Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 34

Fiction – Group 3
“It stands for Freedom Resistance. They’re an anarchist group”
“So what…” started Daddy but he stops as Michael and I came over.
Every weekend, while Mommy and Daddy were running errands, Olivia takes me to
the playground. I play games on the different obstacles but I also think about Mommy and
Daddy’s conversation with Michael’s parents. The government is rejecting Mommy’s ideas?
Does this mean she’s going to be fired and we’ll move back to Alaska? But I’ve just started to
understand Cantonese! These questions haunt me whenever I’m left alone to my thoughts and
I’m not sure whether I’m happy or sad about this turn of events.
***
In the end, we didn’t move back to Alaska. Life continued as usual; that is, until it didn’t.
A deafening boom sounded. I dropped my toys and ran to the living-room. Nobody
spoke; Mommy clicked on the news.
“…debris was scattered dirtily: splinters covered the ground, bits of plastic and broken
poles and chains lay in smithereens on the solid-rubber floor. It is suspected the FR is behind
this terrible act of violence,” said the TV. An image popped up on the screen. It looked like…
but it couldn’t be. I looked at everyone only to find that everyone was looking at me.
I ran to my room and lay in bed until Olivia came in.
“Olivia,” I start, looking her right in the eyes, because I couldn’t believe it, I wouldn’t
believe it, until I heard the words come out of her mouth. “Did they bomb my playground?”
She stares at me dead-eyed, serious and nods. The tears spill out of my eyes. I had finally
found a place that reminded me of home and now it had been taken away from me. I wish
I was a pirate or a fireman or a secret agent instead; they would’ve been able to prevent
the bombing.
That night, I heard whispers from the living-room.
“But why bomb a children’s playground?” came Mommy’s voice.
“Because it creates anarchy and that’s exactly what they want. They think that when the
government sees that everything is getting destroyed because of the GBA, they’ll decide it’s
not worth all the casualties and call it off.”
“But why does the GBA bother them so much?”
“China is trying to push their laws onto Hong Kong and Macau. So now people are
angry at the government. I think most of the FR is made up of people from Hong Kong and
Macau but they might have rallied people from the southern province of Guangdong.”
After the bomb Mommy and Daddy decided that Dongguan was no longer safe; within
months we were back in Alaska. Many things changed after the move; I started to play in
playgrounds other than David-Green Park because every playground sparks a different flame
of imagination. But despite all the changes, the moon has been with me this whole time,
except now I’m not the only one leading our little adventures. But no matter where we end
up, I’ll always have someone to follow and someone to follow me.
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