New Tales of The Old Shanghai
Island School , Lee , Jerrick – 14
H
ey there ! Yes you ! Welcome ! To the old Shanghai ! It ’ s been quite a rough ride but I ’ ve been assigned to show you around here and to give you the best experience possible ! Hello ?
I ’ m shook , literally I ’ m being shook . I try to open my eyes , they shutter , flickering like a dusty old camera coming back to life until finally . I take a deep breath in , air flushes my lungs with oxygen in a deep satisfying motion , there ’ s this calm ambience that I can hear all around me , humming in a manner which I cannot describe , it ’ s calm . Soothing , like a lullaby . “ Hello ? Can you hear me down there ?”
I look around immediately scanning the strange white landscape i ’ m in , there are no corners to this thing , no end . Almost like I ’ m stuck in this cage , I start to panic , my breathing speeds up at the speed of a car engine , I consciously force my breathing to slow down , to relax . “ Jaydock , that ’ s your name isn ’ t it ? I ’ ve been waiting here for quite a while now .” I get up and look in the direction of the sound , I walk towards it , slowly , cautiously , like prey hiding from the hunter I make sure every step isn ’ t my last . Hopefully no hands come out of the floor and drag me into the underworld . What am I saying this isn ’ t real .. Is it ?
“ Young man you ’ re not going to be able to see me , or touch me , I think you realised that now , but I ’ ll send a hologram for your reassurance and also to make sure you know where ’ re you ’ re going . Now follow along , we have much to see !” This man , thing , whatever it is there ’ s this certainty to it , this reassurance like I ’ m talking to a parent . I decide to trust it . A hologram rises from the floor in front of me , it ’ s a man , with no features to his body and strings of words and programs pulsed in the rhythm of a heartbeat , flashing against his skin in sync with every pulse . It ’ s quiet , deadly quiet . I reach my hand out to shake it , as a friendly gesture but I ’ m ready to run the moment it threatens me . I wait , time seemed to pause as I question if what I ’ m doing is the right choice . Should I trust him ? Where is he leading me ? What am I even doing here ? And before I realised he shook my hand , a steady firm grip even though it ’ s just a hologram . It walks away and motions for me to follow , I heed .
We walk along a never ending corridor , each step echoing of the invisible walls in a never ending trance . Good thing I bought these jet-black Nike trainers or else I wouldn ’ t have been able to make it this far . Then all of a sudden the hologram stops , it stops with no trace of momentum just like its feet have suddenly been sucked into the ground . I hear a snap of a finger and it ' s gone , the hologram I walked with for what seemed like a century just vanished . The voice comes back on , this time happier than the first . “ Well now that the main part of the journey is over I ’ d like to welcome you to Gabato ’ s luxury dream tour !” Then it hits me , faster than a speeding bullet , faster than the speed of sound , it practically knocks the air out of me ! This was a wish I made on the most recent trip to the history museum ! I remember , we were walking through the halls when I saw this strange machine which ‘ claimed ’ that it could answer all your dreams and I wished to visit the old shanghai ! I call out to this mystery man and ask him if what I ’ m theorising is actually true . “ Yes Jaydock , this is real and you really have gone back in time ! Now , time to get on with the tour , may I warn you though that things will get a bit strange .” Strange ? I wonder what could be so …..!
I ’ m suddenly falling , falling faster and faster as I accelerate at speeds which I could not comprehend . Then all of a sudden wind blasts against my skin and body forcefully , my body is stretched thin as I enter free fall . I turn around and look up , clouds ? I was in the clouds ? Then suddenly my back hits a soft object , squishy , almost as if I landed in a pool of jelly , it was bouncy and smooth . I stand up and stumble a bit as I try to get out of this strange pool of green glob , it ’ s just like standing on a trampoline ! Well … a really big trampoline as a matter of fact . I wandered around as I looked down at what seemed to be a birds eye view of the whole city . And it wasn ’ t one of those live moving wallpapers you find on a Windows desktop , it was a real , living , breathing city . Smoke drifted out of the kitchens of the restaurants into the alleyway , following was an alluring fragrance that drifted up my nose . The buckling and groaning of the dated rickshaw equipment echoed throughout the streets . I know it ’ s real , I know because it ’ s right in front of me , but for some reason I just can ’ t seem to believe it . Trust my eyes or trust my other senses ?