Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 345

Back and Around the Greater Bay Area
Carmel School - Elsa High School, Apelbaum, Abigail - 12
“Mr. Leung, hands behind your back” I heard the police officer say from a distance. The car sirens were
screaming and I was out of breath like I had been running for miles. I could hear my dad yelling, telling my
mother and I to hide.
I woke up sweating, my heart was racing. This was all just a dream, yet I could still hear my dad shouting, but
this time, telling my mother and I to run.
This wasn’t the first time we’ve had to escape and leave the place we couldn’t call home. My dad is bad, it’s like
he enjoys being so close to getting sent to jail and putting my mother and I in danger. “Everyone has good in
them” people say. My mother believes my dad does, but I don’t, he’s just bad.
Hi, my name is Mei Xing, I am only 13 years old, yet this happens quite often. I am homeschooled and have
been since my family’s been broke, it’s better this way since we’re always moving around anyway. I have long,
black, soft hair and dark brown eyes, I get these features from my mother. I tell my mother that my dad will do
harm to our family, yet she continues to trust him. Over the past 2 years, I have never stayed in one place for
over 3 weeks, and this is because of my dad. When I was a little girl, I grew up in Hong Kong, it was peaceful
and my family got along, we lived a great life. I went to school, we had a nice house, things were calm. That was
until my dad lost his job.
May 25th, 2016, my dad decided that since he didn't have enough money to support our family, he would steal
to pay for our needs, he did that successfully behind my mom and my back, until the cops showed up at our
house a couple of days later. Then, instead of owning up to what he did, he blamed it on Xia Ming, one of his
old co-workers. This was the perfect time for my dad to escape, and he did. Unfortunately, that was not the last
of it.
In September, 2018, my family and I arrived in Macau, after a journey on a boat, we were at our new
destination. We rented a small apartment to stay in until we next have to leave. The reason for us always moving
is for my dad constantly committing crime, but also for that one crime that he did commit.
June 18, 2018: JailBreak.
My dad’s friend got sent to jail for a murder. He had a family of 3 kids and a wife to look after, but that wouldn’t
be possible anymore. My dad insisted he help get Cheung (his friend) out of jail, even though he would be
putting his life and ours at risk. He knew how to escape and protect himself, he had been doing it for years. At
12:17 am on June 18th he broke into the jail (he wouldn’t let my mother or I know how he did it) this was
placed in GuangDong, China. He waited for the perfect time to knock the police officer out and get the key to
unlocking Cheung’s cell. This was no easy mission, but he was determined. That was one thing my dad always
had in him, he didn’t give up whether it was for the good or for the bad. Throughout this “mission” my dad had
forgotten something on the other side of the hallway, he wasn’t quick enough to get it, so the police found it. He
knew he was in trouble, so he did the only thing he was ever taught to do, run! He barely escaped, but the thing
he left behind had his fingerprints on it and therefore the police had a trace of my dad. Neither my mother or I
know what that thing is, and my dad refuses to tell us. And unfortunately for Cheung, he never escaped from
prison.
June 21, 2018, the police had finally found my dad (they had found out where he lived, where I lived). My dad
knew this was going to happen, so we had already escaped, again. The police did not stop searching for my dad,
as this wasn’t the first crime he had committed in Guang Dong or around the Greater Bay Area.
Since we can’t afford to leave by flying, we either drive, take boats or take trains, and we can only do this around
the greater Bay Area. The fact that we can only stay in this area is a big risk. It’s small and getting to places is
quite easy, which is helpful to the police. But we can also leave easily and fast. We have only ever moved to
places in the greater bay area.
We are currently in Macau but I have no faith about us settling down here. It is 1:07 am and I have just woken
up from a horrible dream. It was about the jailbreak, what my dad left behind in jail. My dream is telling me one
thing, but my thoughts are telling me another.
From a distance I heard sirens, I knew this could not be good, “we’re leaving again,” I thought to myself.
“No, I’m sick of this, it isn’t fair, why is my dad so bad? Why can’t I have a normal life? Why does my entire life
have to revolve around running and hiding? Why do I have to live like this?” I screamed in my head “Why is my
dad so bad?!.” In a rush, I stormed into my parent’s room.