Wizarding Times

Staying up at night to find Alpha Centauri, and then sneaking around to hide the fact that you're staying up? I guess that's how stargazing in reality goes.

I doubted so much whether the hands still belonged to me. They were all sweaty and I could not feel their existence by now. Shaking and quivering, I typed numbly on the keyboard. The light of the monitor was making my eyes painful as I had not switched on the overhead light and the surroundings were very dark. I blinked my eyes, rubbed my sweaty hands on my pants and continued.

I was part of the Starry Night contest in HOL, and a proud stargazer from the duo named "Asteri Amies." Now that the contest is finally over, I guess it's time to make my confessions. Truthfully, I miss it! It was the best contest I had ever participated since I joined the wonderful world of HOL. I miss the feelings of tension and nervousness created by each task; I miss the "rush" and anxiety after every challenge was posted; most of all, I miss the stargazing. How about my most memorable experience of the contest? Maybe you'd like to know &mdash

I still remember that night, when the second task was posted. It was a Sudoku. Since math is my favourite subject, Sudoku should have been just a piece of cake to me, but this one was designed into a star shape which made the whole thing much more difficult. My partner happened to be attending a camp and could not be there to help me. I had to do this task all by myself, and within the fastest time possible. So I printed the Sudoku on a piece of paper and started working hard on it. It wasn't a very hard job, honestly, but I spent quite a lot of time on it compared to the others, as my nervous feeling got me into dead ends again and again.

I sneaked the piece of paper and a pencil upstairs with me as the time for bed came. I struggled with the Sudoku in my room and did not realize how fast the time had passed. When I finally finished and looked back at the clock, its short hand was pointing to the number three. Seven hours had passed since the new task was posted up, and time was really an important issue to me at that very moment. I suddenly recalled the warning my sister gave me before she slept. She knew that I was quite enthralled by the contest and would probably creep downstairs in the middle of night to send in the answers. She warned me not to do that in case I was caught by my parents, for the consequences would be hard for the both of us. Eventually, I made my decision.

I stole out of the bedroom and sneaked downstairs quietly. It did not turn out as smoothly as I had hoped. The door creaked and the staircases squeaked. Due to my sitting on the floor trying to solve the puzzle for a long time, my bones cracked as I made my way down the stairs--something that usually didn't happen. It was such a nuisance! Luckily, my parents didn't seem to hear me. Perhaps they were sound asleep, I thought with relief. After much difficulty, I finally got downstairs, and poured a glass of water. There were two reasons for that glass of water, actually. One was to calm myself, and the next was in case my parents found me creeping about, I could use my thirst as an excuse. Holding the glass of water, I stood in front of the computer and hesitated for a whole ten minutes, wasting all my precious time. My mind debated hard with itself &mdash should I wait for a few hours more for safety precautions or take the risk to send my answers in now?

Finally, my heart took over. I plugged in the machine, and pushed the start button. The rumbling and roaring sound of the computer and modem gave me quite a shock! I did not expect it to sound so loud in the dead silence. I quickly rushed out the study room and glanced fearfully at the staircases to see whether my parents had awakened. Thank goodness, their shadows showed no presence. The starting-up progress of my computer was really slow, the few minutes of waiting seemed like a few hours to me. When it was done, I quickly clicked on the internet browser and typed in my e-mail website. My hands were shaking and my whole body was shivering, but it was not from cold--more from fear and fright. To make things worse, the computer "froze" for a while. I prayed so hard, hoping that I could get it over with as soon as possible. I kept straining my ears to hear whether I heard any footsteps and prepared to switch everything off any minute and pretended that I was drinking my glass of water. Suddenly I heard footsteps! I rushed out the study room again to the staircases again and held my breath. My heart was throbbing so fast!

It was just a neighbour of mine who had just come home. I breathed with relief.

When I got back to the computer, everything was normal at last and the computer was no longer motionless. I quickly typed in the answers. Afraid to make mistakes, I triple-checked my answers before clicking the send button, then my whole body relaxed a bit. Everything was switched off; I took my mobile phone with me and went upstairs again. My heart was still throbbing vigorously but I had gotten back to my familiar bed, which I had been missing so much for the past few minutes. I was supposed to send a message to my partner, to inform her that I had completed the task. Perhaps mum would come over and check the room, so I thought it better to switch off the light when sending the message. Guess the time showing on the phone's screen? It was 4 a.m!

The moment I laid my head onto the pillow, I dropped off into soundless slumber. Finally, it was over, and all was well. Asteri Amies was on their way to find Alpha Centauri, and it was time for me to await the next challenge through the telescope.