Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 183

The New Tales of Old Shanghai – Lorong
Malvern College Qingdao, Shi, Katherine - 14
T
1
he cars on the street were flowing in an endless stream. The lights were unusually shiny and glamorous. I
was too dead to appreciate the view though. Skyler also seemed to be depleted. I had been following her
around all day crossing errands off the list.
Skyler was born a princess of the richest royal family in England, but her family declined abruptly in a
political war when she turned 20. All her family members were either arrested or exiled overnight. She’s the
only survivor. And I was passed on to her as a precious piece of the family heirloom.
To shake off the nightmare, Skyler escaped to the Far East with me. She struggled to build a new life in this
exotic city called Shanghai in China. She worked hard and and earned a decent living.
It seemed like everyone else was either busy talking on their phones, or rushing to get on the buses. You could
almost smell the restlessness in the air. In contrast, Skyler was walking at a much slower pace. But somehow I
could tell something was bothering her. I started to worry about what might happen in a few minutes.
10 minutes passed, but nothing happened. She was still that flat tire."Maybe I am over-worried."I
comforted myself.
It was becoming harder and harder for Skyler to breathe. Something must be wrong! But all I could do was
to stay still on her wrist, waiting for her reaction. How I wish I could protect her from any potential dangers or
miseries!
All of a sudden, Skyler fell down really hard beside a gigantic trashcan at the crossing of an alley. What
happened next took my breath away. Everything around collapsed. There was no sight of any trashcan, and we
were no longer at the crossing. I found myself in an old shabby room, the interior of which was heavily furnished
with heavy and old-fashioned pieces, the kind you would see in an ancient Chinese museum. I looked up.
Thanks my goodness heaven! I was still with Skyler. Her eyes were glued shut, showing no signs of waking up
any time soon.
A few hours later, Skyler finally opened her eyes. Almost at the same time, some massive hunks burst into
the room with some black bags in their hands. “Nothing good could come out of this”, I murmured in fear.
"OUCH! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Skyler shouted to those guys when they grabbed her roughly and
blindfolded her eyes. They dragged her out of this scruffy room, and I got a clear view of the outside world.
Everything looked different from the world that we lived in before. Instead of skyscrapers, fancy cars and stylish
modern people, all I could see were doggy flat buildings, rickshaws, and people dressed up in an old Shanghai
fashion. Everybody looked like they walked right out of an old Shanghai movie.
Skyler was shaking her arms hysterically, so I was swayed up and down in violence. I was trying to find
some clues that could tell me where we were. Suddenly I spotted a newsstand, and the headline on the
newspaper read ‘JAPAN IS COMING!’ I tried to recall some history knowledge I had gathered in the past with
Skyler. ‘Wait, if we are still in China, and we are in the right time that we are experiencing, then we must be in
Shanghai in the 1930s or 1940s! Why are we in the past?’ This reminded me of the plot in a time travel movie
and it confused me utterly.
As I was deeply lost in my thoughts, we were taken to yet an another dingy house, only this one was much
more spacious than the one before. I overheard some low voices arguing over whether or not to sell Skyler to
the ‘camp’. Wild panic started to strike me. ‘Where are they going to take her? What on earth is this camp? Am I
going to be ripped off Skyler’s wrist? Are we going to part our ways? She never takes me off! Please let me stay
with her through this nightmare!’ At that very moment, she put me in front of her face, and I was shocked to
find out that Skyler turned into a little girl! Now she looked exactly the same as when she was 7 years old, which
was when I first met her.
Just as I heard before, we were sold to a place that is inundated with bloodiness and endless darkness.
It was a place where they taught children how to pull the trigger of a gun and stab with a variety of knives.
These children were also prepped on how to recognize the fastest and sharpest deadly weapons. In simple terms,
they were training these youngsters to be professional killers. And they would be killing for employers as long as
they are paid enough with rational reasons provided.