Fiction: Group 3
Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School, Lo, Christy - 13, Fiction: Group 3
woke up with an eerie feeling. Everything was unusually quiet. I couldn’t hear the sound of my
younger sisters arguing over unimportant things like every other morning, and the sounds of cars
buzzing around. I couldn’t smell the herby scent of omelets that my mom cooked every Monday
morning, and the smell of dad’s coffee. I got up and went to the living room, only to find no one at all. I
opened the doors to every room there was in my apartment, then I realised I was alone.
This was all very bizarre. “Come out now, it’s not funny,” I shouted in disbelief. There was no reply. I
looked around the living room, and everything looked untouched and clean. However, some things were
missing. The blue inkblots put on the curtains by my sisters were gone, and the piano mom gave me for my
birthday disappeared. It felt like every piece of evidence of my family ever existed was gone. Disturbingly,
when I turned to look at the framed family picture that sat comfortably on the table, I saw myself and myself
only, smiling at the camera. Everyone I remembered in the picture was gone. I was the only person in the
photograph. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. Apparently not.
This was all too elaborate to be a prank, and that thought was what troubled me the most. I followed my
instincts. I grabbed the keys and headed out to find my family.
I opened the door in the lobby and stepped out to the road, only I did not step on hard concrete, I stepped
on the body of a boy. I looked down and saw four people, lying on the floor lifelessly. There was a girl
about my age, a very young girl about 5 years old and two boys who looked a bit older than me. I was in
shock. There were dead bodies outside the door of the lobby. The boy started coughing. I shrieked and
backed away. He stood up and walked closer to me. It turned out he wasn’t dead afterall.
“
Wher aam I? Whot aam I doing on the street
?” asked the boy with his eyes half opened.
I could tell from the accent he wasn’t from here. “You’re in Hong Kong,” I replied, “Who are you?”
“I’m Elliot. Aand I can’t be in Hong Kong. I aam pretty sure I’m in Shenzhen. Whot’s your name?” he
asked in a laid-back tone as he fixed his messy dark hair. It seemed clear to me he didn’t really know
something was wrong.
“I’m Britt, and you are definitely in Hong Kong,”
He walked towards me, “Now, Britt, Hong Kong caan’t be this quiet. We’re in a ghost town,”
“Everyone disappeared. In fact I don’t even know if they ever existed,”
“Whot do you mean by that?”
“Back in the apartment everything my family gave me is gone, and in a family photo I am the only one left
in the picture,”
He looked too confused to say anything. “That’s really weird. Good luck finding them,” he turned his
head and widened his eyes as he looked at the other boy lying on the street, “Bro! Delsin!”
Elliot shook him wildly to wake him up. “Hey, why am I on the street?” said the boy who just woke from
his deep sleep.
“I don’t know but you’re lucky to still be here. Britt doesn’t even know where her family is. Britt, this is
my brother Delsin,” Elliot introduced him to me.
I
