Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 108

The Inner Voyage International College Hong Kong, Ko, Marcus - 16 “Smoking this again?!” The next punch connected with my jaw, enough force to send me soaring meters into a railing on the deck. The crew mockingly laughed at the events that transpired. With adrenaline numbing the injury, I slowly looked up from my uncomfortable position from the floor, to remind myself of my status and how pathetic I am. The captain ordered, but also to show off his dominance to satisfy his ego. “Kid! I dare you to try that again! You should be grateful we kept you on this ship for this long! Since you’re so useless, you can be our stress reliever instead!” The sailors disperse, entertained by the show, some spat on me as contribution. I rolled on my back to face upwards on the wooden floorboard of the ship’s deck. Appreciating the clear sky sprinkled with a few wandering clouds, acting as small blankets that covers the rays of the sun. I extended my right hand towards it subconsciously, as if reaching for a distant dream obstructed by many obstacles that I could not get pass, it infuriates me. Then again, I ain’t anything special. I am just a feeble and pitiful man bullied by his peers, chasing after some fantastical dream that I regret ever chasing. I brought myself up, using my skeletal limbs as support. Only a very thin layer of skin separated the bone from the air around, barely any muscle left to thicken the layer. Which is the result from a lack of a full meal in the last week on the voyage, if you can even call half a bowl of rice a “meal”. Too weak to stand, I stumbled and fell back onto the railing. My sensitivity to pain increases every day, and the small fall, which would not even make a child react, already makes me tear up in excruciating pain. “Hey, you alright?” Ah, the same voice every time. “Again? Damn it, those damn brutes need to learn we are all part of the same crew, am I right?” He picked me up and carried me off like a disabled old man. We were both silent as he lead me to the destination which I always arrive at. I can already feel his usual ulterior motive lingering in his face. “We are around two days away to Nanjing, so…” and with those words, the crutches that held me crumbled, as I fell through the cargo hold trap door on the deck. “... stay put like a good pet, wouldn’t you?” The trap door shuts as I curse him to damnation.