Fiction: Group 4
New Tales of the Pearl River Delta
Pui kiu College, Au, Allison - 12, Fiction: Group 4
ack yawned. He was bored to death. His history teacher, Ms.Emal was babbling about ancient weird
Gods and evil creatures of whatever-place-she-just-said. He gazed out the window and saw his
principal, Principal Pearl beside a river; he seemed to be doing something suspicious. Jack grinned. He
thought Principal Pearl was the coolest principal on Earth. He did all sorts of things principals weren’t
supposed to do, like having a conversation with the river when you were supposed to be writing reports and
making students stand in the naughty corner.
Jack forced his head to turn back to Ms.Emal. Her name was written on the whiteboard. He stared at it for
a few moments and thought about it. Emal. He spelt it backwards – lame. He smirked and decided Emal
was an extremely suitable name for his history teacher.
Jack met his friend, Simon, the next day at the bus stop. His heart sank when Simon told him they would
be going to a history museum. Jack was so miserable he didn’t even bother to annoy the bus driver.
They arrived at the museum. Apparently everyone was in a bad mood so no one took notice of their guide
who was obviously trying very hard to catch their attention.
Jack was sulking in a corner while their guide was talking about some ancient evil water creature chewing
up the river God or something. He caught a glimpse of the water creature’s appearance, strange… it looked
a bit like Principal Pearl. After what seemed like forever, they were allowed to return home. Simon had left
all his assignments at school, so he had to go back and fetch them from his locker. Jack tagged along with
him. The two friends walked in silence along the streets, heading towards darkness.
Their school looked like a place they would go for Halloween at night. Jack and Simon passed the guard
who was slumped on a chair napping. The school should probably fire him. They were shaking all over,
partly from the cold and partly from fear. They strolled past the river where Jack had seen principal Pearl the
day before. Simon glanced at the river, it seemed there was something stirring in the water, but Simon
shrugged off the thought and ran ahead to join Jack. And behind them a terrifying sea monster soundlessly
arose from the river and stalked them with an evil glint in its eyes.
The boys were halfway through the corridors when they heard a deep hissing sound in the shadows. They
stopped abruptly. They slowly turned to face the shadows. A snarl. It sounded ancient and powerful and
carried a faint accent in its voice. Jack couldn’t help but think they were about to be chewed up like what
the evil water creature did to the river God. He wondered if this was how the river God felt when he was
about to explore someone’s stomach and felt a pang of sympathy for him. He glanced at Simon and saw he
had gone pale and was trying not to scream. Jack considered that if he wanted to be a hero and get a
girlfriend, he would have to stand up to the evil creature like a man. He found his voice and tried not to
sound petrified as he talked.
"Come out from the shadows!" he cried. But his shout came out like a squeak. The creature must
have had sensitive hearing as it responded in a sound that sounded like someone who was about to murder
two nerdy students. Jack guessed the creature intended to do just that and figured the girlfriend thing could
wait. He turned and fled. Simon followed and ran like Usain Bolt. They ran until they were sure they had
lost the creature and stopped by the river for a rest.
They were still panting after five minutes. They were about to head home when the screeching came
again. The voice was just three feet away. Very slowly and cautiously, Jack turned his body to face the
dreadful creature. He was face to face with the creature and gasped. Jack could now see clearly what the
creature looked like. It had the teeth of the most vicious sharks, the arms of a poisonous octopus, the
legs…let’s not mention the legs, and…and the head of…Principal Pearl!
"Hello Jack," he said with no emotion in his deep booming voice.
J
