Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 68

I had found a reason to live!
I rushed upstairs, but before I could reach the top, in the coldest voice I have ever heard the voice
said six deadly words “Take another step, and you’ll die.”
In that split second, it was as if everyone but I was frozen in time, like statues of humans that once
existed. I took the time to process the voice’s words. I knew that the voice would make me kill myself, but
would it do so before I could reach Mei? I had no clue. But Mei was the reason I was alive, so her life must
be more important than mine.
I ran up the stairs at full speed, the wind rushing in my face, and when I reached the top, I froze
with shock. Mei was tied to a pole, wearing that same cloth outfit that I had seen her in on that winter
morning when I met her. She was bleeding from the leg and she was being whipped with a cat of nine tails.
It was Admiral Cheng, a man I had come to hate.
He cackled and said “You’ll never save her”, then he picked her up gently, almost as if she was a
sleeping child he was going to lay her down in her bed. Then in one mighty swing, he tossed her
overboard.
Without thinking, I jumped into the icy water to save my beloved Mei. As I plunged into the
waves of terror a huge force of realisation washed over my body. This voice inside me was not separate from
me but in fact a part me, a part I couldn’t face. It was guilt. Inside, deep down, I had hated myself all along,
I had wanted to punish myself for abandoning my lonely mother. But it was too late now. I couldn’t go
back.
The water pierced my skin like knives, wrapping me tighter and tighter in an unbreakable rope,
each time I struggled to break free, it only squeezed me tighter. It pushed me underwater, holding me there
until my fingers turned blue and I started to fade away.
I had tried to make up for my guilt by saving Mei, but now here we were, drowning.
Together.
They say the minute before you die, your life flashes before your eyes. It’s true. It wasn’t some
heroic journey I had dreamed of but the one person who had made my life hopeful again: Mei.
Even in our final moments, Mei held my hand and I felt love rush up my arm, spreading from my
fingertips all the way down to my toes. She smiled, and I smiled back, through tears.
She had given me everything and had given her everything.
But it wasn’t enough.