Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 298

Lilies in the Chinese City
St. Margaret's Co-Educational English Secondary and Primary School (Secondary Section), Li, Rina - 15
W
heezing, Sum tried to control his breathing as he flattened himself against the wooden crate.
He was on another of those tasks assigned by Lin. Lin was always the one with the most dangerous
missions, ones that usually involve high-ranking targets; government officials. True, those tasks could sometimes
earn him enough for an entire week, with an extra for his bedridden mother. But they usually end with
near-death encounters. Too bad that they were all that has been supporting him and his family since his father
got killed.
Sum shivered. The cool sea breeze whipped through the thin fabric of his shirt at his sweat-soaked back, and the
fading sunlight gave him no comfort.
Peering back over the box, he caught a glimpse of his trackers, and quickly ducked his head back down. They
had been following him ever since they caught him eavesdropping on their conversation near the merchant ships
down the waterfront. He should’ve left when he’d gotten all the information he needed. But curiosity made him
stay for a few minutes more. He regretted it now.
Shrinking back into his hiding place, he is again thankful for his small size. If he was any bigger, he would not
have been able to squeeze into that gap between a stack of unused crates that now served as his only line of
defense.
Sum listened as the shuffling on the wooden port ceased, and the thumping footsteps grew fainter as his pursuers
finally moved on.
He opened his eyes and stared intently at the clear sky above, listening for any more unfamiliar sounds aside the
splashing of waves hitting the barnacle encrusted wooden supports, the high-and-low squeaking of stiff
floorboards, the distant buzz of noisy traders with their porcelain and silver……
He let out a deep breath.
They were finally gone.
His muscles protested as he climbed up the impossibly steep stairs to his home, a thick layer of dust stirring up
with every step.
Light from the open doorways aligning the corridors on each floor flickered and shone upon the grimy, bare
concrete floor as the sky outside slowly turned red.
Sum reached the top of the stairs, and walked pass the entire line of doorways to reach the furthest door. “Lian?
Mother?” He called as he entered the threshold, taking off his worn canvas shoes.
His mother smiled weakly from her usual place at the thin, dirty mattress next to the stained bottle-green
windows, as his younger brother looked up from his place at the dinner table.
“Sum!” Lian rushed into his brother with an enthusiastic hug, “The teacher showed my homework to the class
today!”
Sum laughed, “That’s great, Lian. And what did she say?”
“She said it was very very good, and she would pin it up...…”
His mother interjected, “Lian, let your brother have his dinner first.” She turned to Sum. “Dear, Serene passed
by with some salted fish this afternoon, before her performance. It’s on the table.”
“Guess who’s back!!” A girl stepped into the small room, her hair falling off her shoulders in a thick curtain of
curly jet-black locks. Her silver flower earrings glinted in the light of their oil lamp.
Lian turned around excitedly and ran to the newcomer. “Serene!”
Her usual sweet-scented perfume followed her into the room.
Sum knew Serene for as long as he could remember. Her family lived right next doors when they were just
toddlers, and the two had been playmates since he learnt how to crawl. Something just clicked between them,
and they quickly became fast friends, and their friendship remained strong even when Serene and the rest of her
family moved away to live with her father, who had been slowly climbing up the ranks of the government, and