A s the sun slowly set off in the horizon , Shen decided to take his dog , Bruno for a walk . Shen didn ' t like being in crowded areas so he decided to walk towards a garden , where it appeared to be quiet and peaceful , as no one ever used to go there . As soon as he approached the entrance to the garden , he saw a sign that said ‘ DO NOT TRESPASS ’. It seemed that the garden had been closed and had been destroyed , looking at that he thought that it was the best place for him to walk , but as soon as he entered the wrecked garden it suddenly began to rain . Shen could feel the cold water dropping on him rapidly , he could hear the thunder and at the sound of it Bruno began to bark . Bruno was barking very loud and fast , it seemed that Bruno wanted to break free because he could either sense something wrong about the place or he was just terrified because of the thunder . Soon enough the leash had broken and Bruno had run away .

Shen made a run for it , he ran after the dog even though he didn ’ t even know where he was going . The next thing he knew , he tasted a mouthful of dirt . The uneven floor had made Shen trip over and he felt a sharp pain on his leg and as he looked at his leg he saw a crimson streak running down his left shin . He had cut himself . When he looked up he saw Bruno ’ s fluffy tail wagging and disappearing around the corner . He got up and limped as fast as he could after Bruno . When he reached the corner he turned , but as he did he felt a jerk run through his body and it seemed that he had reached the downtown of Shanghai , only he didn ’ t see all the skyscrapers and highrise buildings he saw when he used to visit with his family to admire the skyline and the glittering lights . It was like he had entered a whole new world ! It seemed that the place was ancient with old low rise structures . For a minute he was petrified that he was lost and had tears in his eyes when he saw an old man approaching his way . Shen softly mummered , “ Where is Pudong ?” ‘‘ You are in Pudong right now !’’, stated the old man . ’ What year is it ?’, Shen inquired . ‘’ It ’ s 1894 . Don ’ t you learn anything at school ?’’, asked the old man . ‘’‘ Of course I do ’’, Shen exclaimed offendedly . The old man huffed and walked off . Shen was so confused . ‘ How on earth did I get from 2017 to 1894 ’, Shen wondered inquisitively . Shen saw extremely old buildings and there were people sitting on the streets playing Mah Jong . All of a sudden a mob of people were running behind two rich businessmen who were carrying a briefcase each which presumably was filled with gold . Shen noticed that the people were holding something small and sharp in their hands . ‘ Were they guns ? Or were they knives ?’, Shen thought . He then heard some people shouting about some kind of syringe attack and then he saw that the people running after the businessmen had attacked them and drugged them and fled away with the gold . Shen then realised that he had to be aware of his surroundings as old Shanghai was full of crime . He saw assault and violence around him at every nook and corner . He was petrified and to make the situation worse he himself was stripped of his Nike jacket and shoes by some thieves and had to run around barefoot in the freezing cold . Thankfully , he saw a policeman riding a bicycle and tried to report the case to him but he turned a deaf ear towards him , this gave Shen a very bad picture of old Shanghai and knew that this was the reason Shanghai was so corrupt and had lots of crime . It seemed like his history book was opened right in front of him . Afterwards he decided to sit down on the steps of the temple and pray and pray and pray from hearing the shopkeepers shouting and the horse and carts Shen suddenly heard cars honking . Shen had experienced the past of Shanghai and he thought that he could be the best in his school at Shanghai history . All of a sudden a thought crossed Shen ’ s mind , ‘ where was Bruno ?’. Shen jumped up and panicked but there was no need to worry because Bruno was sitting at the bottom of the steps . Shen ran to Bruno and then they left the temple and went home . When they reached then everyone was sitting down with a worried look on their face wondering where he was . At the sight of Shen everyone jumped and ran towards him to ask where he had been . Shen told them all about it but instead of everyone believing him they all just laughed and said “ haha very funny . You must be tired so go up and sleep as you have school tomorrow ”.

The next day at school he tried to tell everyone his amazing adventure of old Shanghai but everyone just laughed and thought that he just wanted to look cool . Shen guessed that no one would ever believe him and he and Bruno were the only witnesses but of course , no one could understand a dog and no one would believe a 12 year old . However , in his history class his teacher was discussing mysterious photographs , in which one was old Shanghai and strangely had a man walking around in what seemed to be a Nike jacket and trainers ...

THE END

Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 403