Fiction: Group 4
The Factory
St. Margaret's Co-Educational English Secondary and Primary School
(Secondary Section), Lam, Doris - 17, Fiction: Group 4
watched the water do mini cartwheels, as if each and every little movement it did was a show of art. It
danced around me, in front of me, behind me. My mind drifted in and out of darkness, hearing only the
whispers the water murmured to itself and the sound of nighttime with the overlooking moon.
The moon seemed to peer at us, wondering what the two of us were doing here so late at night. But it had
always been like this for the last few weeks. The moon shone loudly yet dully, as if bored with our presence
and wishing to see anything but us.
The moon mocked the night sky for its shyness, and illuminated with a blinding grin of evil after absorbing
the sky’s uncertainty. I blinked. And that was all the time the sky needed to gain back the power the moon
had taken. The night sky roared and the stars twinkled like silver sparkles mixed with joyful laughter of a
child’s, excited for the fight between the two brothers of the night.
Perhaps all of this was in my head, but the fight seemed to have hushed the world and frozen the water.
Perhaps all of this was in my head, but the water seemed to have frozen in fear and the cartwheels froze the
air. Perhaps all of this was in my head, but the sky roared, sending shaky white lines down to the ground,
silencing the moon from its wicked wishes and silencing my father from all his dreams.
My father fell into a coma soon after that. The doctors told us that all hope was lost and that we shouldn’t
expect him to wake up soon. He didn’t respond to us when mom was shaking him or when aunt was
yelling for him to wake up. Maybe he won't ever wake up.
My father named me Yuan Wang, which means “wish” in Chinese. He had a lot of dreams in life, and I was
his biggest wish. Why else would he name me Yuan Wang? His second biggest wish was to travel the entire
Pearl River Delta. I didn’t want to since it’s such a big area, so we settled to travel through the Pearl River
instead.
I did not blame my father for wanting to travel through Pearl River or myself for not jumping up to save
him. Blaming could not solve anything and I much rather fulfill my father’s last wish and fulfill his legacy.
After bringing father back home, I immediately went back to where father and I were. I refused to grieve. It
was nighttime again, and I looked up to see the moon glowing dully at me, as if ashamed of itself. I looked
at the sky as it darkened as if acknowledging the wrong that they had done. I looked at the wooden boat I
sat in and the empty spot next to me that was once my father’s. I looked at the water and they seemed to be
doing a sorrowful ballet dance instead of the energizing cartwheels. It was as if nature was grieving for the
accident they have made and grieving for my part as well. The sky sighed, and droplets of water fell in a
comforting pace, the sky wept for forgiveness. But I still refused to grieve. Instead, I closed my eyes and
hoped that the rain would wash the memory away.
When I opened my eyes again, the sun’s fury gaze was burning my skin. I began to paddle forward and
imagined myself reaching the end to the Pearl River by nighttime. I saw something on the corner of my eye
and before I could even look at it closely, it jumped towards me, arms outreached, clawing for the flesh of
my neck.
Terrified, my body reacted before I could even think. I decided to jump into the water. Warm water
welcomed me and slowly soaked into my clothes, dragging me down. I struggled to keep my face above the
water. The devil seeped down my throat and choked me violently. It was as if it took over my body and
stopped it from fighting, accepting its fate to sink deep down into the water. The sun sparkled with joy and
the sky was the same blue as the colored papers we used to use for crafts during art class at school. I stared at
the beauty of the Earth above me, and I watched it become lighter and lighter in color, slowly being
replaced by little black dots appearing right in front of my eyes.
***
It seemed like so much happened when I closed my eyes, but when I did open them again, I found myself
aching all over my body, as if went to a deep tissue body massage the day before. As my senses slowly started
coming back to me, I realized I was on a bottom bunk bed with rotting metal headboard above me. I was
surprised to find my clothes dry and wondered how long had I been in that place.
I sat up and examined my surroundings closely, and saw that metal bars were installed behind the windows.
The room walls in the room seemed to come closer and closer towards me as the seconds tick by, its original
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