Fiction: Group 4
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
HKUGA College, Ho, Michelle - 17, Fiction: Group 4
earl River Delta, a region in China being well developed in many different aspects. However, there
is always another side which you could never see…
The wave was caressing the coast. The distant light of the Tsing-Ma Bridge was flickering
in the black plain sky. The breeze was freezing cold, but there’s nothing colder than what I have
experienced.
I was on my way home that night. It was a wintry winter. There was no one at all; the streets were
so silent that I could even hear my breathing. All the industrial buildings beside me were worn out. The
paint was peeled off, showing their grey-coloured body. There wasn’t any source of light. The sky was
black and starless. The stars must have gone to a warmer place. The only source of light was from the distant
flickering light bulb.
I was almost home. A shadow flickered near me. I span around and saw nothing. My eyes were
trying their best to search for any sign of moving object. I didn’t dare to move any part of my muscle.
Suddenly, a figure bolted out in sight. But the figure was too fast. My eyes got blind folded. “Bang!”
something crashed, and I had no idea what happened next.
I woke up in a room with dim light. The paint on the walls was peeled off after clinging to the
walls for years. I was lying on something soft, and my body was covered with a thin layer of silk. I looked
up, there was a spot-light like object right above my head. And beside my bed, I guess, was a small tray
with knives which made me shiver.
This place made me feel unpleasant. I tried to look for an exit, but I didn’t see one. I attempted to
get up, but soon realized that my hands were attached to the bed. I wouldn’t be going to anywhere.
I had been lying there for a very long time since I couldn’t go anywhere. Eventually, I fell asleep.
I was woken up by an injection. The person who poked the needle into my flesh looked familiar. I
was searching through my brain for any information about this man. But my brain seemed to be tangled by
strings.
Panic stroked me when I saw the man holding a knife up high. The knife was gliding on the skin
above my stomach. It was ticklish, but I couldn’t think of any reasonable reason for me to laugh.
The force exerted on me by the knife was getting larger. I feel like the man was about to cut me
into half. At the very moment when the knife was about to enter my flesh, a loud sound of glass breaking
filled the room.
It took me a few seconds to adapt to the brighter environment. A group of people dressed in black
surrounded us. Who are they?
One of them whispered to the man, “if you have money for all of us, we will leave as if we hadn’t
seen this.” The man shrugged, “I won’t be doing this if I have a lot of money…” He seemed to be in deep
thought for a while, “how about 100,000 dollars, sir?” That person barked, “don’t be silly, you will need far
more than this to feed us!” I was still wondering what that group of people wanted. Unexpectedly, the
leader of the group took notice of me. “Kid, do you have money? We will set you free if you give us
money,” he smiled greedily. I was shocked, how would they ever ask me for such a large sum of money?
But I wanted to leave this place.
“Yes, of course sir.” This is the response I had finally come up with. “But I don’t have money with
me now. How about I leave my contacts with you so that I could ask my parents to pay you later?” The
leader of the group seemed to be considering my offer. He started to discuss with an older man. After an
unbearable long time, they seemed to finally come to a conclusion. The leader said in a low and deep voice,
barely audible, “we will set you free for NOW. But if you do not pay, you will be doomed. Leave your
contact here. If this is a false one, we can still track you down.” He was satisfied with his threatening. He
grinned afterwards, and I saw it.
Soon, they took me away from the mysterious room. It was dawn already. The great red sun was
rising from the horizon, smiling at me. I was being left in a narrow backstreet in the city. The leader once
again threatened me, but I was not scared this time. The sun was up and the bright side of matters should
appear.
P
