Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 148

The Adventure of the Greater Bay Area Kennedy School, Ho, Hilary - 10 It was just a normal day in Lin and Madelyn’s mansion with all robot servants and maids doing well. Lin was a famous actor, singer, and songwriter who everyone adored, and Madelyn was his sister. They decided to take a short walk after taking the lunch pill, so they called the bodyguards and roamed around their big, private backyard. Suddenly, they both heard people yelling in the distance. Maddy frowned and was about to call the cops when she realised that Lin and the bodyguards weren’t in sight. “Lin? Lin, where are you?” she said, trying to hide her fear of getting lost. “Madelyn, come check this out!” Lin said in the distance. “For the last time, it’s Maddy!” Madelyn rolled her eyes and rushed over. “I-is that a glowing frame around purple swirls?” she stammered, eyes bulging. “No, it’s probably a portal! Look, when I put my hand through, it disappears!” Lin exclaimed happily. “I’m going in, bye!” and like that he dove into the portal with the bodyguards trying to follow, but they couldn’t enter, except one! It just left the others dizzy. Obviously, Maddy followed to see where it leaded to. “It feels like we’re floating in jelly!” Maddy exclaimed inside the transition. “I know…” Lin trailed off. “You better not be pretending againAHHH!” Maddy screamed as she fell into the water. Luckily, all robots and Lin and Maddy knew how to swim. As they treaded in the water, they watched Cargo ships with giant containers slowly pass by. “Where are we? Why are these ships so slow and rusty?” Maddy had another million questions, but she kept them to herself. “Look, we gotta look for land, and the closest one in sight is on my left, right?” Before Lin finished, Maddy and one of Lin’s robot started swimming. After many minutes that felt like days, they arrived at the current Mang Kina, bustling with people. Maddy and Lin weren’t interesting to look at - soggy clothes, teenagers’ look, but the thing that caught everyone’s attention was the only robot that they had with them. There were many gasps and wide eyes, and then everyone started running away because of the robot. Maddy and Lin thought the people were running away from something behind them, so they followed until police surrounded them with guns. The head police started: “Don’t move, hands up, or we’ll shoot.” They did as they were told, even the robot. After many questions, they were free to go, but everyone kept an eye on them. They explored the place, which looked familiar and had the same street names as the ones back home. There were weird smells coming out of dirty shops, and everyone’s clothing didn’t look the same. They heard many different languages, including the one that their granny would constantly speak in. “So are we in HK or what? It just seems like the old version of Mang Kina Granny always talks about.” Maddy suggested. Before Lin replied, a little girl with ragged clothes came up to them. “Hi, I’m Lily. Don’t look at me as if I’m like the others. I am totally on your side. The people here think that you are spies from America.” Lily said to them as she extended her hand out. “Uh, hi. So we are not welcome here? The cops let us go.” Maddy said awkwardly shaking Lily’s hand. Lily explained that she was an orphan, and would love a family. She was very cute from Maddy’s perspective, but extremely annoying in Lin’s. Lily brought them to her secret shelter that she worked on for some time. “So you step on this, trigger this, and that at the same time, press that, and here!” Lily said with confidence. It wasn’t much, except the shiny jewels in Lily’s collection. The siblings made themselves comfortable and they started the search for a portal day after day. One day, they went to a Starbucks shop. Everyone eyed them all the way. They asked for many things, and then they payed in cash. Lin asked his robot for money and just like a dispenser, the robot dropped bills into Lin’s hands. So this was another reason why the people do not trust Lin and Maddy. One time, Maddy decided it was time to ask. "Lily?" Maddy asked.