Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 217

“ There is no time for stories right now. The Japanese army are dropping bombs down on Sahnghai and we need to
find a safe place!”
Qiang didn’t have enough time to be confused, he heard the sounds of the bombs dropping on the nearby
buildings. He quickly took few coins on the bedside table and ran for his life. He ran and ran until the bottom of his
converse tore open and his whole body ached. He felt the heat of the exploding bombs behind him and heard the
terrified screams of the young children. After what seemed like forever, they arrived at a well which looked like it has
been left without use for centuries. Wei and Qiang jumped into the well and used the rope which looked like it could
snap in half any moment to close the opening of the well. When they finally settled down in the well, Qiang could see
about a dozen people in the well hiding from the Japanese troops.
They stayed in the well for a few hours, until the mayor blew a horn that resembled that it is safe to come
out of the air raid shelters. The people in the well slowly climbed out and saw that there was nothing left in the small
town that they lived in. The sky was grey and gloomy, the floors had holes in them and the remains of the buildings
were covered in ashes and smoke. Beneath the remains of the buildings you could hear cries of
the people buried beneath the grounds. This continued for a few hours. After the nightfall, everything was silent. The
streets were filled with death.
That very night, Qiang, Wei and many other people whose homes has been wrecked took refuge near a
harbour that wasn’t as wrecked as the other buildings. For a few minutes, he wondered why was he stuck in an era of
time that belonged to his grandfather. Slowly, the lids of his eyes felt heavier and heavier…. and slowly
he drifted off to sleep. He was soon woken up by the snores of Wei, which was the younger version of his
grandfather.
Even though his grandfather was snoring, Qiang could tell that he was having a terrifying nightmare. Wei
had tiny little droplets of sweat trickling down his pale face and onto his shaking body. Qiang finally understood why
his grandfather never helped him on his Sinyo War project in yr5. It was because he didn’t want to revisit the pain he
went through when he was just fifteen years old.
When everything was silent, he fell asleep and dreamed about the world having total peace; a place where
humans didn’t kill humans for worthless thoughts and jealousy. Where humans could treat each other like friends and
everywhere looked like paradise.
He was woken up by a sandy and strong voiced which belonged to his grandfather. He was very confused.
In front of his eyes stood a man with grey hair, faded freckles and veins that showed through his skin. “I hope you had
a great journey through the ages to where I used to live when I was younger.” His grandfather delivered.
“Grandfather, how did you know that I went back in time and saw the younger version of you?” exclaimed
Qiang.
“Well…… there are somethings that are meant to be unknown in this big wide universe.”