Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 417

All those hours had passed, and they were still talking about beggars . What was their problem with beggars
anyways? Why couldn’t they just leave them alone? It’s not like the beggars were bothering us anyways.
We were already at the doorstep when my mother finally turned to look at me. By this point, I felt like I was in
Antarctica.
“Skyla! Where did you put your fur coat? You know these are expensive clothes! You can’t just throw them
away!”
“Sorry! I- I gave it to- to someone…” I stammered, looking at the ground and nothing else.
Mother shot me a seething glare and walked into the house, while father merely ignored me.
The same thing happened the second day. We went out for a walk and I wandered around. I met up with Zi
Xuan and brought her some more food, a new jacket for Zi Ying, some water, and a blanket. Despite us being
different races, we communicated well. Zi Xuan told me she was from Beijing, but came to Shanghai in hopes of
finding a better life. According to her, in Beijing it was very cold, and it snowed there. I have only seen snow 2 to
3 times in my life, since it rarely snows in Shanghai. She described playing in snow and riding on pieces of wood
on snow, that made me wish that it snowed more here.
I told her about my childhood. I told her pretty much everything. She just felt very safe to confide in. I even
told her how I felt like I was being ignored by my parents.
This happened to be a daily routine, I would go out to find Zi Xuan –and Zi Ying. I brought them some food,
and we chatted. After that, we parted ways and I went home with my parents.
“Skyla! Come down here!”
I slowly walked down to the living room. This couldn’t be good.
“Skyla! Why have you been giving your clothes and food to these filthy creatures? They don’t deserve it!” My
mother yelled at me.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why are you so selfish? It isn’t there fault that they have to live on the streets! Some of these people are
actually nice”
Just like that, I ran out the door.