“I think it’s fading” he said to himself “but I still need to get that tooth looked at, I guess lots of tasks are waiting for me.” He looked at his eyes which he could barely lift, he’d had an amazing weekend, and he knew there was an awaiting cost! His Creative Writing class was starting today but it was already late, which was frustrating.

The way that the writer foreshadowed in the story and how the story ended with all the foreshadows explained completely is remarkable and cannot be done better! It is my dream to create a story like this. Moreover, every character from the show had their own attracting point, and the character developments were well done and impressive to read. Even the stories of some villain were more worth reading than the story of the main role from other shows. Besides, the animation production team had paid great effort in the animation especially the fighting scenes, they are smooth and eye-catching. Some great pieces that I love may have the only weakness which was that the number of episodes was not enough for me to watch, but even the number of episodes of Full-metal Alchemist (2009) was perfect. That's why even if it has been 15 years since the show ended, it was always my favourite one.

 And the lighting of the picture is amazing, and I would like to go to Japan. On the layout of the picture is great I love it so so so so much, it reminds me of my own original story about doom and abounded city I am obsessed of these genres of story, it must be beautiful to see Hong Kong become one of them it better have some dead body around the places happy to see and discover.

1.     Alliteration (pick apart a positive pieces of my past)

2.     Rhyme (peaceful evil, ability civility, arise cries…)

3.     Pauses

4.     Repetition (love, wake up)

5.     Body language

6.     Facial expression

7.     Changing tempo

8.     Synchronised speech.

What are we living for? Who are we living for? Why are we living?, what for?

Here is one of the responses I would never forget:

When we were small, we survived, to not upset our parents. When we got to school, we survived, to keep our friends happy. When we grew, we survived, to return to society. When we fell in love, we survived, to stop our partner from tearing. When we had kids, we survived, to keep them alive.

It should be the answer, for the others.

But, to me, it wasn’t, it would never be. Even if I was just a kid, who could not even spell the word “survive”, but I knew, very well, better than everyone else.

It wasn’t, It would never be.

We born and we live, our parents were happy

We live, our friends are happy

We live, our lover is happy

We live, society is happy

But how about ourselves, how about you

Are happy about that?

Of course, we all knew people are pleasant, it is their pleasure to pleasure others.

However, people lose their kind nature sometimes. When they are struggling, suffering, stressing out, they start to doubt, to doubt the meaning of helping, the meaning of contributing, the meaning of living for the others.

When they failed to figure out, what keeps them alive may fade away.

And…I believe we all know what may be on the way.

Maybe, we need to think more about ourselves, take care of ourselves, be considerate to ourselves. Taking action to make ourselves happy, instead of for others.

Be egotistical to ensure our survival, and that’s the answer.

1.     Similes

I shine like a star.

My friend is as beautiful as the sun set.

2.     Metaphor

My feet had been connecting to a heavy rock.

3.     Personification

The wind was running next to me while it was laughing at my failure.

4.     Hyperbole

Why are you watching this movie for thousands of times!

5.     Litotes (under statement)

A: she will never be the smartest person in the group.

B: because she is not the most reasonable one.

A: and not the most hard-working one.

6.     Allusion

Even though I am broke, I refuse to eat at LU canteen, because Antman’s friends will show up there. 

7.     Onomatopoeia

I was losing my mind because of the “tick tock tick tock” there.

8.     Alliteration

郵差叔叔送信純熟迅速送出

Sherry shakes a sharp-shaped shark.

9.     Oxymoron

His careless curiosity is the key of having no friend.

Having unconfident arrogance draw me hate.

• Involving one or more crimes

• A realistic and suspenseful plot with twists and foreshadowing

• Unexpected villain or criminal

• A last-minute solution to the plot

• Hidden evidence or details which could lead the readers to the answer

• A detective or a character play a similar role

• Misleading evidences that makes twists

I had been finding my girlfriend for so long, since the day the city was abandoned, longer than I could remember. It was a hellish day where people were panicking and running from those ulcered ravenous creatures with human flesh hanging on their teeth, where I missed catching her hand instantly, where I lost her. I nearly lost my sanity in the muddy search but fortunately, after saving his daughter, a survivor told me for return, about a girl in pale skin and with half-slivery white long hair, who also had a scar on the neck, just like my girl did. This information brought me here.

A gruff mid-age man showed up. Glaring at me for a second, he asked  “What do you want?” “Do you know Luna Lau? I heard that she might be here.” My heart was pounding intensively, while sweat poured down from me like there was a cloud of rain hovering above. “Get in, and find by yourself,” he let me in by moving his step backwards.

Confirmed to be zombie-bite-free, I was permitted to enter the base for searching. Once I stepped in the board lobby, I was astonished by the dramatic large number of survivors here, some of them lying on the floor, some of them walking around aimlessly, some of them hugging their children tightly while looking at me. “Luna!” I shouted, trying to ignore those unwelcoming sights, “Are you here? Luna!”. Everyone could heard me and they kept turning their head to find out who Luna was.

My trembling sound echoed loudly, and suddenly, “Charlie?” a familiarly soft and sweet  voice slipped into my ears. I dashed to the direction where the sound was from and repeatedly called her name. My mind was filled with her graceful smile, her vivid voice, and the lovely memories with her, when I lost control on my escaping tears.

“Luna!” I found her. Luna was in a temporary jail made of iron fence and fragments of concrete wall. “happy to see you alive, my dear,” She whispered with a warmest beam I have ever seen and squinted her eyes a bit, looked like she nearly cried. Catching the cold bars, I finally became conscious that Luna was trapped.

“Why are you trapped? What happened?” I asked, with my voice loud enough for everyone to hear, people started gathering next to the cage, including a short elderly man with silver-white hair , and slightly wrinkled and tanned skin, who approached and stood besides me. “calm down, young man. What’s the problem?” he asked in a husky voice with his frowned eyebrows and squinted eyes staring straight at me. “Why did you guys trap her here?” I asked in a quick tone and alternatively changing volume, when I turned to the old man. “She killed three of our people.” the old man claimed with his finger pointing at Luna in the jail. “I helped you to kill those zombies and made you guys a home.” Luna murmured quietly in the dark and the echo of her peaceful voice flowed into my ears. “You! You shut up!” the old man turned to her and screamed at the top of his lungs. “I saw it! When you waved the knife in your hand! You! You smiled! I saw it!” Heseized the iron railings, shaking them violently. “You…” his voice quivered, like a frightened kids who was facing a ravenous beast. “You killed for fun…” Listening to him, shifting my sight to Luna, noticing her pale skin marred by fresh wounds and dirt, her thin body, the blood stains on her ripped dress, and the foul rusting smell rushing into my noses, I wondered the truth.

“Can I free her? take her with me and I will leave.” I asked when my throat was shivering. Noisy gossip then came out of the crowd, making my head ache. “We cannot release a psychopath! It is dangerous!”, “Absolutely! We don’t know what will she do to us!”

“She won’t hurt you if we leave immediately!” I roared at the top of my voice as the irritating chatter in my mind made me lose my patient. “You don’t understand, young man. Someone needs to be sacrificed for the current peace here,” the old man approached to my ear and spoke in a low, hoarse voice which was hard to understand, “And a lonely monster is the best option.”

The old man then recoiled and raised his volume, “Maybe this, you stay overnight, we offer some food for your trip, and you leave tomorrow, ALONE.” the old man pointed his finger on my chest and warned.

Hearing his words, I turned my head slowly to Luna, bowing my head down and breathed heavily. “Charlie, you ungrateful piece of shit,” clenching my fists, I mumbled. “Okay.” I agreed. “Sorry babe.” I sat in front of the iron cage and had my back to Luna, not dare to look at her face, she remained silence even when the crowd had already dispersed.

Hours later, I was called to take some food for dinner. “Here you go.” The warden said. “Thank you, eh, can I have some more to my girl?” “Your girl? isn’t your girl Luna Lau?” “Yes.” I thought I finally can do something for Luna. However, “Don’t you dare feed that beast! You moron! Do you want to bleed like she did?” I was startled by the sudden hostility, “otherwise, you better behave!” When he finished his sentence, other residents in the queue pushed me away.

On my way back to the jail, a little girl pulled my sleeve, who introduced herself as Emma. “Are you going to give your food to that lady? You better not, they will tore you apart before you do that, they are so terrified of her.” She cautioned me against helping Luna. “I could tell.” I sighed. “But I don’t think they are right.” her voice sounded tired and sorrowful. “She saved me from being devoured and nearly sacrificed herself! She also defended this shelter from the cannibals! How can I consent to punish her like that?” Her voice was getting louder and louder, leaking her wrath out to the air.

“CLATTER!” a discordant sound rushed into my ears, I raised my head and searched for the source of that sound instinctively, it was from the iron cage. Several children and teenagers were throwing gravel and hard sundries into Luna’s place while shouting, cruising Luna,“Drop dead you monster!” Withnessing such violence, I couldn’t wait to stop them, but I ceased my action, and stood still. “You killed for fun…” The words of the old man came up in my mind and echoed non-stop. I could feel each inch of my muscles and veins was trembling when the sickness and chill ran through my blood and froze me.

“What is your fear? Charlie,” watching the same scene, Emma’s eyes narrowed as she asked. “What if she came out and kill everyone here? I don’t want to hurt anyone,” The brutal scenario in my mind could not be erased. “I understand your concern, she’s absolutely strong enough to do that.” she chuckled a bit. “yes, she has been that powerful for so long, her father was a gangster before, and she saved me from the bullies when we first met, and even got injured on her neck.” I could not help talking about our past. “And I have been the weak one who cannot even save his lover from abuse!” I was shaking. “You know what,” Emma sighed, “people are selfish, all of us are! They locked her in that cage just to keep themselves safe, they said she was a great sinner just to minimize the sin of themselves abusing a lady. And me, yearn to free a potential serial killer just because she saved my life!” each word came out of her was an impact to me. “In the world of soulless cannibals, moral means nothing. You fight for your…,”

“I need more time to think about it.” I didn’t listen to the end, and left to my girl.

“I am so sorry, I could not bring you out of here,” Sitting against the fences, my tears of regret dropped out from my eyes again. “Oh my little crybaby, don’t apologise, it is not your fault.” Her beautiful voice from the deep of the cold metallic cage was getting closer until the echo ceased. Sitting besides the metal bars against my back, twisting her waist, protruding her hand through the iron fences, putting it on my face, gently wiping the tears away, she said, “I am already happy enough to see you alive.” she paused, then lifted up my chin to gaze in my irises, her hand felt much rougher then I remember. “Leave, please, I don’t want you to be hurt.” She frowned and squinted her eyes, and the reflection of mine was blurred in those watery eyes. “Don’t worry about me, I will be fine,” she then put on an angelic smile and her vivid voice which reminded me of the day where she blocked the way of the rascals for me, and same sentence was said. At the end of that day, she ended up being given a permanent scar on her neck.

Hiding myself from the sight of Luna, I hit my head against the wall again and again. The disgusting, itchy feeling, and heat from the bottom of my heart flowed through my veins and flooded my mind as well as my body, which almost made me vomit. “What am I thinking? She did all of those, for me!” Letting the pain in my head completely covered my inane and shameful thought, a decision was made.

When everyone was in asleep, I woke Emma up. We attacked the guards at the front entrance, and when they were in a coma, Emma yelled like she was cracking her throat, like she was dying, “The zombie is here! RUN! RUN!” People were awoken and ended up panicking right away, the scream and cries made me recall that hellish day. People escaped to the inner side of the mall and hid.

Soon, only me and Emma were left in the square where the cage was located. Taking out a pistol from my jacket, which I took from an officer's corpse, I targeted the lock of Luna’s cage with a convulsing hand, “clatter”, I hesitated and missed it, then I took a deep breath. “TAT!” the intense noise of the gunshot was warning that the fatal beast was freed.

When the iron fence fell to the ground, Luna slowly stepped out in her bare feet. “Sorry for making you wait, babe.” I walked to Luna, and we cuddled like we used to do, it had been a long time since I felt the warmth coming out from her body., “It’s okay, I understand,” she whispered by my ear. After that, we heard someone falling on the ground on the way to where the residents were hiding, who was trembling, opening his eye as wide as he could, breathing roughly and loudly, and not unable to speak a word. “Charlie, can I have your pistol?” Luna and I split when she was staring at the man on the floor. “Yes…” handing my ace in the hole to her, I heard her requesting, “can you turn around? I will be back soon.” Kissing on my forehead, grabbing a broken iron bar, following the running man, she left.

I tried to ignore the howl that was begging for mercy, putting my hand on my chest, feeling my heart thundering, also finding that my hand was still shaking. “I hope she kill all of them.” Emma’s calm words caught my attention, “then I no need to worry about being executed, right?” she smiled but her quiet voice was trembling. “Why don’t you come with us?” I inhaled and exhaled deeply, inviting her to join us. “I can?” her pitch jumped. “Sure, unlike me, Luna is quite grateful, she will allow it,” I could not conceal the faith I had in Luna. “Then I go get some food!” Finishing her sentence, she bounced to the other side of the mall, and my heart was finally calmed, watching the vivacious skip of Emma.

Later, Emma returned with some food and water. After the shrill scream and shriek from the deep of the shopping mall faded from my brain, the familiar footsteps broke the silence in this hollow base. "Time to go, honey,” hearing her gasping voice, I turned my head. Drops of blood was spilled on her pale face, the stains and dirt on her teared dress were covered and dyed by pure, thick red, and the solid rusting-irony smell was too pungent to ignore, but her hand, which reached out to invite me to hold it, was washed and completely clear.

The gate of the mall was opened by Emma, and we stepped out of the empty mall hand in hand. It seemed that we were finally set free, but I was not so sure about that.

I think human nature and morality are ambiguous, just like how my story was written. It was reasonable that people act and sacrifice others for themselves and their loved one, but for the victims of that action or sacrifice, it might be unfair. It is because humanity was born to be selfish, as Emma said in the story. In the base, Luna might have killed for fun, but it might not be a justifiable reason for people to abuse her. Moreover, people in the base had mistreated Luna, but it might not be a justifiable reason for Luna to kill all of them. In the story, I have focused on the internal conflict in Charlie, but not the truth or fact, because the truth only depended on Charlie and the readers. There was no absolute right and wrong answer for the characters’ action, it only depends on the reader. Therefore, I only followed those AI comments which suggested to develop Charlie’s character and only showed more what might be perceived by Charlie, for instance, AL suggested me to show more Luna’s emotions, but I did not describe much Luna’s expression because Charlie had no courage to see Luna’s face out of regret. Furthermore, I have clarified some background information of several characters, including old man’s motivation of enclosing Luna, reason of Luna being so strong, and the reason why Charlie would have inner conflict, according to the advice from AI.

Waking from blinding darkness, I was lying in an entirely empty white space. “Welcome, again, to my zone, darling.” A woman said calmly. “What is this place? Heaven?” I wondered. “Not exactly, you can see here as a stop before the terminal” She answered stonily. “So, I am dead,” I signed hard and tried hard to hold my tears. “Yes, and not for the first time.” The woman sounds tired.

“What do you mean? Do you mean I reincarnated? Is it even possible?” I could not stop asking and getting closer to her. “It is possible because I am the creator, of you, of all of you.” She rose her voice. “The first time was in a fatal tempest that supposed to cause catastrophic casualties, but you were the only deceased.” Listening to her words, I could only stand still. “The second time was that you had gone to your own funeral and saw,” she ceased talking instantly, which made me frown. “Saw who?” when my voice echoed in the room, a vicious headache attacked me, it felt like my brain was stabbed, followed by blur image of someone’s face, which was getting clearer and clearer in my mind. And suddenly, I lost control on my escaping tears when I saw that awfully familiar face, which had a pair of gorgeous dark brown eyes I would never be fed up with watching. “Who is he?” Wiping tears on my face, I asked.

“He, is your lover, and had been your lover for, you know, several times.” I could not help crying and sniffing, “You want to be with him, so I pushed you off the stairs that day.” She said in a peaceful voice. “For the third time, I made the cook add some nuts into your dish, and then you died from allergy without knowing, when you were having dinner with him.” She slowed down her words. “But, why?” I lost myself in confusion, “Why would you, kill me again and again?” “Because,” she bent her neck upward to look down to me, “you guys should not be, you will bring the doom to the world, in your future.” I could only stand still when listening to her. “Every time I have the vision of the apocalypse, I saw you!” she squinted her eyes, and her sight became a muzzle, pointing at my forehead, claiming to kill me.

“Unfortunately, you’ve no choice at the beginning, so I would always give it to you, every single time.” She said after taking a deep breath to calm herself down, and her words made me frown again. “You’ve got two options, to go back to your own life, but be paralyzed in the rest of your life.” She sounded tired, “OR, you can reincarnate as a new identity, again.”

“And I always choose option two, right?” I tilted my head to the side when I was guessing. “Yes, but you’ve never behave, so I have to do it again and,” I didn’t let her finish her sentence. “Then I refuse to choose this time.” Words that going out from my throat was getting heavier and stronger. “What?” she opened widely her eyes and could barely talk. “You’ve gave me choices, but you killed me every time I made a decision.” I accelerated my speech and kept approaching to her, making her recoil. “I didn’t have a choice,” I paused, “you yearned me to be paralyzed so bad and you would not stop, until I make, the right choice.” She had no words, letting the room be ruled by silence, letting me hear my heart beating more and more quickly, and my breath getting heavier and heavier.

Suddenly, “no,” she started speaking, “you yearned to be with him even you know something bad would happen, even you had no memory of him. If you did not think of being with him, I would have left you alive.” Her speech was like volcanic eruptions. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t something I could control.” I signed “Why don’t you just killed me without making me reborn?” I wondered. “I cannot just kidnap a soul from the planet, it violates the rules of the world, the reality will collapse.”

“Kidnap?” I could not hold my chuckles, “It seems you know pretty well that, my soul does not belong to you.”

Listening to me, she sneered. “I am the creator of everything, the sky, the wind, the sun, and you!” she shouted, “I created you, and your soul belongs to me!” then she approached to me, again, and whispered aggressively to my ears, I could even saw my reflection in her irises. The room returned to silence, once again. “Then, why would you keep failing controlling me?” I broke the silence and said softly.

She didn’t answer me until I blinked, then, what I saw in the moment when I opened my eyes, was a pair of gorgeous dark brown eyes.

Dream to be the little mermaid, 

Who dreamed to be a human one day,

Dream to be the fair long-haired blonde, 

Who dream to explore the world beyond,

Or dream to be the powerful queen,

Who wanted to live peacefully,

Or dream to be the powerless teen,

Who yearned to save her family,

Sometimes I dream,

To be the daughter of the chief,

Who longed for so long to see,

How far she could achieve,

By sailing bravely on the sea,

To be the little rabbit,

Who longed to be an officer,

At where no one would admit,

For standing up for the others,

The shining splendid screen,

When they are singing in their scene,

Is like shimmering stars to me.

The rays from it are too bright,

And I could barely see.

So, I Reached out to the light,

Which may lead me to a way,

Out of this boring maze,

Where I struggled and strayed.

Then I dream,

Make a wish when the stars gleam,

To be a carefree child,

Whose duty is to smile,

Have some dreamy dumb dancing,

Daydreaming without worrying,

To escape from the reality,

And live happily ever after,

In my favorite fancy fantasy.

Adapted from a Japanese rap song, “Stella” released in June 2019, which was about the stories of a king of a fallen realm, a thief from a half-crystal planet, and a scientist from a lightless planet, and how they met each other and start a new journey across the space together.

Link: https://youtu.be/CYZfhj-LDRk?si=1VywwRGXxHcbW17R

Lyrics translation:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j0v1nRhOGEla4MThR_SlchOLyLv6ISEHRLpqk24Bqac/edit?usp=sharing

INT. SCIENTIST’S BASE – NIGHT

The Scientist turns his back to the king and the thief, while the king is looking at the scientist few steps behind him and the thief has his back against a pillar, with his hand crossed over his chest.

SCIENTIST

Why do you even care about me, you can just take some food and leave, and find a crewmate somewhere else.

KING

No, we won’t be doing that.

SCIENTIST

how foolish.

The scientist is speaking while he is walking to his desk. He then stares at the mess on his table,

THIEF

Better than you, who is trapped in this lab.

SCIENTIST

What do you mean?

The scientist turns his head sightly backward.

THIEF

I don’t know too (shrug), maybe, by the past, like something you did not dare to face.

SCIENTIST

And, how did you know that? (frown)

The scientist turns to the thief and gazes at him.

KING

Because we are the same.

Both the scientist and the thief heard the king and tilt their hand to the king instantly.

KING (CONT’T)

When I first saw you, your black, hollow, and soulless eyes, told everything. It’s like looking into a mirror. Tell me, what is your story, your regret, your wish?

The scientist looks down to the floor again while the thief turns his head to another direction and accidentally gazes into a wall of clear black glass. He then stared at the reflection of his own eyes in the glass when he is listening to the king.

SCIENTIST

(Chuckle)Unfortunately, I have forgotten that long time ago. It’s like a dream and everything disappear when you opened your eyes.

THIEF

Just to remind you, I found some love letter on your messy desk.

The thief takes out some paper from his pocket and waves them in his hand. The scientist gazes at the paper.

SCIENTIST

(calm) I didn’t even remember who I was writing to, maybe just some fantasy in my mind…

Before the scientist finishing his sentence, the king approaches to him fast and slaps him hard.

KING

(shout) I am disgusted!

SCIENTIST

(Startled)Did you just, slap me?

The scientist puts his hand on the side of his face which have been slapped by the king while he is staring surprisingly to the king.

KING

(yelling angrily) Yes, I did! You are apparently not enjoying this situation, but you are still finding excuse to not get rid of that! What a coward!

SCIENTIST

Why are you irritated? It’s none of your business! (confused)

The scientist spreads out his hands.

KING

Yes, it’s none of my business (lowering his volume), but (sigh) if I leave you, it’s like leaving myself behind.

The king takes a deep breath and gazes at the scientist’s eyes. The thief is looking at the king silently.

KING (CONT’D)

(whisper) And I am not goanna do that again.

SCIENTIST

(slow) Leaving behind… My home, I want to see my homeland.

The scientist stands still and recalled his memory of a female being left behind at his homeland. When the scientist staring at the king’s eyes, a drop of tear drops.

FADE OUT

Furthermore, I might find my potential in creative stories or thinking philosophical topic and express it through stories after receiving feedback from others, including my fellow course mates. Finding joy in creative writing, I may seize chances to write more in the future or express myself in more enjoyable ways.

I had been finding my girlfriend for so long, since the day the city was abandoned, longer than I could remember. It was a hellish day where people were panicking and running from those ulcered monsters with human flesh hanging on their teeth, where I missed catching her hand instantly, where I lost her, Luna. Before losing my sane in the muddy search, I had heard from other survivors, about a girl in pale skin and with half-slivery white long hair, who also had a scar on the neck, just like my girl did. This information brought me here.

“What do you want?” a mid-age man showed up and asked. “Do you know Luna Lau? I heard that she might be here.” my heart was beating fast and hard while I sweated like there was a rain cloud above. “Get in, and find by yourself,” he let me in by moving his step backwards.

Confirmed to be zombie-bite-free, I was permitted to enter the base for searching. Once I stepped in the board lobby, I was astonished by the dramatic large number of survivor here, some of them lying on the floor, some of them walking around aimlessly, some of them hugging children tightly while looking at me. “Luna!” I tried to ignore those sights, “Are you here? Luna!” when shouting to the folks. Everyone could hear me and they kept turning their head to find out who was Luna.

My trumbling sound echoed loudly, and suddenly, “Charlie?” a familiarly soft and sweet  voice slipped into my ears. I dashed to the direction where the sound was from and repeatedly called her name. My mind was filled with her graceful smile, her vivid voice, and the lovely memories with her, when I lost control on my escaping tears.

“Luna!” I found her. Luna was in a temporary jail made of iron fence and fragments of concrete wall. “happy to see you alive, my dear,” She whispered with a warmest beam I have ever seen. Catching the metal bar firmly, I finally became conscious that Luna was trapped.

“Why are you trapped? What happened?” with my shocking sound being loud enough for everyone to hear, people started gathering next to the cage, including a old man in white hair , and slightly wrinkled and tanned skin, who approached and stood besides me. “calm down, young man. What’s the problem?” he asked in a husky voice with his frowned eyebrows and squinted eyes staring straight at me. “Why did you guys trap her here?” I asked in a quick tone and alternatively changing volume, when I turned to the old man. “She killed three of our people.” the old man claimed with his finger pointing at Luna in the jail. “I helped you to kill those zombies and made you guys a home.” Luna murmured quietly in the dark and the echo of her peaceful voice flowed into my ears. “You! You shut up!” the old man turned to her and screamed at the top of his lungs. “I saw it! When you waved the knife in your hand! You! You smiled! I saw it!” He grabbed the iron railings vigorously and even made the railings shake. “You…” his voice quivered, like a frightened kids who was facing a ravenous beast. “You killed for fun…” Listening to him, shifting my sight to Luna, noticing her numerous new wounds and dirt on her pale skin, her thin body, I wondered the truth.

“Can I free her? take her with me and I will leave.” I asked when my throat was shivering. Noisy gossip then came out of the crowd, making my head ache. “We definitely could not set her free! she killed people!”, “We cannot release a psychopath! It is dangerous!”, “NEVER! We don’t know what will she do to us!”

“Maybe, young man, you stay overnight, we offer some food for your trip, and you leave tomorrow, ALONE.” the old man pointed his finger on my chest and warned.

Hearing his words, I turned my head slowly to Luna, bowing my head down and breathed heavily. “Charlie, you ungrateful piece of shit,” clenching my fist, I mumbled. “Okay.” I agreed. “Sorry babe.” I sat in front of the iron cage and had my back on Luna, she remained silence.

Hours later, I was called to take some food for dinner. “Here you go.” The food giver said. “Thank you, eh, can I have some more to my girl?” “Your girl? isn’t your girl Luna Lau?” “Yes.” I thought I finally can do something for Luna. However, “Don’t you dare feed that monster! You moron! Do you want to bleed like she did?” I was startled by the unforeseen aggression, “otherwise, you better behave!” When he finished his sentence, other residents in the queue pushed me away.

On my way back to the jail, a little girl pulled my sleeve, who introduced herself as Emma. “Are you going to give your food to that lady? You better not, they will bit you up, certainly.” she tilted her head up to the limit to look at me. “I could tell.” I signed. “But I don’t think they are right.” her voice sounded tired and sorrowful. “She saved me from being devoured and nearly sacrificed herself! She also defended this shelter from the cannibals! How can I consent to punish her like that?” Her voice was getting louder and louder, heavier and heavier, with the wrath leaking out to the air.

“CLATTER!” a uncomfortable sound rushed into my ears, I raised my head and searched for the source of the clatter instinctively, it was from the iron cage. Several children and teenagers were throwing gravel and hard sundries into Luna’s place while shouting, cruising Luna,“Drop dead you monster!” Withnessing the violance, I couldn’t wait to stop them, but I ceased my action, and stood still. “You killed for fun…” The words of the old man came up in my mind and echoed non-stop. I could feel each inch of my muscles and veins was trembling when the sickness and chill ran through my blood and freezed  me.

“What is your fear? Charlie,” watching the same scene, Emma asked. “What if she came out and slaughter everyone here? I don’t want to hurt anyone” The scenario of genocide  in my mind could not be erased. “ I understand your concern, she’s absolutely strong enough to do that.” she replied with a little chuckle. “yes, she has been that powerful since we first met, she saved me from the bullies, and even got injured on her neck.” I could not help talking about our past. “And I have been the weak one who cannot even save his lover from abuse!” I was shaking. “You know what,” Emma signed. “people are selfish, all of us are! They locked her in that iron cage just to keep themselves safe, they said she was a great sinner just to minimize the sin of themselves abusing a lady. And me, crave to free a potential serial killer just because she saved my life!” each word came out of her was an impact to me. “In the world of soulless cannibals, moral means nothing. You fight for ... ,”

“I need more time to think about it.” I lost, didn’t listen to the end, and left to my girl.

“I am so sorry, I could not bring you out of here, I am so lost.” My tears of regret dropped out from my eyes again when I was sitting against the fences. “Oh my little crybaby, don’t apologise, it is not your fault, I get it.” sitting besides the metal bars, she put her hand on my face and gently wiped the tears away. “I am already happy enough to see you alive.” she paused, then lifted up my chin to gaze in my irises. “Leave, please, I don’t want you to be hurt.” her angelic smile and voice remind me of the day where she blocked the way of the rascals for me and said the same sentence. I made a decision.

When everyone was in asleep, I woke Emma up. We attacked the guards at the front entrance, and when they were in a coma, Emma yelled like she was cracking her throat, like she was dying, “The zombie is here! RUN! RUN!” People were awoken and ended up panicking right away, the scream and cries made me recall that hellish day. People escaped to the inner side of the mall and hid.

Soon, only me and Emma were left in the square where the cage was located. Taking out a pistol from my jacket, which I took from an officer's corpse, I targeted the lock of Luna’s cage with a convulsing hand, “clatter”, I hesitated and missed it, then I took a deep breath. “TAT!” the intense noise of the gunshot was warning that the fatal beast was freed.

When the iron fence fell to the ground, Luna stepped out gently and quietly. “Sorry for getting you wait, babe.” “it’s okay, I understand,” we hugged. “Charlie, can I have your pistol?” “Yes…” handing my ace in the hole to her, I heard her requesting,“can you turn around? I will be back soon.” Kissing on my forehead, she left.

Later, Emma returned from stealing food and water for our later journey as I allowed her to come with us. After the shrill scream and shriek from the deep of the shopping mall faded from my brain, the familiar footsteps broke the silence in this hollow base. "Time to go, honey,” hearing her gasping voice, I turned my head. Drops of blood was spilled on her pale face, the stains and dirt on her teared dress were covered and dyed by pure, thick red, and the solid rusting-irony smell was too pungent to ignore, but her hand, which reached out to invite me to hold it, was washed and completely clear.

We left the empty center hand in hand.