Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 115

Yung’s eyes swelled with tears. “No, no, please don’t, Mother! No!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Chun covered his sister’s mouth with his hand to stop her from getting the Japanese soldiers’ attention. They both
knelt beside their dead mother, each in absolute silence. A Japanese soldier came over and beat Chun on the back.
Chun obediently stood up, and holding back his tears, started heaving up a large bag of sand, and with tears and
sweat flowing down his cheeks, carried the bag to the end of the working area and flung anther bag of sand over
his weak shoulders. A few days later, the working area was filled with dead bodies and sobbing workers, who were
grieving over the death of their friends and families.
One day, Yung couldn’t see her brother or her dog in the working area. “Chun? Ming? No, no, please
Chun, don’t abandon me in this misery! Chun! Ming! Please don’t go!” Yung muttered, tears flowing down her
little cheeks. She wished everything was just a horrible nightmare, but she knew very clearly, that her beloved
brother and dog had gone to join her mother.
One miserable afternoon, the Japanese soldiers seemed to be mumbling about something serious. Soon, they
lowered their Japanese flag and held their arms halfway up. Yung thought that was some sort of ceremony at first,
but then, the adults told her that it was surrender. Surrender to the Japanese, which meant the Chinese were free!
On that memorable day, the remaining prisoners were set free. However, the city was in terrible shape. The city
had been bombarded and damaged badly by the Japanese.
Yung, still deep in her thoughts, knew that the scars on her body would soon heal and go away, but the scars
the war left in her heart would remain. Then, tears started to flow down her cheeks. She wished her family a good
afterlife and slowly headed towards some Shanghai soldiers who came to provide food and shelter.