Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 3

New Tales of the Unknown
Carmel School Association Elsa High School, Davidson, Hannah - 13
From the year 1405 (also known as the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac calendar) there were 8
voyages led by the influential eunuch: Zheng He.
But the public only knew about seven.
The massacre of 1424, known to only the emperor and the only survivor: Zheng He.
The voyage happened in between the sixth and the final voyage.
Over 10,000 sailors died and almost all ships were incinerated.
After 595 years one thing has not yet been revealed:
The murderer.
1420
I’m picking tomatoes in the field. The rain is pouring down, wetting my hair, drenching my clothes. I walk
inside, there is a leak in the roof. My father is still farming and my mother is inside our kitchen. I walk into
the small cabin with my bamboo basket and place it on a small stone block.
I pick up the small stone block as the tomatoes roll onto the soil-covered ground and I swing it over my
head, hitting my mother. My head is spinning. I pick up the axe on the kitchen table and swing it at the
head on the ground. It rolls among the tomatoes.
I run over to the rice fields.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen minutes.
I arrive and I wade through the water. It is silent. No one is here, they all left because of the rain. Except for
a man with baggy brown trousers and no shirt. Filled with adrenaline, I run over to him.
I grab him by the neck and thrust his head into the water. Until he drowns.
That man was my father.
I killed them both.
Their only daughter.
1421- Ming Dynasty China
I’ve heard rumours that my people are looking for me. I ran away to China, I have been charged with one
of the worst crimes. Karma is coming for me, in my next life; at least that’s what they say. Two full moons
ago I was taken by a group of people, they told me I was a killer and branded two words down my back: 兇
手.
Murderer.
If anybody finds me, I’m dead.
So I have to leave China.
1423
I’ve heard of these voyages. Led by this man called Zheng He, and one is leaving in a year’s time. I have a
plan. I’m going to board the ship and sail away so that I can get away from this place. I don't know where
I’m going but anything is better than where I am now. Maybe to Persia, or the coast of Africa. I just need
the transport. And the tools.
1424- Day Before Departure
4 years
Two dead
One killer
I killed another man today. His name was Wang Lei. The thrill of killing excites me. He had a wife and
three children. So I killed them all. I can’t have any witnesses.
My hair is gone, my clothes are tattered and I am packed. It is time, time that I embark on a journey that
will save or cost me my life.