Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 88

The Gold-crusted Book
Singapore International School (Hong Kong), Dong, Jane - 11
“ Hey , you children! Shhhhhhh !” The librarian glared at us with her swollen eyes that
narrowed to slits from her old-fashioned brown, rusty counter as she left the room for the toilet .
Alexander was with his friends Rosy and Luke, researching on the YongLe Emperor in the
library until a girl wearing pink Luke had a crush on walked by and sat down at a table with some of her
friends chatting about something he couldn’t hear. . .
Suddenly , the rusted ship sailing in dangerous waters pictured on the page Luke had just flipped
open from a gold-crusted book with a dragon imprinted started flipping back and forth , rustling , shooting
out gusts of stormy , aggressive wind every now and then . The usual chill in Alexander now started shaking
like a dried leaf about to fall off . He stole a glance at the others , who were spooked , feet rooted to the
marble-tiled floor as this had never happened before .
The wind that had come out of the book now all gathered around Luke , Alexander and Rosy ,
swirling around them like a tornado , sweeping them off their feet and propelling them inside the book.
Their screams for help were drowned out by the water that had suddenly filled their mouths as more
seawater came pouring down on them . All this had happened in less than a fraction of a second but seemed
to happen to them in slow-motion.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Where are we ? ” They all gasped for air on the surface, legs treading
water
“ Whatever ! We can find that out later ! Oh no! ” Alexander exclaimed , pointing at the black
clouds gathered up , the howling wind blowing at them from all sides.
“ What should we do ? We can only tread water for this long before we all get swept away by the
waves that are about 3-storeys tall !” Yelled Rosy , struggling to keep herself afloat.
“ Wait , where’s Luke? They both turned around but couldn’t find their friend anywhere.
“ Over here guys!” Alexander and Rosy’s heads turned at the sound of Luke’s voice and saw him
swimming ferociously towards a ship that he had sighted in the distance but kept disappearing out of sight
due to the fog around it. They instantaneously followed his example and paddled towards it , determined to
get on that boat.
“ Man overboard ! Man overboard ! ” Someone onboard the ship bellowed into his loudspeaker as
the rest of the crew threw down ropes and let down the anchor in a jiffy as the ship came to a stop . Rosy
was so relieved when a sturdy man hauled her up onto the deck , even though she usually acted very
confident and brave , she was actually terrified inside .
Luke , Alexander and Rosy had expected a welcome and a nice hot bath with some food from the
ship’s crew but what came next was greatly unexpected .
“ Blimey! What are these people wearing !? ” Several crew members uttered in surprise at the sight
of the children’s clothes , for they were like nothing they had ever seen before.
Suddenly , there came a collective silence as the gang made way for Admiral ZhengHe who
strolled out the cabin doors and came to take a look at the newcomers.
“ Who are you and what is your business here? ” Admiral ZhengHe demanded , and Luke knew to
tell the truth .
“ We come from another place called Hong Kong and we have absolutely no business here , we
don’t even know you or any of these people ! ” Luke gestured around him .
“Ok , this is definitely not Narnia,” Rosy muttered under her breath , “I was hoping to be queen
Susan ! I guess next time . . .”
“ Ha! Definitely a spy from the Indonesians ! Such a good disguise ! Who ever thought of
someplace as weird as Hong Kong ! And just look at their peculiar clothes !We should try to send some of
our own spies in like that too ! I knew they were going to send someone to steal our treasure sooner or later
. . . mustn’t trust them sir ! ” A skipper shouted out .