Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 500

Future Tales of the Greater Bay Area
West Island School, Wun, Charlotte - 13
They came across a map and two necklaces on the floor. Neither of them had any idea how they got there and
they had a feeling that they should not open the map. However, since they were both extremely curious, they
decided to just take a look at it. When they opened the map, they saw that it was entitled “The Greater Bay
Area”. Both Vidia and Kimmy started laughing and Kimmy said, “It’s just a stupid map. There’s no such place
called The Greater Bay Area, but, I have to admit these necklaces are really pretty!” They picked them up and
tried them on.
Suddenly, they felt all tingly and they didn’t know what was happening. Everything turned blurry, and they saw
two girls that look similar to them whirled around. Within a few seconds, they landed in a totally unknown
place. The only thing they could recognise was a shop called 7-Eleven. That is when they guessed they were in
Hong Kong.
Kimmy started panicking and said, “Are we in Hong Kong? Why are we in Hong Kong? How are we going to
get home?”
Vidia didn’t really know what to do either so she questioned Kimmy, “Why are you so scared? We just have to
make up a plan and find our way back home, that’s it. Maybe the map will help!”
Kimmy was still shaking so she forgot that they had a map. Vidia saw that Kimmy was too distressed, so she got
the map out of Kimmy’s bag herself.
She saw that there was a high-speed rail that could take them to Shenzhen. After going there, they could carry
on up through Dongguan and finally to Zhaoqing. They thought the whole trip would take more than a week
and they had no idea where the high-speed rail station was, so they had to ask people. A lot of people just
laughed and walked off but after a while, they found it.
During the journey to Shenzhen, they saw the beautiful view out of the train window and took some pictures
with their camera. They were extremely hungry and although they knew that they had some food in their bag,
they thought that it would be best to save the food for potential emergencies as they only had a small amount.
Their bags only contained two packs of biscuits, two sandwiches, two bottles of water, two jackets, a wallet and
the map.
However, their stomachs were rumbling terribly, so they reluctantly decided to eat their sandwiches and before
they knew it, their sandwiches were gone. They started to panic and asked the person sitting behind them where
they could get food. He looked at them weirdly and said, “Is this a joke?” Kimmy and Vidia were confused and
didn’t know what to say, “We just want to get more food.” He stared at them and reluctantly decided to teach
them how to order their food by telling them what they should press on the screen, all the while thinking about
how strange they were. After they had chosen their food, he said, “You can now take your phone out and pay.”
They didn’t know what he meant. The man was shocked and told them they should pay with an app called
Alipay. They looked at him bewilderedly, so he showed them how the app worked and bought the food for
them. They were so surprised and amazed by how fast the whole process was, as their food appeared in front of
them in less than two minutes; it didn’t even need a person to deliver it. Everything was so automated.
Then they heard the announcement that the train would arrive at Shenzhenbei station in one minute so they
thanked the man and said goodbye. Even though they were still really confused with the app Alipay, they left the
train with a smile. They thought that they still had a long way to go so they decided to ask someone how they
could get back to Zhaoqing and luckily, she told them that the next train would be going to Zhaoqing, and even
directed them to where they could get the tickets. The woman said it in a really weird accent and they didn’t
know why she was talking like that, so they simply said thank you. As they walked along, Kimmy realized that
she had been speaking Mandarin but in a much more modern accent.