Fiction: Group 3
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Canadian International School of Hong Kong, Tse, Timothy - 12, Fiction: Group 3
was swimming around in the murky waters of Hong Kong. Noises of construction bombarded me.
The constant thud-thud sound made my stomach churn. I saw thin checkers swaying above me.
Uncertain, I slowed down to see what it was. I felt a sharp pain in my fins. I looked up. To my horror,
blood drifted from me into the water. I saw the blur of fishes swimming next to me frantically trying to push
out of the net, but failing as the nets slashed their scales and skin, just like it had done to my flesh
.
The net began dragging me up, and I could feel the pain again. Before I knew it, everything was dazzling
bright and I couldn’t breathe. I thrashed around, trying to get back into the sea to breathe again. I felt their
tails flapping and hitting into my face. I gasped and gasped, but I could not breathe! The net was moving
around and the other fish were frantically trying to slam their bodies against the net to break it, but it didn’t
work.
To my relief, I was placed back into the water. But something was wrong. It didn’t feel like it was an
ocean. Suddenly, the water around me started swishing violently. I then realised my space was limited. The
ocean that I was living in wasn't an ocean after all. It was a big blue bucket.
Finally the water became still. I relaxed. I then felt an abrupt jolt, and I flew out of the blue bucket and
into a glass tank caked with algae. In that split second I could see the outside world, but hazily through the
dirty glass.
Other fish swam around me, confused, unsure about the environment around them.
Some fish around
me even tried to knock their heads on the glass, trying to escape, though it was to no avail. A few days
passed by quickly. I clearly remembered seeing my favourite food in the tank. It was my fifth day here, and
after I saw the red worms wriggling around in the water, it made me snap out of my thinking of how to
escape this gloomy place. Yes! I swirled around the tank. They became my favourite food. I quickly gobbled
and fought over as many worms as I could find and eat. I devoured them! One thing that was better here
was the food never ran out. Something weird happened that day, a fish disappeared from the tank! I
wondered where that fish had gone… As I sat down in a near corner and returned to my thinking,
a
movement caught my eye. It had been a week
here in this mouldy tank and this was something new! I
hadn’t seen any movement yet in the tank other than fish swimming around. I swam towards the back of
the hazy glass and I saw a kitchen. There were many people in the kitchen, and it seemed like they were
very busy doing something. I saw fire burst out of a stove and a pan was on it. I swam above to see what
was inside the pan. The chefs seemed to be focused on the pan. They added things in and they shouted at
each other. Everything went in the pan. As I moved closer, I saw that inside was the fish that had
disappeared! He was inside the pan with soy-sauce poured all over him.
‘Is he alive?’ I wondered. ‘How did he disappear like that? What is going to happen to him? Oh so many
questions to answer! I really don’t know how he ended up here. I also don’t know how we got here from
the ocean. I don’t think he is alive since he wasn’t moving.
They also burnt him, so I guess the fire also
killed him. Do you think the other fish in the tank will get killed as well? I hope not, or else it will get very
lonely in this small tank.’ I turned around, from the tank and towards the outside.
I saw many people walking around. There were a lot of business men dressed in smart suits talking on the
phone or texting, as well as many construction workers working hard on drilling something near the water.
Tall bamboo poles soared into the sky and the construction workers would climb up them, like how a sea
snail would climb up seaweed. Some moms were sitting on a bench and talking with each other while their
children chased each other around, screaming and laughing. They seemed like they were having a good
time! They were all wearing many clothes, and the little kids were wearing mittens. I think it was probably
cold outside. I noticed an old lady that looked out of place, her eyes were droopy and she looked very
gloomy.
I
