Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 2

Enviromental Nightmare
American International School, Patel, Kathryn - 15
X
uanzang woke up in a daze, and although there were no candles, the room he was in was strangely
bright. He closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. When he finally looked around,
he saw the room he was in was unfamiliar.
He looked up, expecting to see the sun illuminating the room, but instead saw a tube of pure light. What is
this sorcery? he thought, unable to comprehend what he saw.
He realized the room wasn’t as clean as he’d assumed. The floor was made of cracked tiles, and the walls
were peeling. Even the air smelled a little dirty, like he breathed in grit with every inhalation. I need to get
up. Xuanzang thought with a start.
He pushed himself to his feet and felt a wave of dizziness. Despite the roiling in his stomach, he managed to
stagger through the doorway. A long hall led to a sign in strange illuminated characters. He pushed open the
door underneath it and was hit with a wave of color and noise.
People flooded the narrow walkways, and strange metal carts sped down the roads without the help of oxen.
Even the people looked strange. Women wore short trousers that exposed an indecent amount of skin.
Many wore expensive shades of blue and purple. He decided he must be the wealthy part of the city because
the cost to blend metals into blue pigment was so expensive that only emperors and the ridiculously wealthy
could afford it. Everywhere he looked, he saw a riot of color. It was so overwhelming that he stumbled right
into someone.
An angry looking man shouted, “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Xuanzang could understand him, but
he knew that this man was not speaking the way he did. When he looked around again, he realized that
even the characters were different, but he could still read them. He apologized to the man and then started
aimlessly walking down the street.
Although this was disorienting, it was not scary. He’d faced demons, and this paled in comparison. He let
himself be swept in the current of the crowd, going where everyone else was. He tried to take in his
surroundings without becoming overwhelmed. He was trying so hard not to panic that he failed to see the
metal cart speeding right at him.
Just as he was turning towards it and the strange noise it was making, he was yanked off of his feet. He
found himself flat on his back, staring at a girl maybe a couple years younger than he. She was saying
something to him, but he had to ask her to repeat herself.
She exclaimed, “Are you okay? You wandered right into the road!”
Xuanzang nodded and got to his feet. “If I may ask, where are we?”
She moved to let him stand, gesturing at his saffron robes and shaved head. “I knew you monks were
isolated, but I didn’t realize how much.” The girl continued, “We’re in Beijing. You know, the capital of
China.”
He glanced around, confused. He knew she was saying that he was in Peking, but this was nothing like the
city he was used to. This was all metal towers that blocked his view of the sky. His line of thinking was
interrupted when he was seized by a fit of coughs.
“Why is it so hard to breathe?” Xuanzang inquired. Every breath felt like he was breathing in smoke and
dirt.