Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 - 2017 | Page 442

New Tales of Old Shanghai
St. Stephen's Girls' College, Ho, Cheuk Yan Grace - 12
M
ass hysteria swept through crowds as the newspapers holler out the news at top volume, in Shanghai, in China, in
Asia, all over the world.
The Old Shanghai City Times
24 th Nov, 1980
Breaking News!
6 children kidnapped by ghosts!
7-year-old Chen Xin's father is a construction worker on a job aiming to reconstruct the last part of
the old Shanghai city wall into high-rise residential buildings. His daughter, Chen Xin was found to be
missing at 12pm. Her parents heard screaming from their daughter and rushed into her room, only to
find a piece of paper on which were written these words:
'We are holding your child hostage for the wall--she is the price to pay for disturbing our haunts.'
Other workers on the project have had similar situations at the witching hour: screaming, then their
children’s disappearance and the note. The removal project was postponed as a result.
“So far, there are six cases of these kidnappings, of children from ages three to nine,” says a police officer,
“and of which the parents are construction workers or architects participating in removing the old
Shanghai city wall.”
The police force has searched for these so-called ghosts for three days in vain.
The city is worried: What will become of the kidnapped boys and girls?
Eton Carter, young daring detective, paused from reading his newspaper and took a sip of his coffee. His assistant, Sandra
Lin, looked up from her pile of papers, “Need a refill?”
“Nope, But book two air tickets tomorrow all the way to Shanghai and hotel rooms near the old city of Shanghai.”
Sandra gaped at him, “Why are we going around half the globe?”
Eton rolled his eyes sarcastically, “Yeah, I need a vacation.” He passed her his newspaper.
Instantly, Sandra paled. Then, she sighed. “I guess I have to face this eventually.”