Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 356

All Aboard
Carmel School - Elsa High School, Golovsky, Harry - 11
Jerry Wong is a second officer on a hovertrain that travels around the Greater Bay Area. Everyday is the
same: he gets up out of his squeaky, small bed at 7:00 am; he eats his breakfast - scrambled eggs and a piece of
bread; he gets changed into his uniform - grey overalls with no markings whatsoever; he goes to the train station
with all his workers; he boards the train. He’s on the train for 11 days whilst it’s travelling through the Greater
Bay Area, checking all operations are running smoothly, but most importantly making sure the train arrives and
leaves each station at exactly the correct minute, every time. Never a minute too early or too late. Everyday on
board the train was the same, until one day it wasn’t.
The first day on board the train is always strange. Passengers get used to the different style of living
compared to their house or apartment. They are not forced to wake up early in the morning to get to work. In
some ways it’s a vacation. But for me it is no different, still a 7:00am wake up, still a work day. However today
was strange. No one noticed except me. I was suspicious. Today we had collected 112 tickets. At night there
was only 111 passengers on board. I thought I had just miscounted, so I gave up. I hadn’t felt good for most of
the day. I was a bit nauseous and had a stomach cramp which was hurting a lot. I was tired so headed to my
bunk and drifted off to sleep for the night.
The train that day had eleven governors travelling on board. One from each city in the Greater Bay
Area. They were all on board to have a meeting over the eleven days about how they thought their cities were
doing socially and economically, and how they could work together to improve the prosperity of the region.
As the journey continued, each day a single person disappeared at the same time at night. I was getting
more suspicious and worried. The day after we left I told the captain what had happened, how last night I
thought I had noticed someone was missing but wasn’t sure, and how today the exact same thing happened. The
captain dismissed my concerns. I was full of self-doubt. My whole life I have been incredibly shy and struggled
with all social interactions. I was a bit socially awkward around people, and especially people that had control
over me like the captain. I thought the captain was being a bit dismissive but knew I couldn’t accuse him because
it wouldn’t go down well.
This kept happening for eight more days, as I tried reporting to the captain that passengers were going
missing. I was anxious now because I was sure I was the only one noticing. I’d gone to the captain every night
since I’d last seen him. He showed no more interest in it then he did at first. I was getting frustrated.
On the tenth night, the governor from Macau disappeared. It was after the meeting session that day so
none of the fellow governors noticed. I could not longer control myself. I was worried but knew what I needed
to do. I ran up to the captain who was sitting at the front of the train, reconsidering my decision every step I
took. I managed to communicate with him that one of the governors was missing. He had shock in his eyes. An
expression was on his face that showed concern, nothing like what I’d seen the last 9 nights.
“It’s late Jerry, but thank you for bringing this to my attention. We shall deal with it in the morning.”
“Thank you, sir,” the relief echoed in my reply.
The next night the crew and I were all scattered around the train looking for something strange and for
anything suspicious. We were searching all day with no luck. We all headed to the front to meet with the
captain. We thought perhaps the passengers left the train without informing the crew. Just as we were discussing
what to do next, the strangest thing happened. All the lights on the train turned off. I could hear screaming from
babies at the back of the train. The train suddenly stopped moving sending us flying back through the cabin.
The train usually never stops unless there is an emergency. The lights eventually turned back on and the train
started moving, but somebody important was missing again. The captain was gone. We had just lost our leader
and that made our situation that much more serious.
We were all in shock and just so confused. The captain wasn’t my favourite person in the world, but I
knew how important he was especially now when we really needed a leader. It took a while to sink in as I
realised that I was second officer. That meant that I had to be in charge, which was so terrifying for me even to
imagine. I know I should’ve thought about that before I became a second officer but it never occurred to me that
something would be wrong with the captain.
“Everyone go to sleep, we’ll regroup in the morning.” I said hesitantly, worried about what to do next.