Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 164

New Journeys to the West
International College Hong Kong, Pillard, Charmaine - 12
O
ur story starts at the Evershade household, on a miserable rainy day, a young girl of 14 named
Matilda or “Tilly”, as everyone called her, was bored. Everyone in her family dreaded raining days
during holidays not only because there was nothing to do but also because you could hear Tilly at
every second of the day, complaining about her boredom.
“Mom what can I do? I'm bored” shouted Tilly from the top of the stairs for the twentieth time that day, It
was the summer holidays and there was nothing to do. “Go clean your room” said her mom, “I already did
that” replied Tilly, she could hear her mom sigh from the top of the stairs. “Feed the pets?” “Done”, this
happened every rainy summer day. Then, she heard a car pull up outside her house, it was her dad. “Dad!”
she said launching into his arms, “Whoa, Tilly” proclaimed her surprised dad, he wasn’t normally welcomed
by such a greeting. “Dad, do you know something I could do like playing football or something?” asked
Tilly innocently. He was about to answer when her mom came out of the kitchen, greeted her dad with a
kiss and said: “She already asked me that question fifty times, honey”. “Have you Matilda?” asked her dad,
“mmmm maybe” Replied Tilly as she hid her face in her dad’s jacket, her parents hated it when she asked
one of them, they said no and then asked the other one. “Your mom and I have already explained it to you
a million times, you know why you can’t go out in the rain and play football,” Her dad told her patiently.
“Yes, I do understand, really, but then what CAN I do?” whined Tilly “Let me think,” her dad told her.
There was a silence that continued. “You can clean the attic” Exclaimed her dad suddenly startling Tilly and
her mom, “I have been wanting to do that but I have always been too busy, you can do it while I work”
Continued her dad. “ Daaaaaad, really, the attic!” complained Tilly “Do we even HAVE an attic?”. “Why
of course we do” replied her dad “I mean you were complaining about what to do...” Tilly’s dad said as he
grinned at her. Tilly had no choice but to clean the attic, I mean it was that or sitting around the house
doing nothing. So she just gave in.
Tilly started as soon as lunch was over, while her mom went to work and her dad went into the office, she
went up into the so-called “attic”. The attic was in fact just a big room that was filled to the brim with
random junk that had just been stored there over the years. “It smells in here” complained Tilly into the
emptiness, but soon enough she got into the rhythm of sorting things. Just