Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 227

Captains’ wish
St. Joseph's College, Cheung, Ho Ching Ryan - 14
“Aye aye, captain!” I shouted aloud after the Captain’s speech.
I was a young boy, 16 years old, clean shaven and with pale white skin. I was quite a newbie to this
ship called “Xun Meng”, which means finding dreams. My parents died when I was only 3. I used to be a
student, but uncle didn’t want me to learn English, hoping instead I would get a job as soon as possible to
help make ends meet. So I ran away from home and was later discovered by the Captain in a cold alley.
The Captain was quite rich and kind, treating me as his own son. He also trained me to join the navy
as he was the captain himself.
When I turned 16, Captain felt that I was ready for adventure. When he was young he had travelled
many places and accumulated a massive fortune. The navy followed his lead and helped him give away his
treasure to those in need around the world. Before I knew it, we had gone on six expeditions: the next trip
was going to be the Captain’s final voyage before his retirement.
“Remember, this treasure is for those in need. If people want to take it by force, then use your biggest
efforts to defeat them!” Captain said at the head of the boat when we were going to depart for the last time.
Today is quite sunny and quite suitable for adventure , I thought.
But I was wrong.
“Boom!” Another stroke of lightning struck the sky, the sea was roaring aggressively, and rain was
pouring down. The helmsman was steering the boat rapidly, as the captain kept ordering the men to fold up
the sails, and I was inside the little cabin of the ship, waiting for the storm to go over.
This was the first time we came across such a big storm. I curled myself up, as I knew a storm could
destroy everything on the ship, as well as the ship itself.
I was scared, and I start praying for mercy. Everything got dimmer, darker, then I closed my eyes…
“Gasp!” I woke up suddenly. I looked around – nothing was out of the ordinary. I immediately rushed
up to the deck to check on my crewmates.
To my surprise, everything seemed normal on the surface. The Captain was standing at the head of the
ship. The wind was brushing his cheek. He was strong, with a thick moustache, a pair of kind loving eyes,
and strong muscles all over his body. He was watching the sea. Waves went up and down, the red light of
sunset reflected the captain’s face. It was a face of sorrow. He frowned and closed his eyes.
“Cap?” I approached him. He opened his caring eyes, then looked at me. The sun was setting on the
horizon, the sea became red and orange. Captain smiled.
“Do you know how my parents died?” Captain said suddenly. I shook my head. He put his hand on
my head, saying, “When I was small, my parents were adventurers. They liked shipping very much. Their
hope was to travel to South Africa. Until one day, a big storm swallowed my parents without any mercy. I
survived by holding a wood plank and floated to Vietnam. After recovering, I travelled back to China, and
decided became a captain to fulfil my parents’ wish. Therefore, I trained myself to be strong enough for that.
This is my last adventure. I hope I can give out all my treasures I got and reach South Africa. Now, go and
have dinner. Sleep early, we need to stop at India tomorrow.”
I nodded my head, as Captain hadn’t spoken to me this seriously before. Soon I ate my dinner and went
to sleep. This wasn’t a good night’s sleep, as I dreamt of red spiders crawling up to my shoulders. I couldn’t
breathe as I dreamt of them getting into my throat and nose, and the tingling sensation went through my
body. Scratching myself didn’t even work; my hands were pinned to the floor and I couldn’t move a little.
“Help!” I screamed, but no sound came out from my mouth…
I woke up still feeling drowsy the next day. The ship had reached India. Captain and his crew bought
oranges and spinach, for our hydration and vitamin C intake. He also bought wine because wine could be
stored for a long time. Captain was a very caring person, he knew that we might catch scurvy or dysentery
so he also bought herbal medicine for us.
We stayed in India for only three days as we were quite in a hurry.
We departed after we having a good breakfast. Captain had been here to give out treasure before so the
locals gave us our food for free.
Closer to South Africa than any of us had ever been, Captain was really glad about this. However, my
sixth sense told me everything wouldn’t be smooth sailing…
On the 13 th night after we left India, a big noise from above the decks woke me up – the distinct bang of
a cannon.