The Class Candle

  When we entered Ms Whittaker's classroom for the first time we were all given candles. No one had ever given me a candle before, not even my parents. At home the fireplace was enough. 

  I held onto my candle. It was the only one I had. It was tall and white with a little orange flame dancing on top, same as everyone else's. We used it to light up the pages of the books we read and comfort us while we napped. 

  When Malek came to class for the first time we all surrounded him. His candle was green and it had a green flame too. “I didn’t know that fire can be green,” I said “I want a blue candle. Is there such a thing as a blue candle Malek?” Before Malek could answer me Ms Whittaker pulled me away. “There’s no such thing,” she said. “Even the green candle is fake. It’s not a real candle.”

  She told us to go back to our work so I did. I went back to reading. She talked to Malek in secret but when I turned my head I could hear what she was saying. “Malek, give me that. You could burn down the school with it. Green flames are dangerous.” As she tried to grab his candle Malek shouted. “No! My mum gave this to me, it's mine.” And he ran out of the class.

  The next day I asked Ms Whittaker “Why don’t you like Malek’s candle.” She knelt in front of me, so that her face was the same height as mine. She put her hand on my shoulder and asked me “Patrick, do you like your candle?” I liked my candle. It made me feel safe, so I said “yes Ms Whittaker.” and she said “I want Malek to have what we have, a nice safe candle.” Her expression completely changed when I said “But I like Malek’s candle too.” That's when she got angry and took Malek out of the class to give him a talk in the hall.

  The next day, all of my favourite books were missing. On the shelf there were new books. books about candles. I used my candle to light up the words. They talked about all the different types of candles with Red flames, green flames, blue flames and yellow wax and purple wax. But it also talked about how the best candles were the ones with white wax and an orange flame. Malek sat next to me and told me to put away my candle, so I did. Then he put his candle in front of the book and I looked as the words changed. The page was now filled with one sentence, repeating over and over. Your candle is wrong. Your candle is wrong. Your candle is wrong.

  Ms Whittaker saw us and tried to take Malek's candle away but he held onto it as hard as he could. I asked her “Why are you trying to take his candle away from him?” She said, “He should have a candle like ours.” I asked her “Why don’t you just give him one like ours and let him have both” She said, “Because he is going to have to put one down sooner or later. If he holds both then he can’t use his hands.” So I told her, “just let him hold both of them so he can decide on which one to keep.” But Ms Whittaker didn’t see my reasoning. She snapped and yelled at me. “No! He must have the right candle!” Then she turned to Malek and started shouting at him. “Your candle is wrong! Your candle is wrong! Your candle is wrong!” so I put my candle down and shouted at her. “I don’t want your candle! Your candle is wrong!” The whole class saw me run out of the room in tears. 

  I came to school the next day with a Blue candle. I let Malek light it with his green flame. Ms Whittaker never said anything nice to me after that day and her candle no longer made me feel safe. It burned. And that’s when I realised, she’s never ever said anything nice to malek.