Trapped in a dark cage, so cramped it was hard to stretch your arms.

Your ankles are

bound by shackles, so tight, slight movements bring agony. There was little light, coming
through a tiny peephole. As you grow, your whole body pushes against the cold steel. Odds were
not in your favour, as the sturdy walls did not budge. And since you can’t grow out of it, you
shrink into it. Stuck there forever, growth became stagnant, view obscured, never to experience
the outside world.
We have to agree shall such atrocity befall an individual, one’s life will be nothing short
of miserable. Yet unbelievable as it is, people are going through this form of inferno, physically
or psychologically alike. Such is the life of Ling Ling, a teenager who’s won several global
awards (nothing to be proud of, at least according to her parents), top of her school ever since she
enrolled in one, calm and collected (or so it appears on the outside), resourceful and smart…
She had violin training since 3, had her first competition at 6. The competition scaled
from district level to international in less than two years. Her prodigious potential does not just
end here. She also dominated the global science and mathematics competition as well as
reigning atop young chess players. Such overachievement at such a young age was of course,
envied by others, children and parents alike. What they failed to notice, however, is that she
harvested all of these trophies at what cost? At the innocent age of 2, when most toddlers barely
knew anything except savouring the warmth of their mothers’ embraces, she was tossed into a
world-renowned music academy, housing some of the most famous young musicians out there.
At the age of 4, she picked up chess and started taking home tutoring from the best teachers her
parents managed to find. And the most important of it all, she lived under strict discipline. No
phones until 12, bed time at 11, no entertainments during weekdays except reading and daily
classes of chess and violin that sums up to 6 hours.
With her schedule filled to the point of exploding, she had little to no time interacting
with people, not that her parents deemed it necessary anyway for “her focus deserves to be
invested on something much more important”. Nor was she aware of what’s going on around her
other than some major news. She knew no trend, no makeup hacks, no celebrities, no gossips
whatsoever. Man, she didn’t even know what going out with friends for a movie feels like.
Speaking of friends, she didn’t have many of that either. In fact, she couldn’t really call anyone
her true friend. She earned herself the nicknames “The Ice Queen” and the “Thorn Princess”
among peers for her cold demeanour. The truth is, she herself was insecure of making the first
step to befriend people for she never had the experience in doing so. Little did they know how
she craved for friendship, how her heart ached when she saw people hanging out and having
lunch together when she could only chew on her food all alone in a corner.
Her outward personality, the achievements she had under her belt and her lifestyle
coupled with her status as the teachers’ pet, despite her not intending to be one, did not make her
life any easier. Hostile words and cold gazes sparked by jealousy had become a daily basis.
Whenever she brought the problems to her parents, she received the same cold shoulders, their
reply always the same, “Endure and grow up, you don’t have time for such child’s play.” She
always doubted that ideal, for how could she grow if her life maintained the same monotonous
pattern?