Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 289

A Bleak Hong Kong
Hong Kong Academy, Raymond, Sierra - 17
I
t was dusk and Jay Chen hurried across the barren suburbs. He dashed past an old rusty sign that said
“Tsim sha Tsui MTR.” There were many run down stores filled with trash and empty boxes.He
had to get away. He knows what they’ll do to him if he’s caught. He had stolen information from
the government on the nearest safe haven. As soon as he was in the clear, he would gather some supplies
and head out west to find this safe haven.
He ran all the way to Central. Without stopping. He had been in one too many situations where he pissed
off the wrong people and so had practiced well in the art of running away. Central, also known as SOHO,
used to be where a lot of rich people hung around until global warming forced the government to
evacuate half the population from Hong Kong. Jay and his family were among the many that were
unfortunately forced to stay because only those rich enough could pay for the evacuation transport. Gas
prices had skyrocketed due to the UN’s unanimous vote to cease all oil production to slow down global
warming. But, their vote was too late. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere drastically
changed the Earth’s weather patterns. Hong Kong, a place that was mostly humid and hot, transformed
to having seasonal weather like North America. The fall and winters were harsh, while the day time heat
was a scorching blaze. Once the sun descended, the high temperature dove as well, making the night very
cold. Besides the fluctuating weather conditions, Hong Kong was a dangerous place due to the crazy
desperate and scared people that inhabited the city.
As Jay cautiously walked around, he found a grocery store that was mostly ransacked. It was dirty and
there were broken flickering LED lights laying on the linoleum floor along with old candy wrappers. He
went to the back of the grocery store and found the storage room. It was locked. But not for long as Jay
was carrying a lock pick with him in his backpack. He fiddled with the lock until he heard the satisfying
click. He opened the door and there were some boxes emptied, but it didn’t matter, there was enough
food for him to pack for his journey. The storage room was quite spacious, filled with many boxes
containing foods from various places.
“I’m surprised this hasn’t been ransacked already. I’ll have all the food I need to make it to the safe haven
across the west from here.”
While he was digging around, he heard something. KSHHH! A box fell down at the back of the room.
What was that? Is someone there? I should probably check it out. Jay quietly snuck towards the source of
the sound and found a young girl lying on her back with a big box of noodles besides her.