun Jie?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Why are you weird?"
"… I'm not weird! Do people think I'm weird?" Jun Jie grimaced as he put down his book.
"Aey quiet, please! This is a library!" The librarian called from across the room.
Zhun lowered his tone to almost a whisper.
"Pardon me. I mean… what was the reason you engaged in a verbal fight with Marcus earlier?"
"Okay… so basically…" Jun Jie turned to his right and crossed his legs. "… Marcus and some other guy were playing badminton just outside the canteen earlier—you know where there are bricks in the pavement and it is in-between two buildings…"
"Um…"
"… and it is near the football court at the back of the school, yeah? Marcus was taking up the entire area…"
"Jun Jie."
"… so then I wanted to cross the brick path without interfering with the game. Then I saw that the middle of the area was where Marcus and the other guy were not stepping at…"
"Jun… Jun Jie."
"… and then I made sure I walked directly in the middle, between Marcus and the other guy so that I would not bother any of them, and yet Marcus still smacked the badminton cock right here on my head, where I'm pointing with my finger! You know, it hurt so much…"
"I saw the whole thing!" Zhun quickly blurted. A girl turned around and shushed them.
"You saw? But you weren't even there," Jun Jie whispered.
"I saw," Zhun whispered sharply. "Just tell me: have you had any history with…"
Zhun motioned to Jun Jie with a finger to lean in closer. Jun Jie brought his ear close to Zhun's lips. Zhun whispered something into his ear, which made him stand up with a huff.
"No! I do not have any mental illness! Now if you excuuuuuse me, I need to go to the toilet."
Jun Jie marched off, holding his head high. A large frown spread across Zhun's face as he watched Jun Jie exit the library. He wondered if he could have worded himself a little better, but he knew that there was no point in sugarcoating what he wanted to ask.
Jun Jie was walking down the corridor outside the library. He was passing by a large shelf made of square compartments. Jun Jie glanced over the compartments as he passed them. They were all empty except one with a glove in it.
A black glove.
Jun Jie stopped in his tracks and did a backward walk towards the shelf. He stopped at the compartment with the glove.
"Oooh! This…" Jun Jie exclaimed as he picked up the black glove. He flipped it, palm facing up. The glove's thumb was on the left. A left glove.
"This is the matching glove to the one in the lost and found box! I got it!"
Jun Jie glanced down both ends of the corridor. He saw no one.
"Wow. I gotta return this… later."
Jun Jie put the glove in his jacket pocket and walked briskly to the end of the corridor. When he entered the men's toilet he took out the glove. He slowly slipped it onto his left hand.
"Hmm. Fits like a… oh, yeah."
Still looking at his left hand, Jun Jie walked to the sole toilet cubicle and straight into its door. Jun Jie took a step back and blinked hard. The door was closed and didn't open. Jun Jie gave the door a hard push. It did not budge. He tried tugging the doorknob. Still, it did not budge.
"Hello? Is someone in there?"
Jun Jie knocked loudly on the door several times. There was no answer. He got down on his belly and peered through the gap under the door to check if someone was inside, but he could not see anyone's shoes. However, there was a small orange object on the dirty light blue floor tiles. Jun Jie reached under the door with his left gloved hand and picked it up. He stood up and inspected it. It was an just orange feather.
Jun Jie tossed it over his back. He took a closer look at the lock indicator. It was half-green half-red. Perhaps the door lock was broken.
Jun Jie looked over to the urinal next to the door. What if someone came into the toilet when he was urinating and decided that dacking his pants would be a good idea?
What if Marcus came into the toilet?
He weighed the risks of someone walking in and pulling down his pants before he would be done at the urinal against the risk of there actually being a person in the cubicle if he forced the door open.
Jun Jie didn't dare make a move. He knew that for every second that passed, the chances of a person walking into the toilet right at the present moment were getting larger and larger. Any time now, someone—anyone—could intrude on his privacy and find some way of ruining his day.
Jun Jie turned to the door. He knew he didn't see anyone there. Time to act.
Jun Jie ran into the door, ramming his right shoulder against it. He took a step back and tried again and again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
No luck. The door remained shut.
Jun Jie was panting. He took a glance at his left hand—at the black glove, then he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. With newfound confidence in his special glove, Jun Jie planted his left foot back and his right foot forward. Remembering to turn his hip, Jun Jie put in his whole body weight as he threw his left fist at the door.
POW-OW-OW-OW…
The door burst off its hinges and crashed into the wall. The noise of the loud impact echoed throughout the small enclosed space.
Jun Jie's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.
"What the… how? Oh… the toilet bowl must be destroyed!"
He stepped forward and lifted the fractured door by its edge and, with a huff, dragged the door aside. Expecting to see a smashed porcelain bowl, he got a nasty surprise.
There on the toilet seat was a secondary-one student, knocked out cold. Blood was oozing out of his forehead and trickling down his beak. His right wing was folded over his left shoulder and the left was hanging limp. The boy was out before he could even scream.
Jun Jie stepped back, mouth agape.
A wave of fear rushed throughout his being.
Anomalous Objects Chapter 2: Black Gloves (Part 2)
The first-year secondary school boy was minding his own business—a big business. As he was sitting on the white bowl, Felix wondered if secondary school life was going to be any different from that of primary school. He used to be the "biggest bird" in Primary Six, and all the lower-grade students were shorter and younger than him. Now he was the younger one and all the other students were the "bigger birds".
It wasn't a bad thing, though. In fact, it was kind of intriguing. He just hoped that his secondary-school seniors would treat him as nicely as he treated his primary-school juniors.
That was when Felix heard some footsteps from outside the cubicle.
"Hmm. Fits like a… oh, yeah."
Felix just remained quiet. Whatever the guy outside was doing, he did not care.
Then, the cubicle door shook. After a short pause, it shook even more.
"Hello? Is someone in there?" the guy outside called. To Felix, it sounded like this guy was two years older than himself, and he was aggressive.
With quick thinking, Felix brought up his two feet. He sat on the toilet seat with his short pants pulled down and his legs tucked in, held close with his wings. If the guy outside could not see evidence of an occupant, he would think it was empty. Then, if he were smart, he might stop calling loudly into the cubicle and go to another toilet.
Felix could see from the gap under the door that the guy outside got down on his belly.
Good, his plan was working.
However, as Felix adjusted himself on the seat, he did not notice that one of his feathers had shed from his left wing and landed on the toilet floor. Thus, it was a surprise to Felix when an arm, completely covered by a dark grey sleeve and a black glove, appeared from under the door and groped around on the floor.
Felix's eyes widened. He covered his beak with what resembled an elbow pit of his right wing to prevent his squirms from being audible.
Soon, the creepy arm retracted into the gap with the feather clutched in its grasp, and the guy outside stood up.
There was silence.
Felix relaxed as he let out a slow and silent sigh of relief.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Felix was taken aback. The guy was supposed to leave! Was he trying to break into the cubicle now? He's insane!
The cubicle door was shaking vigorously. Felix heard the guy outside stamp his two feet on the ground, once for each foot. He was going for one final blow!
Felix froze up. What could he do now?
POW-OW-OW-OW…
Zhun jolted awake from another nap when the noise penetrated the library walls. Everyone looked up from their books and looked around, trying to determine where the ruckus came from.
Zhun stood up abruptly, pushing back the chair with his legs.
He left the library and ran to the toilet, bumping into a wall before he could stop himself.
In the toilet was a broken door and a bleeding, unconscious student, but there was no perpetrator to be found.
Mr Tan stood over the wrecked door.
"Ayo, how could this happen?" he said softly.
Zhun stood by the side as two students took the unconscious boy away on a stretcher. Mr Tan dialled three digits on his phone and put it to his ear.
"Hello? I need an ambulance at Bukit Grove Secondary School. A student has been knocked unconscious and he's bleeding… He was in the toilet… No… We don't know… Thank you, bye."
"So?" Zhun asked.
"That boy, Felix, will be taken to the hospital. Hopefully, he will be fine. Was he alone in the toilet when you found him?"
"Yes."
"The door… it looks like it was broken down and it fell onto Felix. Do you think someone could have broken it?"
Zhun was not sure how to answer.
Jun Jie had fled to another block. He hid in a men's toilet on the second floor. This toilet, hidden away in the corner of the school was dusty and unused. It was secluded enough that no one would walk in on him.
Putting his hands to his head, he leaned on a wall before sliding down it and curling into a ball.
"What… just happened?"
Jun Jie looked at the black glove.
"Maybe it was the glove's fault?"
An idea lit up in Jun Jie's head. He stood up and looked around. There were enough cubicle doors in the toilet to carry out his little experiment.
Jun Jie went into one of the cubicles and locked it from the inside. He proceeded to step onto the toilet bowl, jump onto the cubicle wall and climb over into the neighbouring cubicle, thereby locking himself out.
Jun Jie stepped in front of the locked door.
"Time to find out what's up with this thing. First, a normal punch."
Jun Jie clenched his fists and threw a right jab at the door. To his surprise, the door cracked and wobbled violently.
"What? But that was without the glove."
Jun Jie paced around the toilet, racking his brain to figure out the strange situation.
"Maybe I developed super strength on my own."
He took off the glove and placed it on a basin's dusty surface. He threw another right jab to the door.
"Ow! It really is the glove." Jun Jie shook his hurting right hand to relieve the pain.
"Perhaps…"
Jun Jie put the glove back on. With the palm of the glove, he stuck the door. It did not budge. Jun Jie withdrew his left gloved fist and clenched it. He rocked it forward and back, aiming just above the door handle—at the door lock. When he felt ready, Jun Jie turned his hip and struck the door with his right palm instead of with the glove. The lock broke and the door swung inwards.
"Ah, the glove only gives me super strength when I clench it. How nice!"
In the following period, all that the students in Zhun's classroom could talk about was the accident that happened at the library toilet. Almost every single classmate was spreading some sort of retelling of it.
"He said there was blood all over his forehead and that carrying his whole body was like holding a sack of lifeless meat from one end," one boy said to a crowd sitting
Per 
