Shanghai ' s Punishment
Shanghai Singapore International School , Kulkarni , Atharva - 15
I hated this . I hated this so much I wanted to die . My right shoulder ached . A delivery man crashed into me with his bike while I was on my way from a park nearby . Turned out the delivery guy was delivering drugs – opium to be exact . China had lost to the British 50 years and before even you knew it , everybody has opium . They all had it . It is even more obsessive than the delicious meat dumpling that I eat every morning in front of my house . How do I know that it was this obsessive ? Well , I live right in the center of Shanghai . I roamed around the house thinking about how much I hate this world and its vicious inhabitants . Murder , crime , kidnapping , drugs had conquered over every single inch of Shanghai . I believed in god . I believed that he would send some kind of message or even punishment to punish what these people were doing . It wouldn ’ t be surprising if god would send the Japanese to attack us as punishment . I would still be scared even if it is god who sent it . I lived alone . I had no friends . I decided not to engage with the dangerous faction or group of people called society . I bought a newspaper and read the headline on the first page . It said , “ Manchuria , at the tip of China and beside the Soviet Union had been conquered by the Japanese .” I was appalled by this . I couldn ’ t believe it . If the Japanese had entered Manchuria , they could enter mainland China . It was already evening by the time I thought about what could happen to me , what could happen to China . I went to sleep panic-stricken about what was going on .
When I woke up , I decided to leave Shanghai in a couple of days . I never even liked Shanghai . The countryside is much better according to me . I turned on the radio to hear what had the Japanese done after taking over Manchuria . “ The Japanese have started to build a railway and have named it , Manchurian Railways .” I thought about why they would need a railway . Maybe they want to bring in food and water to Japan . Maybe , that is why they took Manchuria . The voice came on again , “ The Japanese are importing food , water , guns and worst of all , slaves .” I was exasperated . Why are they importing guns and slaves ? They maybe need food and water since Japan is small and are in urgent need of them . But why guns and slaves ? “ Be careful . Flee the main big cities because the Japanese might start bombing them . They want war . The Nazis in Europe have inspired them . Europe has been invaded . We will be invaded too .” The word ‘ war ’ echoed in my head . “ They could bomb us anyti ...” The voice went off . I heard rumbling noises over my apartment . I quickly rushed to the roof of the building to see what it was . I barged through the roof door and came onto the flat marble stones . I looked up and gasped . I saw 10 , no , 20 planes flying in the sky . At their tail , a Japanese flag . The radio person was right . “ The Japanese could bomb us anytime ” and here they are . All I saw was one plane fly right over my house and towards the city center . It dropped 5 oval shaped things onto the ground . I didn ’ t know what they were or what they did . They made a sound like “ pheeew ” as they fell to the ground . I saw them disappear into the cluster of buildings and then my eyes suddenly closed . When I opened them , all I saw was a huge mushroom-looking cloud ascend into the sky . The cluster of buildings was now small hills made out of stone and brick . I ran , I wanted to get on the ground . Flat ground . All the buildings will be in the same shape as that cluster . The whole city is itself a cluster . Even if the Japanese bomb a few spots in Shanghai , the buildings will come down like a row of dominos .
When I came out of my building I saw people screaming and running while some were outraged . Some just stood like they didn ’ t care what was happening . Some were already dead . I ran towards the end of the street . If I could somehow get away from this cluster … the Shanghai South Railway Station ! The Railway station was in the center but the government had restricted any tall buildings near the station . The buildings usually were 7 or 8 floors high . Sometimes even 10 floors . I ran towards a main street which was named Ferguson Road after Lt . Ferguson who was the main commander in the sea battle between China and Britain . The road ran right through the middle of where the government building and the railway station was . The city was filled with people trying to flee . There were injured who were totally abandoned and left behind . I somehow pushed the people that were trying to push me off the the road . I barged through the huge gap that the people were trying to go in . I successfully was able to board an overcrowded train . I went all the way to the back of the train . I saw a mother and her baby crying , hugging each other tightly . The train slowly started to move , shaking while it gained full speed . I thought about whether the Japanese will come back again and bomb the station . The baby had stopped crying , so had the mother . The train had started to slow down . All the people on the train shouted . They were scared . They wanted to get of here . Then there was loud boom which looked like it came from the other side of the city . I didn ’ t even need to look . I could tell without looking that was a bomb dropped . Then the realization hit me . Of course , the Japanese will keep on bombing until they are satisfied . That means every