STORY 1

Once there was a couple who was very poor. They had a daughter and lived in a wooden house in the countryside. One night, when the couple was sleeping soundly, all of a sudden a burglar broke into their house quietly through the back door. He was wearing a mask. 

After taking out a gunny sack, he began to ransack the house. After searching in vain in the living room, the burglar sneaked into the daughter's room. The little girl was sleeping soundly, too. The burglar opened the cupboard and started searching for valuables and money. He found that there were only some  clothes inside the cupboard. He searched the drawer of a table near the cupboard. He saw a diary which belonged to the little girl. 

Out of curiosity, he decided to read it. On one of the pages, the girl said that she was an AIDS victim and had only a few more months to live. Even so, she was not afraid or sad because she had a loving family. Her parents loved her very much and cared for her a lot. She was glad to be part of the warm family. Trying to cure her disease or at least to prolong her life, her parents had used up all their savings. Though she knew that she would not be able to live long enough to repay her parents' love and kindness, she would always remember and treasure them when she was in heaven. 

The burglar was deeply moved by the girl's love for her parents, bravery and determination. Then, he saw a drawing of the girl and her family. Looking at the drawing, he began to think about his own parents. He remembered the story before he became a burglar. When he was still schooling, he was weak in his studies. At the age of 16, things began to go wrong when he got into bad company. He stole, robbed and even became a drug addict. He quarrel with his parents when he failed to get money. Then, he decided to move out from his house and live with the bad company. When his parents found out what he intended to do, they begged him to stay but he was as stubborn as a donkey. He refused to listen. After he had started to live with his friends, who were pretty unsavory characters, things worsened. They committed even more crimes together. 

The burglar looked at the drawing of the loving family and thought about his inglorious past with tearful eyes. "The unfortunate girl will not live long, yet she's so thankful for her family. She treasures her parents so much. Instead of complaining about her incurable disease, she faces it bravely, " thought the burglar, crying silent tears at the same time. The little girl had inspired him tremendously. He was remorseful for his wrongdoings and decided to turn over a new leaf and return to his parents. 

Feeling sorry for the girl and her family, he placed a RM50 bill in her diary. That was all he had. After that, he wrote 'Well done! You're a very brave girl. Keep fighting - don't let it defeat you.' in the diary. Then, he left and closed the door behind him quietly.