Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 2020complete | Page 527

The Shadow
Creative Secondary School, Wijewardena, Sehansa - 16
Drop the knife. Back away from the body. Take a deep breath. It’s fine. It was self defense. She tried to kill
you first. You look around the kitchen. You look back at the restaurant. Everything's normal, no one saw.
The cake in the oven is starting to burn. Pick up the knife and put it in your jacket. Start running out of the
back door. Get in your car. Put the knife in the cubbyhole in front of the passenger seat. Suddenly you put
your hands on the steering wheel and start driving. Your hungry even though you just ate. You are running
out of cash. Should’ve robbed a bank before you ran away from that dump you once called home.
It has been 2 days. You have been driving all around Forsan for 2 days. You turn the radio on. “Good
morning fine people of the Greater Bay Area, it’s your host, Merrisa Chu reporting live from the
Guangdong Radio Station. It’s going to be a lovely Tuesday with light rain showers”. Skip. “Song”. Skip.
“....reporting live from a local bakery in Longjiangzhen, Forshan where a local baker was found dead in the
kitchen at 5:30 pm 2 days ago. Police say that they have not found a possible weapon that had stabbed the
baker yet. Police are yet to confirm if this was a suicide or a murder. Back to you Cindy ...”
Turn off the radio. Stop the car. Drink the remaining water. It was self defense. She tried to hurt you just
because you wanted to eat a pastry. You didn’t kill her. She killed herself. She made you do this to her.
Turn on the radio again. Pick a music channel. “Song”. Take a turn and drive towards Guangdong.
Your car runs out of gas. Perfect. Grab you backpack and get out of the car. You are 10 minutes away from
Guangdong. So you walk. It has been 15 minutes. You have been walking for 15 minutes. You are so
thirsty. You see a coffee shop nearby. Take your wallet out and start counting your money. You have 50
dollars. You will need it for later but you use it anyway. Open the door and rush to the cashier. People stare
but you don’t care. “One black coffee and a chicken wrap”. “Name?” asks a young man named Sam. You
say it before you can stop yourself. "Loreley". You take your coffee and your chicken wrap and start eating
before you can even sit down. Food has never tasted better. People stop staring. All except one. He looks at
you curiously.
"A suspect of the murder of a local baker is shown in this video tape…" You quickly look up. The tape
starts playing. There you are, a distorted image, stabbing the baker in the chest. There you are running away
from the back door. There you are getting in your car and driving away. People start talking. The man is
the suit keeps staring as he starts packing up. Without hesitation and your head down, you run out of the
cafe.
You run to the car park outside the cafe. It looks like a garden. But you don’t care. You can’t breathe. Your
head starts spinning. “Hey” you hear. You turn around. It’s Sam with a phone in his hand “ Stay where you
are”. Oh no. “ Did you do it?”. “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. He looks at you and starts to
dial the police. You have to do something anything to stop this man from ruining you future. You grab a
shovel from the garden area and smacks him in the head. “....what's your emergency?” says the phone.
Smack the phone until it’s unfixable. The man in the suit appears behind you. Holding his phone. He’d
been recording this whole time. Ask him to throw the phone on to the ground. Smash the phone. Look
back up. You’re breathing heavy. He approaches you. “Stay back. I’ll kill you too.” It might be stupid
admitting to the crime but he’s bigger than you and stronger. If it does come down to a physical attack, you
know you’re not winning. Scaring him is your best shot.
The shovel is your weapon now. Ask him to give you his wallet. Take all the money. Keep pointing the
shovel at his face as you follow him to his car. Now you will make this man drive you away from this place.
You’ll kill him later. No matter what, he cannot know your name.