Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 459

Ting’s family remained poor and small for years. He worked in Mr. Tam’s family as a slave. Mr. Tam made Ting work
for days in a row without food or rest. Ting died soon because of the hard work, but was soon replaced by his son. Everyday,
Dan’s family would continue to pray to the gods. It was a tradition passed on for many generations.
When Dan woke up, the world was covered in thick fog. The air didn’t smell fresh, more like burning coal. He
rowed to the shore.
He looked around but couldn’t see much. “Where am I?” he muttered to himself. Blinded by the fog, he touched a
walls. It was smooth and strong, unlike his little wood house. “This is a dream,” he said loudly to himself.
A girl suddenly appeared in the fog, “Sir, you look lost. Did you forget to your haze glasses, oxygen mask and GPS?”
“What’s that?
Where am I?
Bring me home.”
“You’re from around here?” The girl asked while searching her bag.
“I don’t know,” Dan replied.
“You could borrow my equipment for now, I have an extra set,” the girl sympathetically said. She put the equipment
on Dan. Haze goggles allowed Dan to see clearly through the pollution. Dan looks around, staring at the buildings that
touched the moon.
“You still didn’t answer m y question: Where am I?” Dan asked.
“We’re in Shanghai.”
“Impossible, Shanghai never fogs up like this.” Dan replied.
“I hope it didn’t. It was because of my grandfather. Now I have to go, goodbye.” The girl left.
Dan took few steps forward, and then the “GPS” started beeping randomly. He decided to throw the GPS and walk
his own path.
Him found himself in what looked like a little street. It was almost empty, except for two beggars. The beggars told
him to sit next to them and tell them some stories. And so Dan started to speak for very long about his life.
“Once upon a time, there was a lady who gave birth to a boy called Dan, and that boy is me. My parents taught me to
read, write, and fish. I especially loved the sea……”
Dan was cut off here by one of the beggars called Tam. “The sea?
“Well yeah of course, I mean the sea is everywhere.”
You have seen the sea before?”