Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 354

The Boat Ride
Carmel School - Elsa High School, Gefen, Neta - 12
Rachel walked through the door, tossed her bag on the couch and went to the kitchen to get a piece of bread;
that was her dinner for the night. She flopped onto the ripped up couch where she slept and turned on the old
T.V to look for news about the protests. Rachel wasn't very fortunate in life. She lived in Hong Kong, in a small
two-floor building with four apartments next to a port. She lived on floor 2B. The apartment had two rooms:
the living room and a kitchen which was also a bathroom. Rachel turned off the T.V and slowly started to fall
asleep.
The next morning she started her daily routine. She went downstairs to the rosemary bush and pulled off one of
the small branches, when she turned around to go back upstairs she glimpsed her parents’ fishing boat that was
tied to a tree. It was gracefully rocking up and down, carried by the waves of the water. When she noticed the
boat a flash of memory hit her and she was reminded why her parents no longer live in Hong Kong.
Rachel’s parents went grocery shopping earlier that horrifying day. They didn't come back. She was only thirteen
and all alone. A few days later, she received a letter that was slid under the door. The letter read:
“Rachel, this is Mom and Dad. We have been falsely accused of shooting a gun at the grocery shop. We’ve been
arrested. We were sent to the Shenzhen prison but we were never escorted to jail. We are currently hiding in
Uncle Jung’s house. We hope to be reunited soon but remember to keep out of trouble. Make sure you are not
seen by the police, otherwise you will be taken into a government facility. We love you, 我们很爱你 .”
Rachel had never found out who delivered the letter.
When Rachel got back upstairs she boiled some water and put the rosemary in it to make rosemary tea. Later she
threw her yellow vest on and went to Wan Chai to start sweeping leaves off of the roads.
* * *
“BANG” a gunshot was fired by a protester; they started to march. The sound echoed in Rachel’s ear. Rachel
remembered something that her parents wrote in the letter “...but remember to keep out of trouble. Make sure
you are not seen by the police…”
“I have to get out of here” Rachel whispered to herself. She sprinted back home. When she got home she said,
“I have to get out of here. I have to get out of Hong Kong”
She started to pace around the room mumbling, “How do I do this? How do I do this...” then she noticed the
fishing boat through her window. “Bingo,” she whispered. Rachel started to pack her valuable things into a
backpack, most importantly she packed her parents’ letter.
Rachel was about to try something that she had never thought to do; she went to an old phone booth and put
five dollars inside and called the Shenzhen operator. There was a beep Rachel said, “Hi, I am looking for 53
Kung Kee road, Jung Koo’s house, please?” There was another beep. Rachel waited for a few seconds
“Hello?” She heard from the phone.
Rachel’s voice quivered, “Uncle Jung?”
“Yes this is Jung Koo, pardon me, who is this?”
“Um, Uncle Jung this is Rachel, Samantha and Richard Koo’s daughter.”
“Rachel? Is that really you?” his voice was quivering too now.
“Yeah, um are mom and dad there?”
“No would you like me to take a message?”
“Yeah, um, tell them...” she cleared her throat, “tell them I’m coming to Shenzhen.”
There was a beep after she finished her sentence. One minute was over, but she didn't have another five dollars
on her. She just hoped that Uncle Jung could deliver the message.
Once she got back to her sickening apartment she continued to pack hurriedly. It was already afternoon and she
planned to leave first thing in the morning. She planned to use the fishing boat to get to Shenzhen. Before she
went to bed she took her parents’ folded letter out of her bag and read it. When she finished reading it she left it
on the small coffee table next to her bed.
* * *
Rachel yawned. She was about to begin her routine, then she remembered, she’s going to Shenzhen. She took
her backpack and took the letter from the coffee table when she picked up the letter a small piece of paper fell
out of it. “That’s weird. That’s never been there before” she said. Rachel opened up the paper. It was a map. On
the bottom, part of the map was Hong Kong island and on the top part was the very edge of Shenzhen. “I can
use this to get to Shenzhen,” she said out loud even though no one was around “it would take a few hours.”
Rachel put the map and the letter in her bag and went downstairs. Rachel untied the rope that was connecting a