Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 225

Lucid Dreaming
The SMIC Private School Shanghai, Liu, Cathy - 15
one
T
here was a boy in a school lunchroom.
His lips were chapped and pressed in a thin, rigid line. Perspiration was beading along a
wrinkled forehead, dripping over temples where a vein pulsed. Sweat-greased hair hung over his
dark, skittering eyes — left, right, left, right , in a constant state of vigilance. His teeth were clenched,
tightening his jaw and locking his muscles in place. Hands hidden under the table were gripped in taut fists
in an attempt to stop the shaking, yet all it resulted in was little crescent-moon indents dug into the callused
palms of his hand. Layers upon layers of fabric swallowed his thin frame up, hiding the evidence of his
neglect in self-care.
The dirty window he was sitting beside shielded him from the relentless gusts of autumn wind
howling outside. Leaves, propelled by the win