Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 241

My Second Home
Singapore International School, Chan, Matthew - 11
“Good morning,” Johan got into the lift and smiled to his neighbours with a cheerful greeting. He
walked towards his school as usual and said “Bye, Mum and Dad” in a happy tone and dashed through the
school gates. This sunshine boy loved his parents, his friends, his school and everything around him. Though
he was not from a rich family, living in a small flat in a small estate in Kowloon City, he loved his small city,
Hong Kong very much.
Today, he was introduced to “The Greater Bay Area of China” in his geography lesson but he showed
no interest in it. His mind was locked in the shadow of the old scene of his grandparents’ traditional house on
the Mainland…in a shabby town, far from his modern home. Even though Johan loved his grandma, he
would not want to visit his dad’s old home. He couldn’t stop thinking about how dark the house was and
how dusty the roads were around it!
Six years had passed and it was a day before his birthday.
“Slam!” the door opened in a sudden and his parents walked in.
Johan turned around to them puzzled, “What happened?”
His mum replied, “Darling, Grandma wants to see you and have a celebration for your eleventh
birthday.”
“What?” Johan shouted, “I don’t want to… I really don’t want to go to that rusty and rotten place!”
His parents had a shop that sold electrical appliances, and their business had not been going very well
and
they had to move it somewhere else to improve the business. After arguing for a few minutes, Johan knew
his parents had no choice, so he accepted his parent’s arrangement. For the rest of the night, Johan hid in his
room with watery tears brimming from his eyes. He was tired of the sudden news and fell into sleep.
Johan was on an old engine train which moved on old metal rails with his parents to Zhong Shan. It
was very overcrowded and cold. At night, he slept on a tough bed in a grey room without decoration.
When his parents came back to pick him up, he dashed out of the small house.
“Bye, Johan! Grandma wants to meet you soon!” Grandma’s voice echoed in Johan’s mind and woke
him up in the dark. He was in his cozy bed and really unwilling to see the light of the day come.
The sun rose up and the little boy had to leave with his parents. He was brought to the high speed rail
station which was modernized like an international transport terminus. To his surprise, the trip only took
one hour to reach his feared destination. When he first set foot into his familiar old town, it was like going
into another world. The sky was blue and the fresh breeze released him from his worries. There were ecogreen
trees hovering about the sky, shading the modern buildings below. There were clean roads, markets,
playgrounds and restaurants on the way to meet his old relative.
Johan’s mouth crackled with laughter, and a huge smile stuck to his face when the familiar old lady
came to his place.
“Here we are my sweet grandson Johan! Here we are.”
“Grandma, aren’t we going to the village house?”
“Oh, I’ve lived here since you were six years old!”