Fiction: Group 3
The Defender of the Pearl
Korean International School Secondary Section, Mohm, Presley - 14, Fiction: Group 3
s I lay there on the concrete, I was debating if running away from home was a good idea.
If I stayed there, my father in a drunken rage would have beaten me with his clenched fists
while he screamed in rage of how I was a pathetic and useless dog. It's been going on since my
mother past away. Like clockwork, every Friday he would come home wasted and starts bashing his
knuckles into my slender body. One time I tried to lock my door and hide from him but when he opened
the door with the master keys he was fuming and smashed a beer bottle onto my skull, knocking me
unconscious. The next morning, I began devising a plan to run away and I did. I never said anything to
anyone because everyone wouldn't believe me; he's kind, nice and charismatic every day except Fridays. I
would've left him earlier if I didn't feel sorry for him about mum.
When I run away, I will have ended all ties with him; he will never let me into the apartment
again. I'll have to live the rest of my life without his help. Since I'm only 13, the only way I can get money
is from begging, so most likely I would die of starvation...
I have nowhere to go, no one to help me. I will become one with the streets.
I stood up and grabbed my backpack which contained a sandwich, a lighter, a letter knife and my
piggy bank which contains about fifty dollars. I slept under a bridge at the flood plain of a drainage channel.
Sleeping on hard ground that sloped down towards the right was not at all comfortable but I knew that if a
slept out in the open I might get harassed.
The next morning, I brush myself off and check my pockets to see if I still have my wallet which
contains a hundred dollars. Just as I started to climb over the fence to the pavement, a voice called from
behind me.
'Hey boy! You don't seem to be in good shape,' a scruffy voice shouts, 'I can help you out if you
help me out.'
I turn to see Chinese man in a trench coat and a bowler hat. He has a scar that stretches from his
left eyebrow to his cheek. He looks to be in his thirties and mildly strong like he's been going to the gym
regularly. Next to him floating on the dirty water was a traditional Chinese row boat. He and the boat
seemed to have materialized from thin air when I was looking the other way.
'Keep going.' I was intrigued. If my plan is to work, I would need all the help I could get.
'I'm on a treasure hunt. I'm looking for a valuable pearl that is located in a cemetery in
Guangzhou. It's been abandoned so it is technically not stealing. I need your help to get the treasure. I
discovered the last time tried that one person can't do it alone. When we find the treasure, I will pay you as
much money as you want me to. Then I will deliver you back here and I will leave you. We will never
cross paths again.'
This seems fishy but the money would be really good. If I don't take the offer I might just starve to
death.
'Fine I'll help. I think you are a trustworthy bloke. Why didn't you get it last time? What was the
problem'
An awkward silence ensued.
'It don't matter boy. You'll see soon enough anyway. Get in the row boat, we're leaving right
away.'
'How are we going to get there, you going to row us all the way there?'
'Just shut up and get in the boat.'
I walk towards the boat. The wood of the boat is in mint condition; the black paint that covers
most of the boat looks freshly painted in black, the crimson designs which decorates the hull is bright red. I
step into it and the man follows.
'Close your eyes, and make sure they do not open them until I tell you to,' he demanded.
I close my eyes and press my palms to my eye sockets. I hear a swish of water and felt a light
breeze.
'Open your eyes now and don't go asking any questions.'
I open my eyes to a completely different setting. The boat is now on a large river, the width of
30km and the length of it is longer by a hundred times. The river has many twists and turns; one side of the
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