Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 81

The Departure Station
International School of Nanshan Shenzhen, Lu, Michelle - 15
H
ot summer winds rushed over thousands of miles through the country and arrived in Guangzhou,
bringing humidity and heat that felt even hotter and overwhelming than ever in the early July of
this modern city. The scent of sweats from these crowded streets wafted directly to Nadia while
numerous people were huddling under their garish umbrellas to shield them from the bright sun.
This place used to mean everything for Nadia. She still remembered all of those summers that seemed to
never had an end she used to have in elementary school, where they played frivolous games with
neighborhood kids, classmates, and teammates in the basketball team she was in and during all of these times,
Teresa was always with her. They were the inseparable dual in their elementary school as if they were the
leaves growing out of the same stem, connected from soul to soul. Nadia is now returned back to
Guangzhou and she planned her time in Guangzhou as joyful as she could, and meeting Teresa was
undeniably the first schedule on her agenda.
“I wish nothing has changed.” Nadia murmured to herself as she was talking towards the meeting spot.
Grand trees beside the long concrete roads provided impeccable dwellings for cicadas and their noise was
annoying like it had always been. All of these were just like the same as a year ago, but for Nadia, who
already moved to Toronto for a year, it all seemed too alien for her. As she was approaching to the meeting
spot, she realized that Teresa was already there.
“Hey Teresa!”
“Hey!”
They decided to go back to that coffee shop where they used to finish homework and fortunately the
vintage café has not renovated after Nadia went to Toronto. It still contained that sense of vintage –the
wooden wall with dark brown paintings of flowers accentuates the sense of calmness and quietness in the
coffee shop, the bronze doorbell that looked antique hung somewhere above the doorway. As soon as
Teresa pushed open the rusty door handle, the doorbell immediately rings in its own way. As usual, they sat
down by the windows.
“So… how’s Toronto?” asked Teresa.
“It was alright I guess…people are much nicer than the people here fore sure!”
“Oh nice.” Teresa replied carelessly. You know there was this nerdy guy in our class, and he was so
annoying and he is just naturally weird. He doesn't even have any social media and all he does is to play
games. For god sake, who knows how he got those top marks. Weirdo.” Teresa complained absently as she
was flicking her fingers and tapping on her iPhone screen.
“Oh, did he do anything to you or your friends?” Nadia did not understand, probably because she went to a
small school so everyone was a friend with everyone else. Excluding other people or bullying was not much
of a concern there.
“He really didn’t do anything directly to me, but he is just...weird. It wasn't anything big.” Teresa said in an
inattentive tone.
“Hmmm well…” Nadia tried to contradict her idea but finding a suitable timing and satisfactory way to say
it was hard. At least she surely did not want to have any kind of arguments since this was their first r eunion
after Nadia had left China. So she remained silence and their conversation stiffly stopped.
It was an uncomfortable lingering silence.
This is so awkward. This is so awkward…this is so awkward! Nadia was almost desperate to say, come on
please say something Teresa!! She almost knocked over the Grande sized coffee cup. Please calm down