The crack in the Wall
Sam Yee Lau, Group 4: Fiction, Po Leung Kuk Centenary Li Shiu Chung Memorial College
y eyes opened into narrow slits, and I wondered if I was dead. Where was I?
“
Ouch!” My head seared with pain. I thought it was going to explode. As I squeezed my eyes
to ease the pain, a flashback flickered across my mind.
Once again, I saw Xiang, my husband mouth the words ”I’ll save you” as the hateful-looking
clone caught me and injected something into my arm……
I shuddered. I craned my head and saw that I was in white room with cracks in its bare walls, and no
windows. People dressed in short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts in the piercingly cold 10-degree weather were
working mechanically at a hasty speed in dead silence.
“
At least I’m not dead,” I muttered to myself.
“
She is awake, sir,” a clone in white working nearby saw that I was awake and reported to his senior.
I was paralyzed with fear. A red clone with a sparkling epaulet on his shoulder came into my field of
vision..
He stared at me, analyzing the details of my facial expression.
A red light shone from his body, piercing my eyes. Then he spoke. “Welcome, lady. This is Yingkou labor
camp of the People’s Republic of China. You have been disturbing public order. People who offend China are
sent here to be re-educated through labor. Our mission is to transform offenders into law-abiding citizens
through hard work. Lady, please come here.” An eager smile flickered across his face.
That’s not too bad, I thought, lighting up. I landed my bare feet onto the cold floor and followed the red
clone into a dim room under the stare of the other clones.
“
Follow your duty prisoner, the leader of your group. Be good. Enjoy your day,” he smiled smugly. The heavy
door creaked shut behind me, and then there was the thud of a bolt sliding home.
I glanced at the tiny young girl with lank, pale brown hair trimmed short.
“
Newcomer, I’m your captain, Fong,” she spoke, her childish voice a monotone. Her stare made me
uncomfortable.
“
Hello, Fong. I’m Ting,” I greeted her and held my hand out, but she just stared at me with ridicule in her eyes.
I took a deep breath and began working. Thus my harsh life in the labor camp began.
The alarm broke the dead silence.
“
Dinner time!” the white clone announced, his face without an expression. The prisoners stopped their work,
and headed towards the door. I followed the crowd with heavy steps. The girl next to me gave me a look,
curious to see a newcomer. To my surprise, she flashed me a weak smile. I grinned.
“
Hello,” she mouthed. But then she realized we were under the gaze of the clones, and she scrambled for the
door and hurried to dinner. I sighed.
I finally reached the canteen which was filled with starving prisoners. My stomach was beginning to
gurgle. The food was rationed but the crowd still scrambled for the meal. I was left behind.
Hm…Steamed bread, not bad. But as I tried to sink my teeth in the bread it was hard and cold as stone.
When I finished my “meal”, I turned and saw a crowd in the middle of the canteen encircling something. I
pushed through them and craned my neck to see what happened. There was a big screen on the ground playing a
video about how China helped the poor. When Mao was about to speak, all the prisoners beside me clapped
their hands with joy, as if he was standing in front of us. Strange, they seemed to be enjoying this video.
After the two-hour study period and the half-hour brain-washing assembly, it was finally sleeping time. I
sighed with relief. Ten of us slept on the floor in a room 30 m wide. It was cramped and smelly. The floor was
so hard and cold and I trembled until my teeth chattered. I thought of Xiang, tears welling up my eyes. I curled
into a ball and squeezed my eyes tight together, waiting for unconsciousness. I dreamed of Xiang that night,
missing him horribly.
The morning light was glimmering through the windows. I was woken by a noisy marching sound. I was
horrified when I saw that everyone else was gone. I scrambled for the door, trying not to be noticed. Yet Fong
caught sight of me.
“
No breakfast, no lunch, no dinner for one day,” she said with a scoff. To my surprise, I took the
punishment without resentment. Probably because of the guilt I felt for oversleeping, I thought.
After roll call, we started our journey towards the Great Wall on foot.
“
Guys, you’re all going to the Great Wall to complete a mission. You have to build on the Great Wall, making it
taller, so that all of us can be protected more securely. We are Chinese, so work hard!” Fong commanded on the
M