When the bell for recess rang, shouts and laughter filled the corridor as swarms of students rushed to the ground, the teachers trying in vain to quieten them down and get them to be in proper queues.

Me and Areej waited in silence for the crowd to subside, and then walked out of the room to the ground. I was in a bad mood and Areej was trying to cheer me up because I had been scolded by the maths and geography teachers for not completing my work. It wasn’t really my fault that my family had to go out of the city suddenly, now I had piles of pending work and recess was the only time I could complete it.

With a bundle of books in my arms, we walked around and looked for a place to sit. There was a bench empty next to Maria, our class fellow, and that’s where we took our positions.

Maria was a new admission in our class. She had been here for two months already, but still didn’t have any friends. She had bright shining eyes behind a pair of glasses propped on her nose, and had soft brown hair falling on her forehead. As I looked at her, she seemed pretty and kind.

“Why is she sitting alone? Doesn’t she have any friends?” I asked Areej, while drawing a graph for physics.

Areej shrugged in response, “Poor thing.”

Thirty minutes of recess were over in no time and I still had some work left to do. I was in a bad mood because I did not find any time to eat. Areej handed me a banana as we climbed the stairs back to the classroom.

I peeled it off angrily and threw the peel there. Areej stopped in her tracks and told me to pick it up.

I scowled, “Some help staff will pick it up later, stop nagging me Areej.”

We hadn’t even rounded the corner when I heard a terrifying scream behind me. In horror I looked back to see Maria falling off the stairs. Yes, she slipped on the banana peel I had just thrown. It was all happening in slow motion, Maria rolling down the stairs and her piercing squeals filling up the corridor. I felt my heart sink; guilt was surging through my chest.

By the time someone reached out to help her, she was already on the last landing. I saw some blood on her hair and scratches on her arms. And she was screaming, screaming like she was in extreme pain, in agony.

I was petrified. The whole school had gathered around her, someone was trying to help Maria up, while someone else was dabbing the blood on her forehead.

All noises around me faded out. She was hurt and it was because of me. I heard someone scream out to call an ambulance and I don’t know what happened after that. When the crowd dispersed, Maria was gone, only leaving behind bloodstains on the staircase.

Three days later, I saw Maria at the main gate. She was on a wheelchair and her right leg was in a cast. I observed her from the window of the class, my heart racing in my chest and guilt filled up inside me. She was riding her wheelchair on her own. As she pushed the wheels slowly, the effort made her pant.

It was my fault, so I decided to do something about it; I rushed downstairs to give her a hand.

She smiled when she saw me, and sent me a cheerful greeting. I was surprised at how her eyes held no accusation for me. I made her go through so much pain and the reason why her leg was fractured was also me, but she didn’t even blame me?

I sat down on the floor in front of her, tears welling in my eyes and asked for her forgiveness. She patted me on the back and told me what was bound to happen will happen anyways.

“Do not blame yourself Rania, I will be fine in no time,” she beamed at me. She was indeed kind, very kind. I attempted a very foolish grin back at her and got up to push her wheelchair.

Me, Areej and Maria are the best of friends now, and I learnt my lesson about littering. Not only might it hurt someone, but also leaving your litter for the help staff to pick up is cruel on your part. Why make their work harder for them? If all of us make the smallest effort of throwing trash in the bin, we can make our surroundings cleaner.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 2nd, 2021