Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 40

join the voyages. Stupid enough to follow the captain and Li to my death. I closed my eyes, waiting for
death to come fast and painlessly. But, it didn’t. Suddenly, I heard a crunch and bodies hit the floor. I
opened my eyes and saw that father was on top of the pirate, wrestling him down. He only had time to yell
“HaiHang, run!” before the pirate shoved him away.
The pain in my shoulder made my mind go numb. I didn’t hear anything that father said except for the
word “run”. I got up and ran away as fast as I could, the edges of my eyes going black with the constant
blood loss. After about a minute of running, I slowed down and caught my breath. Once the immediate
threat was over, my mind started working again. And then it hit me - what I had just done. At the most
crucial moment, I ran away from danger, leaving father behind. All that father had done for me, all he had
protected me against, worthless, because I left him to die. I shook my head. I could not be a son like that.
Father’s expectations of me was for me to become a real man, however, no man abandons others, let alone
his own father, in events which could result in death only because he valued his own life more. I turned
around, and darted back to father, ignoring the throbbing pain in my shoulder the best I could.
I got back just in time to see father cornered by the pirate, who was reaching for his weapon. I instantly
panicked, not knowing what I could do in time to save father. My eyes darted around, but I saw nothing I
could use. By then, the pirate was already aiming at father. Without thinking, I launched my body at full
speed towards the attacker and tackled him to the ground. His weapon went off, but the projectile pinged
harmlessly away. No longer in danger, father reacted, grabbing the enemy’s weapon and smacking him hard
in the head with it. The pirate’s eyes glassed over when he collapsed to the ground. The pain from my
wound then got too much to bear, and I blacked out.
I woke up with a start. I was in my bed, a piece of cloth wrapped around my injured shoulder. Captain
Chen sat by my bed and smiled when I woke. Seeing my confusion, he started to explain what happened
while I was unconscious. He told me that I, alongside my father, took down the pirate captain and made the
rest of the attackers retreat. Also, he told me that sadly we only had half of our remaining crew members
left. When I asked him what we should do next, he simply smiled, and told me, “Life is just a long voyage,
waiting to be discovered.”
It has been 10 years since the voyages ended. I am now living a peaceful life in my village with father and mother. I
have gone on a few more voyages afterwards, but no one could compare to my first. Although most of the things that
happened during the first voyage was a blur, father’s motivation throughout the journey stayed with me forever. I’ve
been asking myself ever since where father’s courage came from, and I can slowly understand that it comes from his
selflessness and his love towards others. I hope to pass these morals onto my decedents, and hope that, with all that
father’s actions have taught me, I will become a real man.