Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 219

“What’s… What’s this for?’ he asked groggily.
“Boss wants to see you. Come on now. He doesn’t like having to wait .” One of the two replied, in a tone that
suggested that the so-called boss had never had to wait for anything before, least of all prisoners, at least in #76.
They marched him up the rickety and rusty stairs, which made him feel like the stairs were going to collapse
under him, and stopped in front of the only nice-looking door in the entire building, which obviously meant that the
person of who it belonged to was very important to the place.
The guard that spoke earlier tentatively reached out and knocked on the door, his face showing that
have been anywhere else than knocking on the door at that moment.
he’d rather
The door slowly opened to reveal a man in his late thirties. He was sitting in front of a desk, which looked quite
out of place in a torture building.
As soon as the prisoner recognized who the ‘boss’ of this torture house was, his eyes went wide with shock and he
started to feel a bit faint.
He signaled for them to go into the room, and was all smiles as he said:
“Oh, look what we have here! Quite a nice catch, this person is, I admit. Now, let’s get down to business. My men
tell me that you’ve been refusing to answer to their questions. Why is that? You know it will be easier if you just do.”
The prisoner said nothing, his face giving away nothing.
“Hm. So he still won’t talk. I suppose we should try plan B, then. Oh wait, this is plan B! Sorry, I meant plan C.”
The boss was a peculiar person, not at all what the prisoner expected him to be, based on the rumors, and he was
making jokes that were lost on all those who worked for him.
“So, we did some background checking on you, and found out that…. You have two children, don’t you? Mei An
and Mei Ling? I suppose we could just hunt them down and kill them if you don’t give us the information, but
wouldn’t it just be easier to tell us now , so we don’t have to deal with the mess of killing two innocent, young
children?”
Under all the blood and bruises, the prisoner’s face went white. He was certain that he had hidden his children
away in a safe location months before they even caught up to him- but still, what the boss said worried him. But no-
he swore to himself that he would not give in no matter what, and that these were just empty threats.
He just stared stoically back at the boss. The boss sighed.
“Well, this was pointless. Take him back to his cell, and don’t give him any water to drink or any food to eat for 3 days.
Don’t send anyone to watch him either. Wonder if he’ll talk then .”
He passed out immediately after they shoved him into his cell.
“Dad? Is that you?” The shorter of the two, a girl, stepped towards him cautiously.
“Mei An? And Zhong Hua as well?” He struggled to stand up, and they rushed to hug him.
“How did you two find me? I thought I told you to stay with your aunt until this all ended and I could finally
come back to you.”