Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 30

Off the Cliff of the Boat
Carmel School Association Elsa High School, Shem Tov, Eden - 14
Ying
I was standing on the edge of the boat, dangerously close. I knew I couldn’t survive pain anymore, so I wanted to end
it. But as I jumped off the cliff of the boat, I felt a grasp on my arm, pulling me back. I was enraged by anger and
annoyance, why can’t I get my happy ending? The stranger took me away from the boat’s cliff and sat me down on a
chair. Then the stranger started questioning me. So I told my story…
~
“I-I th-thought it wasssss the right thing to do-o. For-r my sun-un-shine.” I couldn’t even get my words straight. I
was shaking and crying so badly. My tears felt heavier than the rain that was pouring down. And for once, the salt and
the iron smell of the ocean wasn’t the only thing I hated the most.
“Please, I beg of you. What happened?” “No!”
~
Stranger
“It was 1406, on the Ming Treasure Voyage.” The young and beautiful girl let out a loud sigh and she buried her hands
in her long black hair, covering her face.
“A year ago, Father arranged a marriage for his best friend’s son and I. Though I didn’t have the courage to tell
him that I was thinking of another boy, one from the streets that sold fish for a living. One that father would never
approve of, even if he tried to fit into our gold glazed life. His name was Na’Lan. There was only one solution to this,
and that was to run away. At night, I made my escape through my gold framed window into the dirty streets. Na’Lan
waited for me and we ran to wherever we could and found ourselves on a ship.But, there was a secret that Na’Lan hid
from me. A big secret, that changed the way I was with him.”
She hesitated, “He-He was part of a gang, a drug gang. He loved the gang so much he called them ‘family’.
The gang did many dangerous things that put all of their lives in danger. They traded drugs like opium and marijuana,
teamed up with pirates, and stole gold and silver from the emperor. They pretended to be poor so that no one would
suspect them, and it worked. I only found out about this other life of his when we were already on the ship. And even
worse, that they were on the ship as well. But I was too quick to judge, they were lovely people and took me under
their wing. I grew close to them and it was a mistake, I should have known they were dangerous.”
Ying
“The last memory I had was when we went on a dinner date, I remember it like it was just yesterday.” I took my head
out of my hands and looked at the stranger with my pitch black eyes, agonized.
“His curly brown hair waved so elegantly to the ocean breeze, and he was wearing a white button-up shirt
with navy blue shorts. I even remember the exact words we said in our conversation,” I laughed.
“We were so madly in love that when we talked to each other, it felt like everything around us was blurred
out and we could only focus on each other. We were talking about the future, what will we do after the voyage was
over, where we would live, but when we started talking about my relationship with my parents, we argued. I wanted to
avoid them, to avoid my father’s shame and my mother’s tears. But he wanted to meet my parents, which was brave of
him because my father would kill him. Though for some reason it seemed very important for him, and he insisted. So I
shifted the subject.” I closed my eyelids tightly for a few seconds
“It was the last thing I remembered before it became a blur.”
Stranger
“I woke up on my bed, not remembering how I got there in the first place. I looked around and saw Na’Lan sitting
anxiously beside me, waiting for me to wake up.”
She stopped for a moment to recall the memory.