Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 523

Secret Borders
Carmel School - Elsa High School, Tang, Liana - 14
It began around afternoon.
She couldn't tell. The Award Ceremony at Zhaoqing is carved out of a massive cliffside, its innards
carved in a dome of stone. At the top, a ray of sunlight would pierce through the oculus, irradiating faces of
Monkey Sun Wukong and Xiao Geku carved along the walls. But not tonight.
At a distance from the stage, rows of stalls lined after one another, featuring businessman, office
secretaries and list of other institutions applauding for the existing speaker. The trumpets blared, and violins
played concerts Grosso. Now sitting in the front row with her velvet cheongsam squeezing her waist, she
couldn't wait to go back home.
"Thank you, Aarav Saini, for that wonderful speech. As always, applause and questions are saved to
the end," President Ni's spoke over the microphone. Cantonese phrases jumble her hearing. Yet, the last
order was clear. "For our last speaker, we have Samantha Lee."
Samantha Lee clomped up the stage, her high heels clicking the wooden platform. One, two. One,
two. When she was in front of him, she couldn't meet the president's eye. She noticed the faint smell of
cologne wafting through the air. He wears a black tunic suit with a red tie under his collar.
President Ni puts the glossy Friendship medal around her neck, brushing her golden strand of
golden hair back into her ear, and whispered "The Greater Bay is proud of you."
She looks up. President Ni's face has brows of a middle-aged man, a bald head and thin
cheekbones contrasting the previous line of presidents. He had a massive smirk on his face, and in the bright
lights, Samantha saw a glimmering gold tooth flashing in his mouth. Despite his eagerness, she reached out
for a quick handshake and walked to the podium near the edge of the stage.
While her mouth was flapping automated words about her company raising above bankruptcy, and
how the first event of uploading a human mind onto a computer completely "revolutionized" humanity,
Samantha's mind wandered back to the incident. He was accepted into the Central Academy of Fine Arts,
she started contacting Miki, and money wasn't a big issue anymore. Even so, when Samantha came back
from work that night, there was nothing but an eerie silence in the house. The ones where you could
believe there are monsters watching your back, waiting to strike. Samantha quickly brushed it off and crept
in the hallway. She was planning to kiss Azazel goodnight. When Samantha turned the doorknob of his
room, she was greeted with his unmoving body on the floor. She remembered how he was frothing at the
mouth, the foamy spittle soaking his beard. How his upturned eyes showed nothing but white.
And how this was the start of her success.
--
She was surprised when there were whistles and applause at the end of her speech. She forgot she was
presenting. Samantha strolled down the stage as President Ni announced the concluding statement on the
speakers. She quickly leaves the dome and heads for the train station. The sticky, humid air greeted her,
along with a crowd of noisy reporters. They encircled her, trapped her. She couldn't see where the train
station is anymore. She tried to push through the crowd while answering reporters' questions.
A young Japanese man in a green tuxedo raised a question. "How do you feel about your
company's success? Where are you going to go from here?"
"I don't know—"
"How does your son feel about being on a computer?"
"Comfortable? Sad?" Samantha said.
"Why did your son die in the first place?"
She bites her lip. There was a numb pain at the back of her head. She steadies herself. Questions
keep hammering one after the other. Honestly, how do they expect her to answer? Their common ground
was shattering long ago. Programmer and actor, adult and teenager, calm and temperamental. The only way
to understand each other was probably speaking the same language.
But there was no longer that luxury.
Over the blaring speakers, she heard, "This will be the last train of the day heading for Shenzhen."