Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 184

After a few days, Tom began to feel happy whenever Natalie is around. His eyes shone when
Natalie woke him up everyday with a warm smile. Tom had never felt so happy before. Was he in love?
Tom was not sure. All he knew was that he was lucky that he escaped and found himself on Natalie’s ship.
Well, it wasn’t exactly her ship, but she was in it. However, all that stopped abruptly. One day, Natalie was
walking at the edge of the ship with Tom when suddenly, her face went white, and she fainted with a weak
gasp. Help was immediately fetched and Tom watched sadly as Natalie was carried to her cabin. A few hours
later, the captain walked up to Tom and said gravely, “I’m so sorry Tom, but Natalie will not be able to
come up for her duties in a short period of time. So, I have asked Nathan to take her place. I do hope you
will get along with him, unlike her sister. Also, if you have any idea why she doesn’t go along with her
brothers and any other types of men, for that case.” and with a deep sigh, he strode away. Tom thought for
a moment, then he made up his mind to go and find Natalie, since it was his break.
He tiptoed into the cabin to find Natalie staring blankly at the top of the cabin. He whispered,
“hey, Natalie, are you okay? I hope you are.” without looking back, Natalie sighed a deep sigh and replied
sorely, “Of course I’m not. My father scolded me off for being a sickly girl. He said that Nathan was
definitely a better and more obedient child than I am. He is always in his cabin hiding out and he said that I
wasn’t a good girl just because I got sick! Life is so unfair nowadays,” she said, blinking back tears. Tom felt
sympathy for the poor girl. “Same here. My parents are harsh on me just because I’m the youngest. They
tell me to behave better, unlike my older siblings. All of them are awarded scholarships to Universities but
they rejected it because they didn’t have enough money to supply everything else. I wish they would just let
me do something without them looking at me all the time. Seriously, I don’t get them at all.” upon hearing
that, Natalie immediately sprang to her feet with anger, scaring Tom. “What do you mean that it’s not
lucky? Don’t you realize that you are so much luckier than everyone else like me? At least that you’ve got
someone to look after you. They care about you a lot although they’re poor. But me? I get ignored and all
the attention is on my brother, who doesn’t need any of it. He gets to go to school and gets a good
education although he doesn’t even obey the teachers, but you have all the attention from your parents
although they don’t have enough money for themselves. Think about it, Tom! Go away until you’ve learnt
your lesson. I thought I liked you, but now I know that we’re no match at all. Just go!” she screamed,
pushing Tom out of her cabin. Tom was furious. How dare a dumb girl like her push me out? She’s not a
boss of Tom. he could jump off the boat and no one could stop him. He was red from head to toe now. He
had enough of this. With one giant leap, he vanished under the waters.
Until now, no one knows where he is. Natalie, upon remembering this, didn’t feel sorry for the
boy at all. Now, she was full of wrinkles, sitting in a sofa of a cosy living room, drinking tea from a china
cup, with children playing and adults talking all around her. She had been successful. She didn’t need
anything else to help her anymore. It was Tom’s fault, not hers. She had followed her dreams, gotten
enough money to go to college, and written books and books for everyone to read about her adventures at
the Ming Voyages. Although she didn’t want to go on the Ming Voyages, she did get some good out of it.