Fiction: Group 3
Tales of Pearl River Delta
Island School, Singh, Aryani - 13, Fiction: Group 3
ilence surrounded me as I lie wide awake on my bed. I stared at the ceiling. It was beginning of
December, too cold for my liking. I looked out the window as the cold wind made the curtain sway,
creating a ghastly figure. I could hear typing in the other room, which gave me hint that Carlos was
still awake. He’s been working really hard since we moved to Macau, which was a week ago. I didn’t want
to move here, it’s just we travel way too much, and I just felt like we should settle down somewhere. But
being an archaeologist doesn’t help. I got up from the bed and stroll out to the living room, where I saw
Carlos typing away on his laptop.
“You aren’t sleeping Adlyne?” he questioned, while putting his laptop aside.
“No. What are you doing up so late?” I asked him.
“Well you see. We’ve got an investigation at the Pearl River Delta Region tomorrow, and it seems like we
have a lot work ahead. So you might want to get some sleep.” He told me with a sigh.
“Let’s go get some sleep then.” I told him while pulling him up with me.
With that we both went to bed. I tried not think too much, so I closed my eyes and let the sleep come over
me. Tomorrow was going to be long day.
I woke up as a cold breeze hit my face. I shuddered as cool gust of wind hit me again. I turned over to look
over at Carlos. He was dozed off, he sleeps like a log, nothing ever seems to wake him up. I checked the
time, it was 7:05 in the morning. We don’t have to get ready until the next two hours. I flicked Carlos nose,
hoping he would get up. But he turned around facing his back towards me. Giving up I stood up and went
to the bathroom to get ready. When I got ready and went out the bathroom. Carlos was in the middle of
the bed snoring away. I ignored him and went downstairs. I noticed a file lying on the coffee table. The
cover read “The Barren Land of Pearl River Delta Region”, so this was what Carlos was talking about last
night. I took the file and opened the first page and started reading. The file was about the investigation we
had to do today. The place was a beach near a forest at the Pearl River Delta. Between the file lay a picture
of the place. The sky seemed seem to have been hung by gloom, and the water was pitch black. I put the
picture on the table, but I couldn’t get my eyes off it. The picture was captivating. I wonder what had
happened in this place. A loud yawn pulled me out of my thoughts.
“So you finally decided to wake up?” I asked him, but it sounded more like a statement.
He looked at me and then to the file that was lying on my lap.
“Oh, so you already read that. Great because you would eventually have too.” he said.
“The place, well…It seems very barren. Either the place has nothing at all or it is filled with secrets that we
have to discover.” I replied. I was actually quite interested to go check this place.
“Well, we leave in the next forty-five minutes, which means you better start getting ready.” I pointed.
“Yeah right.” he said while sticking his tongue out at me.
I rolled my eyes at him and left.
“Wear something warm. I’ve heard it is freezing there in winter.” Carlos called back at me.
“Yeah, okay.” I mumbled and went to change my clothes.
I put on a pair of jeans, a full-sleeved shirt, a thick coat and a pair of boots and left my room. I waited for
Carlos to come out. He came out carrying the bag of tools we needed for investigating.
We made our way to the barren beach at the other end of Macau. We drove till the beach, where we met
our guide Serena Hui. She greeted us with a hello and took us to the place that I saw in the picture. The sky
was suffocating, the dark clouds pressing in as if to
crush you, the sea was pitch black, it was crashing against
the rocks violently as if to shatter them any second. I looked around, the near the end of the beach there was
a large rock almost like a rock. The waves were clashing furiously on the little cliff like rock. I noticed a
shadow like figure on the end of the rock, I looked up at the sky and and looked back at the rock. I noticed
that the figure was gone. I might have just imagined it, so I turned around and walked over to Carlos, who
was taking the tools out the began the work.
S
