I Was There (Part 3)

Click here to read I Was There (Part 1)
Click here to read I Was There (Part 2)

Her name was Claire, and we used to be childhood friends when we were kids. We would go to each other's house to play board games, we hung out but we never saw ourselves as a couple, at least we did not. Also, we went to the same primary school and secondary school, people always thought we were in love, but no, we never were. Perhaps we were too young and innocent to grasp the idea of love, and being in love; we remained two best friends for a few good years, until that day. Last year, one day in May, she did not go to school, and she never came back.

Now that we were face to face, she did not seem to be in the mood for a reunion, she got up and hastened her way out of my sight, sprinting into distant darkness. Once again, she disappeared without saying another word. All I had got was her saying my name a few moments before: "Will?" Her voice had a mix of familiarity and strangeness, which left me relieved and perplexed at the same time.

I dragged myself up with some effort. Now she was gone, and I was the one that left behind. I stepped on something, a rock perhaps, I moved away my right leg and a rock was revealed. I was going to kick it away, but then I noticed it was more than a general piece of rock.

At first sight, it had a shiny surface, like a crystal. When I examined it, held it to be exact. I could not tell what color was of the rock because it was too dark to tell. It didn't seem to matter because the rock seemed to contain wonder. The rock itself changed. First there was something swirling inside the rock, like what we would do to a coffee with a spoon, instead the thing inside the rock appeared as if it was some gas, or cloud. Second, there was a very dim white light in the very center of the now translucent rock. I was fascinated by what I was holding right in front of my eyes. Was it some kind of a toy? Or, was it magic? I wasn't sure how to explain what I was now grabbing tight in my right hand. Anyways, what else was I sure of?

Soon enough I heard another wave of running resonance, from my far right, but this time it was a group of people running. Their steps were much heavier and more intimidating than Claire's. I had a feeling that they were actually after her, because of what, I didn't know. She wasn't my top priority. What I needed to do was to get up and find a way out. 

A sudden rush of vein drives me to look at the rock I found, as if there was an alluring voice whispering to my ear, and I had no reason whatsoever to refuse his/her request. I had one good look at the rock, then I felt my body was being run over by waves of invisible tides. I was brandished by thrusts of waves and I reluctantly fell backward. I had difficulty breathing. Within seconds, I lost my consciousness...

When I regained my consciousness, I found myself lying on the ground, untouched by a drop of water. I eyed forward, and I started to notice something familiar--the door to my flat.

- End of Part 3 -

媽媽，媽媽!

38歲的我，想念的不只是妳煮的蛋包飯。

我還記得我8歲那天發生的事。雖然當天沒有生日蛋糕慶祝，但是那天有意外的收獲。在我吃完了早飯的時候，妳對我說:「小偉，媽媽今天在菜田裡摘了一個既新鮮又大的蕃茄來慶祝你的生日，還有你最喜歡的蛋包飯，那將會是我第8次吃媽媽弄的蛋包飯。」

我挺起胸膛說:「媽媽，那我可以到菜田裡幫忙幹活嗎?我已經8歲了，是個大人了!」聽到這裡，我妳笑了一笑，心裡想著這個傻孩兒畢竟也8歲了，也好讓他試試看。我嚷著:「媽媽，可以嗎?可以嗎？......」最後，妳點了點頭，示意答應，這才令我停下來不叫嚷，反而在屋裡喜悅地東奔西跑。

I Was There (Part 2)

Click here to read I Was There (Part 1)
Click here to read I Was There (Part 3)

"What is this place?" This question echoed in my head for a few times. "Where am I?"

Now the sky was covered by in a black veil. I could only see things 2.5 meters away from me, 3 at most. I started to scan this place, trying to figure out where I was. First thing that caught my attention was a sound, a sound people made when they walked on planks of wood, and I tried to look downward with the help of some dimly lit neon light hanging above my head. To my surprise, I was on a wooden platform. I looked back up, and the neon lights were in fact old-fashioned oil lamps. Did people still use them these days? Wouldn't neon lights be a better choice? Then I began to looked around again, and I saw only a few people walking by, behind me there were many boats. So, I was at a pier.

I needed to know where exactly I was and how I could get back home, so I looked for someone to ask. They all dressed old-fashioned, rugged clothing, and though my white shirt was now yellowish under the lamp, while theirs were brown, some were even black. I was sure they were not wearing brown nor black, because those were stains. They were all in a hurry, and I failed at stopping any one of them. Wait. I had my mobile phone with me. How stupid was I? I had it the whole time and only by now did I remember I had it inside my schoolbag? 

I took out my phone and started to open my phone contact. Before I scrolled down to the contact "HOME", I was distracted by a noise. Someone was running on the planks, and the sound was getting louder. When I turned halfway to my right to see what happen, I was hit and I fell on to the ground. My shoulders hurt a lot, but my head was the most painful part of all. I looked around and tried to see who hit me, I was sure that guy's head was no less bruised than mine, because we went head to head. Still rubbing my head to ease the pain, I found that the guy who hit me was a girl, and she was holding her hand in distress. I could not see her face because she buried her face in her hands. Finally, she raised her head and I could get a better look at her. She looked familiar, looked like someone I knew from before but did not see each other for a few years. Was she someone I really knew, or was my headache so strong that my brain had failed to function properly.

She was the first to speak, "Will?"

For a second, I was surprised that she knew me, but memories came back to me and that was the moment I was certain. I knew who she was.

- End of Part 2 -

Ten Thousand Origami Cranes

"Mr. Chen, your daughter was in a fight today and she broke a student's nose. That boy is from her class as well." The class teacher Miss Lee looked and sounded upset, she had such high hope in Mr. Chen's daughter, Mui Lai, who was the brightest and the most well-mannered little girl in the class.

"Miss Lee, I'm so sorry for what she did. She wasn't anything like that usually." Mr. Chen jerked out a predictable and robotic answer to defend his daughter, which was expected of any parent.

"Yes, I understand. I would like to know what could have made her behave like this. I've asked some students who were also on scene when the fight took place. They said the boy took away the Origami Mui Lai was folding and would not return it to Mui Lai."

"That girl's mother, my wife told her to fold ten thousand Origami."

"Ah...yes. Mui Lai said that her mother would be unhappy when I asked her what happened about the fight."

"Miss Lee, can I talk to Mui Lai now?"

"Oh, of course. She's right inside the classroom. You should talk to her, as her class teacher, I'm very much worried about Mui Lai. I'll show you the room." Miss Lee brought Mr. Chen to the classroom door and she left him to talk to his daughter Mui Lai.

*

"Daddy..." Mui Lai tried to cover up a part of her right hand with her left hand, because there was a bruise due to the fight.

"Honey, does it hurt?" Mr. Chen gently rubbed the bruise with his thumb, in a circular motion.

"Yes. Today I could have had 400 of them, but that boy took away the 400th one, now Mommy would be unhappy about that."

"Sweetie, you don't have to fold papers anymore. Mommy would not mind." Mr. Chen appreciated what his daughter did, but he could not find a word to express himself.

"Then is Mommy coming home yet? Mommy said I need to make ten thousand Origami cranes. When I've finsihed, I can see her again.

"No...Mommy's not gonna come back, sweetie." Mr. Chen tried very hard to stay calm, but the tears still streamed down his face.

"Why, Daddy, why are you crying?" Mui Lai was too young to understand what happened, though, she reached out her tiny hands and wiped off the tears on her father's face, but that was it, only tears were wiped while the pain stayed.

"Sweetie, Daddy's fine." Mr. Chen put his hands on Mui Lai's shoulders while he was squatting down. "Promise Daddy you won't do bad things to your classmates again?" 

"OK, Daddy!" Mui Lai said it almost instantly as soon as Mr. Chen had finished his sentence. It was as if the word "promise" was the trigger word for this response. Now she was smiling, innocently.

     Mr. Chen had decided to keep the secret of his wife's leaving him for another man until Mui Lai was old enough, or never, he thought. In the meantime, he would like to spend more time with his daughter, to make up for the love she was supposed to receive from both her mother and father, and, to feel the happiness from his daughter's innocent smile in hope to ease the pain that seemed to be growing stronger each day. At least he was grateful about one thing: he still had his daughter, Mui Lai, around him, and that was all that mattered.

情夫與別人的老婆

「你不覺得這樣很噁心嗎？」 

「什麼？妳指的是我剛才當著妳面前殺了妳老公，還是指我們在他的身體面前做愛？」

「你還記得上個月那個占卜師對你說的死亡預言嗎？」

「她說呀，我死的時候會是個一無所有的人嘛，所以現在才要努力『賺』錢呀，哈哈。有妳老公留給妳的遺產，看來我還有好幾十年慢慢享受人生呢。」

「你不覺得自己很迷信嗎？」

「寧可信其有呀！況且那個占卜師在行內出名超準的！」

「你打算得到了那筆錢之後怎麼用？」

「帶妳到處旅行，再買一棟新房子，然後去組織我們的小家庭…之類的。那妳呢，妳又會怎樣用那筆錢？」

「我？我在想一個人獨自在遊輪上想著你會有什麼感覺呀。」這時候她側了身，背對著他，左手伸過去小櫃檯的抽屜拿東西。

「哈哈，那我在那裡？」

「那時候我在想你已經在地底下長眠了。」

「什麼！」

     這時候那個女人將槍頭指著情夫，她用毛巾包裹著槍，避免留下指紋。

「妳為什麼要這樣做？妳是開玩笑吧？快給我放下那支玩具槍！」情夫半笑半疑地看著她，可是她仍然動也不動地將槍頭指向他。

「怎麼會這樣的？妳不是很愛我嗎？不…不會的，我不會在這個時候死的，那個占卜師是不會錯的！我才剛殺了妳的老公，那筆錢是我們的，我不是一個錢也沒有呀！」

「你錯了，那個占卜師說得很準，而且我老公的錢是留給我的，誰要給你一分錢呀。」

就在那個女人開槍前一秒，在床上全身赤裸的情夫終於明白，可惜已經太遲了。

I Was There (Part 1)

Click here to read I Was There (Part 2)

I am a Form 5 student. My name is Will, Will Lee. I had been living a normal life just like everyone at my age was -- I go to school, finish school assignments every day, and prepare for upcoming tests or exams afterwards -- until that day.

It was a beautiful sunny morning when I went to school. But after school, there were some dark clouds first, then came the pouring rain. I did not bring an umbrella. Luckily, my school was near the MTR(Mass Transit Railway) station, so that I could walk my way without getting wet. Then I got on the train at Hong Kong station. Since there were not many people in the compartment at the time, I took a seat and began to sleep after a tiring day of school.

"Next station: Lai King. Interchange station for the Tsuen Wan line towards Tsuen Wan."

The woman's voice in the announcement was too soft to wake me from my daydream. I thought I heard the words "Lai King", or maybe I just heard it wrong. What if she really said so, then I must wake up and get off the train in order to go home. My mom said she was going to prepare a pickled pork tonight. Right, wake up, Will!

The door was about to open. I woke, I got up, and I stepped out of the compartment door as I forced opening my eyes to get my vision back. I saw people waiting in line, ready to get in on the train. Something looked different and I had no time to question but kept my eyes open on the surrounding. Before I could utter a word, the scene in front of me faded, diminished. It started to ebb away like weakening tide. It was no platform. I had never seen such a place in my life.

"What is this place?" I finally said something in astonishment.

-End of Part 1-