Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 109

Hong Kong Young Writers Awards 2020
the results. “Scholarships don’t exist anymore, but we might find a sponsor.”
I might not be dumb – at least by Floater standards – but I’m not sponsor-material either.
But I knew Andrew and Caden were something else.
Shin
It’s one day until Mia becomes a part of Shin. Strangely, no matter how much Kaf ka he
read, he can’t slow my heart down. Those eyes. If only they’d let him talk to her.
Mia
Andrew slammed his fist into the wall. I thought our entire boat would flip. Caden was
in the corner, studying for his Examinations now.
It’s been three days since I returned home with a bandage on my face and a hole where
my right eye was.
“It’s nothing much, just another work accident.” The words sounded fake as they
slid through my lips. Someone let out a dumb, high-pitched laugh. Oh. It’s me. I began
blabbering about my idiotic co-worker Spencer. It was easy: he doesn’t exist.
Did they figure it out already? The mysterious accidents and magically lucrative jobs.
Weeks into janitor’s work, a voice in a corner told me to think about a deal. Over six
years, I’d be filed into the Organ Donor Candidates List. If anyone picked me, I’d trade a part
of myself for my brother’s education. If I made it through the years, I’d earn… a lot of money.
Too much to mention – it’ll easily to send my brothers to college – maybe even myself.
The dizziness and appetite from blood loss could be easily explained. Then it went from
ear cartilage to back skin to ovaries to a kidney. Harder to explain.
The eye was too much. They knew. But the reality was too horrible to admit it. Of course,
my vision would’ve been affected. I can only take the lowest paying jobs now. Stupid! Even
if I made it through the six years – and I was so close – I’d never have my own life. I will just
disappear. The holes inside gnawed at me. I felt such disgust at them, but more at myself.
When the notice for the heart transplant came, Caden was a few months from the
university. On the bus to the hospital, I felt only calm.
“Late today? Got a boyfriend now, do you?” The old street food hawker by the hospital
teased in good humour.
“How did you know?” I forced a laugh. The holes shook and threatened to collapse.
The sunlight shone on my egg waffle with oozy strawberry fillings. I splurged today. In
the sun, the waffle was a fiery red, like Andrew’s hair.
Sorry, Andrew, Caden, and Sharon. I’ll be your sister and daughter again in a better life.
I’ll love you better – promise.
Shin & Mia
They lay there side by side, broken in their own ways.
Hands full of metal hovered above them. Both Mia and Shin were both wheeled in after
breathing in the sweet chemicals. They’d never see each other’s faces.
The surgeons discovered the cavities while operating and knew in a second what the girl
went through. Afterwards, when no one came to claim the body, they ran Mia Dempsey’s
DNA through the database. If only they could find her parents, at least to tell them a
comforting story. There were two matches of age.
Sharon Dempsey, Floater.
Stanley Dempsey. Shin’s father.
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