Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 121

pearl to buy him freedom, like a rabid dog. Horrified, I race out of the prison into the broad daylight, never to
return…
Gazing out of the train window, I see hordes of desperate and frightened people hurling luggage into already
overthrown vehicles, trying to flee the city before the Japanese comes. These people are just like my brother,
trying all means to survive this doomsday world. The Bund washed off its dazzling glitters and transforms into a
solemn fortress. My thoughts float back to my brother. Perhaps my brother was really killed. Perhaps he is still
in captivity, and being forced to spy on us. Or perhaps that man in the prison really is my brother, but what he has
suffered has driven him crazy. I even doubt my memory and start to wonder if my mother is telling the truth.
But whatever the truth is, I will never see my brother. Lying ahead of me are numerous uncertainties, but one
thing is for sure – I cannot waste the rest of my life searching for him anymore. He wouldn’t want me to either.
After all, I’ve got my own life to struggle with.