The Empty Chair

Some absences mean more than presence --Michelle Liew

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The nondescript youth centre was where Jia wanted to work --understated, with angsty youth who needed a hand-up, not a handout.

The 33-year-old counsellor had her work cut out for her. The knives below her underprivileged charges' feet made them bare their teeth; budget cuts made designing revolutionary programs near impossible; staff came into the workspace bleary-eyed and walking on tenterhooks.

In fear of what, Jia couldn't understand. She stared at the vacant workspace before her.

But one name always surfaced.

Elaine.

Elaine had been the counsellor before her, now painfully absent.

The Counsellees' favourite, not least because --

she connected.

No photos of her, no files. Her desk was empty, save for a poster board filled with Post-It notes with her signature motivational quips, the handwriting on it cursive.

Rounded.

Heartfelt.

An empty chair remained, rooted --like a full-stop no one dared to position.

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The first few days at the centre were an emotional tidal wave for Jia. Her teen charges wanted another Elaine --her handwriting. Listening ears.

Heart.

They spoke of her as if she still graced the community centre's halls --

"She told me my silence still meant."

Elaine was not cut from the typical counsellor's cloth. She didn't talk at them --she talked with them. She did things that mattered.

She knew their phone numbers at the back of her hand.

She used nicknames.

She let them draw on the table with erasable ink --to vent.

She let them sit under desks --

To cry.

When they needed space.

She was a counselling welterweight --impossible to overlook.

Desperate to live up to expectations, Jia scoured through employment records --but no Elaine.

The teen's stories didn't match.

She was a heavy whisper --invisible but felt.

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One of the centre's regulars, Khai, had visited after hitting his mother --she had just told him about the divorce.

But it was Counsellor Jia.

Not Elaine.

Jia froze, tongue-tied.

A frazzled Khai stormed out of the room.

She sat behind her desk in the office, face wet, sobs almost strangling her.

She felt the community centre and its charges slipping through her fingers.

She remained behind her desk after everyone left, furiously typing.

"Dear Mr. Lim,

It has been a pleasure working for you. However, the teenagers who come here need someone...they know."

She couldn't help the ellipsis.

She later returned to the counselling room, eager to collect her counselling materials.

She didn't find them --

Not at first.

In their place was Elaine's chair.

With a sticky note attached.

Addressed to Khai.

"The quiet ones may not speak. But they listen. And hug."

Dated --the next day.

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She paid the director of the community centre a much-needed visit.

But not to resign.

"Mr. Lim," Jia raised her voice --a few decibels above its usual pitch. "I need the truth."

He glanced at Elaine's chair for a long moment.

"Alright, young lady. I know these last weeks have been tough --we do have a handful here. You deserve to know."

He paused.

For a long while.

"You see, there was --is --- has never been an Elaine. We created her to encourage the kids, to give them someone to believe in.

"Each time she was to conduct a session, one of us would try to do something quirky --to help them connect with us. With themselves."

He paused again.

"The kids began to create their images of her. Then, she became everything."

Jia dropped her files.

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Mr. Lim's revelation stayed with Jia --all night.

She tossed and turned beneath her blankets.

But the lightbulb lit.

Elaine was not a fraud --she was hope. A name given to comfort in the worst moments. To build needed courage.

Jia didn't erase her. But she did pen stickies --in Elaine's signature rounded cursives.

She placed them under desks, in bags, under books.

From Elaine.

And one day, she received one.

Taped to her chair.

On it: "With love, from someone who needs to learn."

Elaine --now Jia, was Care. When no one else could be.

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Elaine's empty chair remained.

Jia sat in it when she needed her inspiration.

At other times, she left it vacant. Just in case one of the teens needed to find a sticky note on it.

The room was now warm --with her memory.

She still lived, in what she thought.

In what Jia did.

The chair always felt warm.

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Original story by Michelle Liew. AI tags are coincidental.