Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 526

My New Home
Creative Secondary School, He, James - 15
I turned 7 last week. A day before grandma’s death. Daddy was really upset by it. Not so much because she
died, but more to do with how she died. He thought that she died peacefully in her sleep, but an autopsy
revealed that she died in a very different and horrible way— during the autopsy. My parents wanted to leave
our home, leave the country even, to start a fresh life somewhere else. This is why I waved goodbye to New
York City, to all the lights from the buildings in the city, to the beautiful green landscape of Central Park,
and hopped on a plane to the Greater Bay Area. This is where daddy could start his new business, and we
could begin our new life.
Mommy and daddy had a slight argument about the decision before we left. Mommy was worried
it would be difficult because of our religion, but daddy said he heard that the GBA was more open minded
and convinced her to go. We were assigned to a house in a city called Guangdong, near the south of GBA. I
love the language, the pronunciations are so funny. But mommy told me take it seriously, because we were
representing Allah’s followers, in a land of pagans.
The GBA is beautiful. There's tall buildings everywhere, flashing lights and hanging posters. The
entrance of the city had a big statue of a Chinese man smiling at us. Daddy whispered to me: 'That's Xi, the
king of China.', and I giggled 'He looks like Winnie the Pooh!' We were taken to our new house by a nice
guard. The new house is in a great neighbourhood. Most of the people are Muslims just like us, but there
are some Chinese people walking around too. They are holding big black sticks and look really scary, but
I'm glad because they must be here to protect us. The nice guard gave me a card with my picture on it. He
said that I need to show this to one of the guards in the gate if I want to go in or leave the neighbourhood.
Mommy looked concerned when she heard that, but I felt like a real big boy with my own card. The guards
gave us some forms that we needed to fill out, it asked about all sorts of things in our lives. It was really fun,
I had to tick boxes about my religion and my lifestyle. After a long time, the guard left and we went into
our new home. We have 2 rooms and a living room, with a public bathroom and kitchen outside for
everyone. That is so cool, we get to share food everyday! There are paintings of famous people or animals in
each of are rooms, and I think they are magical. I swear I saw the eyes move and follow the direction of our
movement. I told daddy but he didn't believe. 'Paintings are just paintings,' he said 'How could they possibly
move?' We brought dinner back to our house to eat as daddy had to work. One of the dishes had pork in it,
daddy made a face and poured it into the houseplant in front of the painting of the tiger.
The next day, the guard was back, but he wasn't alone. He came in with 2 big men, who each held
a gun. They told us we needed to come with them, because some of the things we filled in on the form
yesterday were undesirable. Then he said a lot of things I didn't understand, such as credit score and national
ideals. I was really mad at daddy, because he couldn't even fill in a form right. We were told to go outside
and wait in a truck that was there. Inside was another Muslim family and a Chinese scholar. They all looked
really scared, but I don't see why. Before we got on, the guard told me we were going to a camp. I always
wanted to go camping! My friends in New York said it's really fun.