Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 124

Revenge
Harrow International School Hong Kong, Chelpanova, Alisa -10
Zheng He trades treasure with countries to show peace...
The wind howled through the night and everybody was staring in shock at their sinking ship. The crew was
shivering from the cold and the thought of them drowning out at sea. Not seeing their family after they
died. Not being there anymore to see their children grow up.
“Where’s Captain Zheng?”
Everybody cried out, “Somebody go get him!” A tired looking man ran off into the shelter to find the
captain. His feet drummed on the wooden floor as he raced his thoughts to the captain’s hammock. Why
hadn’t Captain Zheng run out at the first sign of trouble? What was he doing right now? Was he alright?
Little did he know that the captain was nowhere near alright…
While the crew member was getting the captain, small, smart and brave Qui Xi at the age of eight was
hiding out in the storage closet next to her dad’s (the captain’s) room. She had quickly realised that they
were sinking but had decided not to climb out of the closet in case somebody saw her. She had peeked
through the crack in the middle of the closet and heard two people come by, one had been very slow and
cautious, or so it seemed, and Qui Xi had spotted something shiny and sharp looking which glinted in the
moonlight with her sharp eyes. Perhaps a knife? She had wondered for quite a while why the man had been
carrying a knife.
It hadn’t been a chopping knife, thought Qui Xi, remembering the knife her mother always used to cut
tomatoes or steak, it hadn’t seemed like the knife to peel too, those usually had two sharp metal bits
connected with plastic. No, it looked like the type of knife to kill something.
Her thoughts were disturbed suddenly by heavy boots clomping franticly down the corridor. Who could it
be? Qui Xi nearly missed the sight of a thin, skinny man racing across the corridor looking confused. What
could be wrong? At Qui Xi ’s age, children liked to ask questions which, much to their annoyance, almost
never got answered! Now’s a good time to come out, thought Qui Xi and very cautiously, climbed out.
Almost the second she climbed out of the closet, she heard an agonised scream followed by the sound of a
door being slammed shut and fast footsteps getting quieter and quieter until there was nothing to be heard.
Qui Xi hated silence so she was glad when she heard the creak of a door being opened and closed, but was
not so glad when she heard another scream, less agonised though, more sorrowful and sad. She reached the
door which she recognised to be her dad’s and peeked inside. What she saw Qui Xi will remember for the
rest of her life.S he saw a man on his knees, back faced to her, holding a blood-soaked body in his hands.
Her father.
She wanted to run. She wanted to run for the rest of her life, but she didn’t. Instead, Qui Xi watched in
shocked silence at the man holding her precious father in his hands. One that would never see life again,
enjoy life again, feel life again. Somebody who would never again witness the feeling of being proud or
alive, because he was dead. Murdered. Murdered by someone Qui Xi would get back at one day. From
now on, there would be no happiness in her life until she got revenge …
The sailors had started to wonder what had happened to their crew mate but decided to take action
themselves, without the captain. the stronger people were left behind to scoop water out of the ship and the
weaker people would go down the ladder where they wouldn’t weigh so much in the water but still hold
onto the ship, ready to climb back on. Everyone had the same thought in mind; save the treasure. Everyone
worked like bull in a fit, scooping water in, scooping water out, scooping water in, scooping water out.
They were all soon very tired and wished for their hammock. When the last of the water had been scooped
out, the people onboard sat down heavily on the benches and the people in the water gratefully climbed out
and wrapped themselves in warm towels and changed into dry clothes.
Once everyone was settled, two things happened. One, the crew felt more of a team now, and two, they
wondered what had happened to their captain and crew mate. So, with newfound team spirit, the group of
curious monkeys went downstairs to find out what had happened. Much to the crew’s surprise, the first
thing they saw was a little girl, about the age of eight or nine, weeping.