Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020 | Page 44

Fiction – Group 3
The Love from Prosperity,
the Prosperity from Love
Sacred Heart Canossian College, Chow, Hang Hei – 13
She peeked through the curtains, staring into a world of luminous light, lost, in her mind.
Aredhel was a village girl, and she was mute. Since her birth she had been taught to be
obedient, and to farm. She was never provided real education, though, for again, she was a girl.
But she did have a dream, a beautiful and sweet dream that she yearned for in the deepest
darkness—she yearned to be free of the shackles from her world, that she was worthless as a
girl, who could not even talk. How fervent her wish was, that she wished, to learn.
And so Aredhel prayed every day, to the dim moon and the shining stars, secretly
and silently.
***
It was one day when her brother came to her, and brought her away from her childhood
home, and led her to a strange dwelling--he called it the Greater Bay Area, with more land
than Switzerland, more people than Canada, and more business activities than the whole
of Australia.
So it was that Aredhel came to a place so unlike her village, of light, of people, of
prosperity.
***
Aredhel woke up with a start, and went to the window. She looked down through
the curtains and stared into a world of light, that never had she witnessed before. Other
skyscrapers came into sight as she innocently waved at the residents through the glass. She was
silent, but her silence could not conceal her curiosity nor her joy.
Aredhel raced to her brother for breakfast, after she dressed up for the day. She was quite
ready for a little adventure today, and while gobbling up her food she looked at her brother,
begging him to take her out for a walk. She could not talk, no she could not, but her soul
could speak with her eyes.
The advertising lights shone and dazzled, while the displays of the streets blinded Aredhel
with their numerous colours. Aredhel looked up at the sky, and laughed and cried, though
no sound came from her mouth. The skyscrapers scrambled into view and cast a long shadow
on her face, while they faced each other, window to window, door to door. The voices
of different people rang beside her, melodic, and the rustling sounds of cars conjured her
attention, Cars, cars. She had only seen cows and horses in the village, but never had she seen
a car. Aredhel’s eyes widened with marvel and she counted every single car that passed by.
She nudged her brother--maybe he could get a car for her. Red, she had always fancied red. If
she had a car, she would get a red one. The shadows of the people fell continuously onto her,
but she did not mind. She stood silently and watched, until her brother called her.
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