Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 -1 2019 | Page 234

three grunted in agreement. Alara glanced around. “How far is this place? We’ve been trudging through this
terribly hot country for hours. Where’s the-” Suddenly a yellow dart buried itself into her neck. Alara’s eyes
rolled up into her head and she collapsed on the floor. Another dart flew straight at Max. Max fainted and
fell down next to Alara. “ALARA! MAX!” Sakura screamed, as a third dart stung her in the neck. She
collapsed on the cobblestone floor.
“Wake up!” Sakura heard a voice next to her, whispering harshly. “Sakura!” Sakura slowly opened
her eyes, her mind foggy. “Wha-what?” She saw Max on the floor next to her. Sakura took in her
surroundings. They seemed like they were in a dark cave. A dark cave with no exit. Pain seared into her
neck, where the dart had landed. “Wh-where’s Alara?” Sakura looked around. Max’s voice was shaky.
“They t-took her. I don’t know where t-they went, b-but…” He looked at Sakura. “Wh-what are they
going to do with her?” She didn’t know how to answer. Her friend had been taken away and she didn’t
know where or why. All Sakura could think of was that she would die in this ugly cave in the middle of
who-knew-where, far, far away from home.
Elsewhere, Alara also woke up. She didn’t know where she was, who her kidnappers were, and
what she was doing here. She only knew that she still had the gold beside her, and Max and Sakura were not
here. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t make a sound. Her kidnappers had put a gag in her
mouth. Suddenly a muffled sound came from somewhere in the cave. “I’m telling you, the girl is one of the
pirates from the Ming Treasure Fleet! She can tell us where all the gold is and then we can get as much as
we want!” Another voice grunted in the darkness. “How can we be sure, Jerry?”. The one called Jerry
sighed in disappointment. “You have to believe me, Nick!” Nick?...Which meant the other guy was Cousin
Jerry? Alara thought. “Hey, Nick? You better check this out.” Jerry and Nick stepped into view. Jerry
opened the bag full of treasures, which they were planning to give to the Indians. He poured it out, and
gold bars and jewellery clattered on to the floor. Alara tried to shout at them, managing a muffled noise
through her gag, which got their attention. “The girl wakes. Tell us where the rest of the gold is and I’ll let
you go.” Nick whipped out a knife and walked towards Alara, pressing his knife under her chin when he
reached her. “Jerry, help me remove the gag!” Jerry stumbled over and took off the gag. Finally, Alara could
speak. “I’m Alara, your cousin! What are you doing?!
“Alara? So that other boy is Max? I suppose the girl is his girlfriend?” Alara shouted, “Let me go!”
Nick pouted. “What’s wrong, Alara? Why won’t you tell us where the gold is? I suppose we’ll just have to
kill you if you don’t tell us where the rest of the gold is.” He raised his knife to Alara’s face, and lightly
draged his knife on her face, leaving a line of blood on her face. She cringed in pain, but there was nothing
she could do. “Why would you kill your own family in cold blood? What happened?”
Nick snarled. “Poverty happened! I need money to pay for food for me and Jerry, and I don’t have
it! Because your family didn’t give me money to live my life. ”
“Do you want to know what happened to my mother? She died. Because she didn’t have enough
money to buy enough food for herself. She gave us all the food. She died because she didn’t eat enough.
And you! You could’ve helped! You were rich. Yet you wouldn’t even donate a dollar. Do you wish to
die?” He dug the knife deeper into her throat. “You can die now. You wanted to be free. Here I am, giving