Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 204

Future Adventures of the Greater Bay Area
PLK HKTA Yuen Yuen Primary School, Tang, Charis Hiu Lam - 10
Chloe Smith was a mischievous and adventurous girl. She grinned and couldn’t believe she was really living
near the Greater Bay Area. She looked out the window as the wind ruffled her hair. She always wore silvery
sleeveless shirt and a sky blue skirt. She also had a dog.
Just then, a familiar voice called out to her, “It’s time for dinner. I’ll let you take a walk with Sammy later.
Come on.” Chloe sighed and took one more look at the window and ran down the stairs into the dining
room.
Chloe ate a delicious dinner, macaroni and cheese, with a mango flavoured popsicle as dessert. She thanked
her mom and asked, “Mom? Can I go on a walk now?”
“Sure,” replied mom.
Chloe excitedly got her sandals and shot out of the house. She walked around and saw a golden thing
sticking out of the sand covered ground. Chloe was surprised. What was a thing like that doing here? Still,
she continued trekking through the grounds and sighed. It was a beautiful environment.
When she was back home again, she asked her mom if she could go on walks every night after dinner. Her
mother reluctantly agreed, “Okay, fine by me. But you have to bring Sammy and also, if your behaviour is
bad on that day, there will not be a walk for you.” “Alright, alright. Thanks, anyway,” Chloe sighed and
muttered. She thought, “Guess I’ll have to be good from now on.”
The next day, as Chloe trekked through the pathways, she saw some burly and big men. They had hooks
on their hands and wore pirate-like clothes. She was extremely curious about who those men were. Chloe
also saw the burning some gold. She wondered in her mind, “Perhaps the golden thing sticking out was
some loot.” She walked home, still deep in thought. She thought about it and decided not to tell anyone.
As she went home that evening after her walk, Chloe was relieved that her mother didn’t ask about her
walk. The next day, when she woke up, she found her mother crying silently to herself. She wondered,
“What happened to make her cry?”
Still thinking, she walked into the living to her room and asked gently, “Morning, mom. What’s wrong?
Why the crying and the sad face?” Mom answered, “It’s fine, honey.. You don’t deserve this.” Chloe asked
again, “Come on, mom. Tell me the truth.” Her mom sighed, gave in and replied, “Well, you know about
the walks? I think you like those stupid walks more than me. Does that sound reasonable to you,” Chloe
shook her head and nodded at her encouragingly to go on and keep talking, “Since you’ve been going on
those walks, I’ve been thinking that you caught a disease that makes you like to go on walks.”
Chloe stifled a laugh and giggled. Mom tried to hide her laughter also. But nothing worked. Later that day,
as Chloe got ready to go on her walk, she took a deep breath and asked her mother if she wanted to go with
her. Her mother had said yes and now they were walking happily in the fresh air as the breeze ruffled their
hair. She saw some long, beautiful shimmering tails flicking in the sea. Chloe abruptly lunged for the tail and
was just fast enough to catch the tail. She pulled and her mom pulled with her also. They pulled until they
were breathless and saw what was under or on that tail…
It was a mermaid. The mermaid made Chloe and her mom promise that they wouldn’t tell anyone. After
they promised, she told us her story, “We mermaids have the ability to speak underwater and we don’t
know why, but most of our treasures and valuables disappeared. We don’t know why. We think we can
trust you with this secret. We don’t want anyone to know about the missing stuff and us mermaids.”