Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 146

The New Tales of Old Shanghai
Dulwich College Beijing, Jiang, Tiger – 11
S
lowly, I tiptoed quietly inside the synagogue without making a sound. It was the dead of night with only the
grandfather clock ticking eerily. I’m not supposed to be here, I thought, but the urge to retrieve my Jade
necklace kept me going. It all began like this: I had a Jewish family and we lived in Germany, every went well.
However, we lived in peace but not for long. When anti-Semitism started, the Nazis captured my parents and
took them to the concentration camps. Before they came, my mother gave me that Jade necklace and told me
with a determined voice, “You have got to live on!”. I’ve got to find it!
Everything around me was blurry dark, like a mist had grown around me. Remembering the word the priest said
gave be a shudder. The words burned deep into my brain: something has escaped from hell…it’s hiding in a
dungeon underneath us…it will come and haunt this synagogue...A chill sprinted down my spine. I paused. Could
it be possibly be real? Snap out of it Victor, its not real…Creeeeaaak. I stopped dead. Fear flooded my body, I
almost felt a gush of gelid air excruciating my heart.
I spun around. Nothing. Then I heard it again: Creeeeaaak. But this time the sound felt as though it had had came
from beside me. The silence was pierced by a deafening shriek. My body was paralyzed with fear; I wanted to
scream but fear clogged my throat. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I Olympian souring towards the finish line.
Suddenly, the marble floor underneath me vanished. Totally unprepared, I fell into a deep hole…
I woke up, my legs feeling severe pain. It’s going to be a long way up, I thought, with my head throbbing. I’ve
had it! All I want was to find my Jade necklace, and what did I get? The thought made me terribly mad; I kicked
the wall aggressively.
Simultaneously, the granite stone wall, that just had a brick that got kicked in, opened up into a huge dungeon.
Stunned, I stared at it foolishly. Oh how I wanted to end this but curiosity got the better of me. Fascinated but
apprehensive about my my surroundings, I moved forward, my eyes scanning for my Jade necklace. So, this was
the dungeon the priest talked about, I thought suspiciously. After hours and hours of walking, I saw a long spiral
staircase leading deep into the dungeon. Instantaneously, I heard a thundering roar coming underneath me.
Alarmed, I fell back with fright; my hands trembling uncontrollably. The first thing that came into my mind was:
run.
I darted away as cold hands closed around my heart. I could still hear footsteps behind me, getting louder and
louder. However, right in front of me was my Jade necklace, the reason I was here. With all of the danger
forgotten, I grabbed necklace and looked back. The last thing I heard was a cackle of evil laughter…