success

Study, study, study. These words flashed through the mind of the sixteen year-old Adrinna. She had taken up the triple science combination ever since she was secondary 3, since then she has been studying day and night. She dreamed of being like her mother who got 9 A1s in secondary school and went on to an elite Junior College where she was invited to study in Cambridge University. She wanted to be as successful as her mother.

Adrinna had locked herself away from society, she had no friends in school. Long gone were the days where she would spend time with her friends after school hours and mingle around in the canteen. Now she would always be rushing home in order to revise on the subjects for the next day. It was 4 months away from her O levels and she had already finished revising on all her subjects, however this was not enough for her, she wanted to study every single resource she was able to lay her hands on. She wanted to be the top in her whole cohort, she wanted to be flashed all over news as one of the top o level students. Hooked on studying, she sunk her head into the book every night till an ungodly hour. Eye bags had shaded the bottom of her eyes causing all the students in her school to be frightened by her looks.

It was 3 months away from her o levels when adrinna was in full gear, burning all her holidays in order to brush up and remove any loopholes in her studies. The teachers in her school were all frightened by her. She would often beg the teacher to give more homework in order that she could revise more, sometimes even kneeling on the floor as though she was going to die if she did not receive any work. She normally skipped meals in order to replace with study time. This caused her to grow skinnier by day and by the end of the 3rd month she had reduced herself to skin and bones.

2 more months were left before her examination. Adrinna had found out a solution in order to be able to counter the problem of wasting time. She now stayed up every night, studying non stop, having only little intervals of sleep. She had now neglected the very source of her daily energy and was on the road to being anorexia. Her mother would often leave food outside her bedroom door waiting for her to consume her meal. However only once a week would she then open her door in order to eat her food before slamming the door and continue with hours of study.

1 month was all that stood between her and her dreams now. Sleep deprived and malnourished, she still continued with her constant hours of mugging. She had also found a further solution to her time wastage. she would now skip trips to the lavatory in order to help her safe more time to study, her room was filled with the smell of shit and pee. Her parents did not dare to go near her as she would normally shout at them for wasting her time, instead they stored a camera in her room in order to monitor her. Whenever her parents talked to her, she would go into a fit and started smashing furniture. By 3 weeks she never appeared outside her house. By 2 weeks she never stepped out of her room. By 1 week she went mentally crazy.

Adrinna was successful in the end, she scored straight A1s for all her subjects and now even entered an even better Junior college than her mother went to. She finally was successful in being able to achieve the goal of going to Cambridge University.Adrinna had tasted the sweetness of success, but the road to success had also taken it's toll on her. There she was, lying on the bed in a ward between the walls of singapore general hospital. She was admitted in as she was too overly food deprived and mentally unstable. Adrinna had not seen this coming towards her, she now had to stay admitted for the next six months. This meant that she would not be able to attend school. Adrinna was so indulged in being successful that she neglected her body, hence this caused her to suffer even more. Now all that flashed through her mind was: was it worth it all?