It all began with a virus.

It was all over the news, the first contact, the first symptom, then the first deaths, all within a month. Pretty soon Hong Kong was under quarantine, and the Chinese government sent in tanks and imposed martial laws on the island when everyone were busy snatching off the last toilet rolls off the shelves. Everything was rationed, from water to books. The soldiers made sure everyone gets the same little amount and that everyone stayed in their homes. For the first time in centuries, the spice harbour was silent.

Then the government stepped in and introduced a new vaccine. Later, everything changed. Not only was the virus wiped out, but everything else too: drugs, crimes and more. The military moved out a month after the vaccine was introduced, and everyone was so happy ever since. Life became much quieter in New Hong Kong…

“The vaccine saved a great deal of lives! The virus didn’t stand a chance and very soon, the quarantine was lifted, life slowly went back to normal again!” Ms Lam flipped her book to the next page. “But do you know how the vaccines protected us? If you have read the chapter, you should know the answer!”

She pointed to someone at the back. A squeaky, girlish voice follows, “Yes! They improved the phones with nana…nanimachines?”

“That’s very good! It’s nanomachines! But yes! They are the little robots inside each of us so that they can monitor our health and protect us!”

Another hand, “Ms Lam, did they do anything else?”

“Of course they did! They also studied your diet, so you could choose the best food to eat to stay healthy! Suppose you go with your mom and dad on a trip and you are lost, they will help your parents to locate you. You will always be safe!”

The students clapped and they murmured among themselves. “That’s so cool! What else could they do?”

“They would make sure you are safe and comfortable, my dear! You see what a long way we have come from a deadly virus! You won’t be hungry, because the little robots will remind your computer what you wish to eat and when you will return home, so that dinner will be ready for you! Or, your mom and dad will be notified and cook up a good dinner before you get home!”

More murmuring followed, and someone exclaimed under his breath that’s so cool while another now suddenly realised why she would find her favourite food when she arrived home each day without telling anyone.

The bell rang. Ms Lam packed her books and called out to the class, already talking loudly, as her voice drowning in a sea of excited chatter.

“Alright, I want you guys to write me a 150-words essay on the question written on the blackboard! You can write anything you want, but it must be reasonable! You have tiny robots to organize your memory! So don’t you tell me ‘I forgot’ tomorrow, there is no such thing as forgetting!” She went out into the crowded corridor, putting on the blackboard this sentence:

“What changes did the epidemic revealed as necessary, and how did the government help us change them. (Epidemic means the time when the virus is not cured and affecting people.)”

The question was not difficult, and I could just copy off the book, and it is always talking about how the government saved us and cured this disease, then improved us, making us invincible against another virus, no matter how dangerous they are. Then, a voice creeps out of nowhere, my father’s voice echoes around the classroom, a voice that only I can hear dimming out my classmates’ chatter.

“Remember what I taught you,” the voice said, “the nanomachines are bad for you! Don’t trust the people around you; it is alright if you are alone, you are a free baby. Don’t tell anyone about the headache!”

A seizing pain split my head open like a coconut. I winced and huddled my head on the miserably small wooden desk. This must have caused quite a bit of confusion in the classroom because a few of the class bullies quickly surrounded my desk, their figures towering over me in jest.

“Oh no, have you seen my jade necklace?” The same squeaky voice which answered Ms Lam earlier, but this time the confident tone was replaced by a frantic, trembling voice. The question was repeated several times throughout the chatter, each answered either with a silent.

“Please.” And now it sounded almost like crying, “I can’t find the necklace that my grandma gave to me! Please help me look for it! It is the only thing she left me with…Please?”

As I tried to stand and volunteer myself to the damsel in distress, my knees wobbled and gave way to the spreading pain from my head. Before I was halfway off my ass, I once again slumped back into the abyss of my arms.

Another bullish voice replied, “I bet dork-face over there took it! We will help you get it back!” I am assuming “dork-face” meant me, but at this point I was too painful to care about anything else. Soon enough, I could feel a group of boys surrounding me.

“What’s the matter dork-face?” One of them laughed, “Playing magic with your head?”

“This is a stupid trick! He must be pretending to be sick so he don’t have to go to the classes later!”

“He is such a pussy! Look everyone! The little pussy is crying!” He banged on the table, and a roaring laugher ensues. I felt someone pulling my collar, and was forced to my feet, still with my hands covering my face. It is not that I did not dare to face them, but the lights just made the pain worse.

“What are you? An ostrich?” More laughter, “Take your hands off your face!” A hand grabbed my wrist. But before it could yank my hand free, it released my hand and the bully fell to his knees. I sneaked a peek through the crevices of my stubby fingers, seeing the boy was violently shaking as if getting shocked, while his eyes were nothing but whites and his mouth twitches. His arms violently flailed around, knocking off the chairs, tables within the vicinity. Everyone jumped, creating a tiny circle with the bully in the middle of the circle.

“What is going on here?” Ms Lam and a few other teachers burst into the classroom. We open up a way for them as they try to carry the electrocuted boy, now panting and crying. Though I know not what has happened, I cannot help but feel a little satisfied; not only at what the bully got, but also that the sight has somehow eased my pain.

“Who did this?” Everyone pointed their fingers at me.

“What? I didn’t do anything!”

Ms Lam simply pulled me out and led me down to her office.

The office was small and brightly coloured. In a sense, it suited Ms Lam’s cheerful personality perfectly. But then again, everyone is cheerful nowadays. I thought to myself. Maybe everyone’s office is like this?

She invited me to sit at one of the armchairs in front of her large ebony desk. “Orange juice?” She asked in a cheerful manner, completely different from the teacher in the classroom just a few minutes ago.

“No thanks, my dad told me not to accept anything from anyone other than him.” I replied.

“I see,” She sighed and carefully sat down in her big leather seat, “Why did you pick a fight with Carson? Is this because of your father?”

“No, he started it! He grabbed me as I was crying! Then he went into some shock!”

“Why were you crying?”

“I was…” My father’s stern words echo before me once again, “I was thinking about dad.”

Ms Lam frowned upon the answer, but quickly shifted back to her friendly but strange smile, “Your father?”

“Yes,” I said. “My father, last Thursday when I was back home from school a man in black suit told me he left for a business trip, he said he will take care of me for the time being, until he returns.”

“Hmm…You didn’t tell me about this,” Ms Lam’s eyes bore into me, her intense gave making me feel uneasy. “Wait, how did you remember this?”

“I…” What does she mean how can I remember this? That happened just last week! “I don’t understand what you mean Ms Lam.”

“Were you happy that your father left?”

I frowned at her question. “No!” My tears were flowing again. “Of course I am sad that he left! I don’t know why he left…” A strange, mixed feeling swelled up from within, anger and confusion bubbling up like a pot of boiling water, slowly rising to the top.

Ms Lam cautiously rose from her chair and pulled open her cabinet of files. She took out a thick manila folder with several paper clips and post-it notes of blue and pink attached to the front, the words were too small to be intelligible from my chair. She took a deep breath and opened up the file, a picture of me from Primary 1 was stuck to the right corner of the student information form. She skimmed through its contents, her eyes darting left and right. This went on for several minutes, with her just skimming and then moving on to the next form while I sat across her, watching her in nervous confusion.

Finally, she got what she needed. She pulled out a small blue booklet with another form, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: INNOCULATION REPORT. Inside was another picture of mine and a lot of charts and numbers.

“You were born in 2040, right?” I nodded. “It says here you took all of the required shots. That was just a year ago right?”

My dad held my hands tight as he carried me into the doctor’s office.

“Remember, you must not be afraid!”

I laughed at him, “I am not afraid of shots daddy! I am a big boy! I can take it!” But he simply returned a fleeting smile, replaced by a look of doom and gloom. “What’s the matter daddy? Are you afraid?”

He shook his head, “Of course not silly! I am not the one taking the shot!”

“Why are you always so scared when it comes to sticking needles in me daddy?”

“Because-“ Before he could finish the sentence, the PA system crackles into life.

“Larry Chow! Larry Chow, please head to Consultation Room 101!”

The room was small and brightly lit, despite having no windows and only one florescent light. Everything was in white, from the sterile walls to the almost sparkling tiled floor. It was also freezing cold; it is hard to imagine anyone working here 8 hours a day for five days a week. And yet the doctor sat there, undisturbed by the full power of the air-conditioner. I flinched, not because of the cold, but the queer look of the doctor. He wore a large yet creepy grin, a smile that would most certainly land him a cast as that evil doctor in any horror sci-fi movies. Even father was taken aback for a bit, lingering in the doorway for a few seconds, stunned at the sight of this unnerving set up.

“Please, do make yourself comfortable!” He motioned me to the posh leather seat at the side of his desk while dad sat at the corner of the room.

“Alright, we will make this quick! Don’t worry about it young boy!” He said as he pulled out a needle from a large revolving machine at the side of his desk. It squirts a tiny stream of clear liquid, and the doctor tapped on its side with a finger. “This won’t hurt one bit!” He wiped alcohol onto my skin and stabs me with the needle. I winced a little, feeling the liquid being pumped into my veins.

“Will there be any side-effects?”

“Haha,” The doctor laughed, like a heavy bell being rung in strong gusts of wind, “You were inoculated, did you feel any different when you first gotten your shot?”

“That was seven years ago,” My father said, “I am just not certain if kids will experience anything now?”

“This shot is similar to the once he took before. He will be fine, the system will adjust perfectly and soon the miracle-workers will optimize his metabolism and then he will be like a superhuman like the rest of us!”

“I wouldn’t call them ‘miracle-workers’…”

“I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that.”

He gave a sad yet mysterious smile, “Nothing, thank you doctor.”

“It would appears that your nanomachines are malfunctioning…” She murmured under her breath.

“I beg your pardon Ms Lam?”

“Ah yes, sorry Larry. Do you remember the tiny robots we were talking about before?”

I nod. The nanomachines, a word that I often hear my dad use when he was talking on his phone, locked up in that room of his. It is only after today then I begin to understand what it meant.

“So there might be something wrong with these little robots inside you.” She closes the folder, “Not to worry darling, someone will come and pick you up from school! Cheer up Larry! You are skipping school for the day! But that does not mean you will not need to do your homework darling!” She grinned. Why does everyone I see smile so weirdly?

She sent me out to the sofa outside of her office, leaving me to my burning questions. Who is coming to pick me up? Where is father? What is going on here? Why is everyone so weird when they talk about nanomachines? Why is she so shocked that I can remember my father left?

The heavy typing pulled me out of the mire of my thoughts. I look around, only realizing that I am in the Administrative Office, a small, squarish office filled with three cubicles, a restroom and the discipline master’s office. One ends up here only if they really messed up, say picking fights or throwing a pie at the teacher because he is not satisfied at the results (That really did happen, or so I heard.). People then sit here and wait for the discipline master to see them. The last master was so scary, I heard even the most notorious bullies peed themselves on this sofa before seeing them. At this realization I swiftly move my butt away, straining my eyes to see if there is any stain on these velvet covers. Shaking away the thoughts of sitting on pee, I continue surveying my surroundings. Despite having the worst reputation, this place is decorated with a hint of childishness. The walls are coated in light pink, there are faint clouds painted onto the ceiling, behind the revolving fans hanging dangerously low above. At each sides of the wall, there hung several children’s paintings with the artist’s name, class and dates engraved on silver plaques beneath. Though they are all terrible drawings, they do help distract one from troubling matters of the mind.

Just as I am about to decipher a painting of either a lion or a cat, the little bell on the edge of the door announces the arrival of four men, all dressed in suits of crimson as bright as Chinese red packets, and dark shades. Three of them stand by the doorway while another goes straight into Ms Lam’s office. I get closer to the window so I may listen in, but at the sight of this a man in red quickly steps in front of me. Just like the rest of his friends, he is strongly built yet agile. He shook his head, not in disapproval, but perhaps of warning. There is something terrifying about him, perhaps beneath that ugly suit there was a man of intense muscles and power, something that comes right out of the children cartoon shows about Communist superheroes. I took a step back as I determined it would be wise not to pick a fight with any of these men.

The door swung open and Ms Lam, along with the mysterious man, came out with their hands shaking, “Larry, please go with these gentlemen.”

“Where am I going?” I asked timidly.

“To the hospital, these nice gentlemen are here to take you there to do some check-up.” She gives another uncanny smile.

“Where is my father?”

The man replied, his voice resembling that of an angry bull, “We are your father’s friends and colleague, he is on a business trip and won’t be back till tomorrow. He knows you are unwell, so he asked us to take care of you!”

“But I am not unwell-”

“Oh yes you are my dear. It is alright, just follow these men and I will see you tomorrow at school!” With that I am reluctantly nudged out of the office, surrounded by four giant red statues. They lead me to a red ambulance, the one reserved for government official.

“Lie on the bed for me will you?” His voice shook with power and authority.

I lie on the bed as they strapped me onto the hard, cold bed. “This is like a seatbelt for you, we promised your dad that we will take care of you, we certainly don’t want you to be injuring yourself on a ride.”

I wanted to punch one of these men, scream and run away. But for some reason, I found myself listening to every command they gave. Perhaps it was their powerful, deep voice that scared me into submission, or perhaps it was just noticing how their suits were hardly containing the muscles within, I was aware that a 13-year-old would never be able to beat four guys who probably slept at the gym.

The man put on a translucent mask over my mouth and nose, then instructed me to count to ten. Ten…a hissing of air flowing through a long tube. Nine…I could see the pink air approaching the mask. Eight…Oh…what a sweet smell, it reminded me of roses. Seven…My body felt lighter, is the car moving or am I floating? Six…I thought I must be floating.

Five…Oh I have not been so comfortable…Four…

I stood in the kitchen, father right in front of me. His back turned against me as he tosses the eggs skilfully.

“Father?”

“Oh Larry!” His back facing me, “Come have a seat, breakfast is ready!”

I pull up a chair and sit. There were a lot of dishes on the table, muffins, congee, sausage, all my favourite dishes. “Is it my birthday?”

He laughed and put out the last dish, seasoned scrambled eggs. I looked up to see his face, but he had turned away again. I rushed up to hug him.

“Dad…” I felt two streams of hot tears running down my cheek, “Please don’t go. I will be a good boy, I promise, I will wash the dishes and do my homework! I will get good results!”

He shook himself out of my tight grip, almost as if trying to break free from danger. “I am sorry son.” He said without turning, and he threw the wipe cloth into the sink and paced into his room.

“Wait!” I shouted and ran after him. The corridors stretched and pulled the door away from me every time I ran near it. Determined to get there, I sprinted after it, finally grabbing the knob before the corridor stretched any further. I turned the knob and slammed the door. Instead of the warmly-lit room with a single-bed and a writing desk filled with strange, beeping electronics from the only time I caught a glimpse of his room. There is nothing but a blindingly white void. Dad stood in the middle of it.

“Father wait!” I ran to him, but just like the corridor, despite being there he is always out of reach. “Come back to me!”

“I am sorry son,” he replied, but made no attempt to face me.

“Turn around and face me dad!” I shouted, my voice reverberating around the invisible walls of the void.

He turned around, but instead of the familiar face with thick-rimmed glasses and a moustache, there was a face covered with long hair, completely covering his face. I run to the side, trying to catch a better glimpse, but the hair covered all the sides of his face, like a faceless ghost.

Fear took hold of me, for the first time in my conscious life, I screamed.

I jerked awake, drops of sweat still rolling from my temples, panting from the nightmare. I must have screamed myself awake. Despite having the air-conditioner at full power, the room was stuffy, encased in summer musk.

That must have been a dream. I reassured myself. The clock reminded me that I was 6am on a Thursday, so I swiftly put on my home slippers and changed into my school uniform.

“Hey dad?” I shouted as I sat on the dining table, preparing to stuff myself with the PB&J sandwiches already prepared for me. “Can I ask you a question?”

There was no answer, so I got up and walked to his room. I knocked on the door. “Hey dad, are you here?”

The door flew open and there he was, he wears a light red suit and yellow tie, one hand rearranging his tie while the other carrying a hard dark briefcase. His clean-shaven, smooth face radiates energy, yet his big hazel eyes are dull and tired, his eyelids drooping. “What is it son?”

“Eh…” Suddenly words escaped me as I try to articulate how best to ask my question without sounding weird. “I remember but…was I here last night?”

He looked at me strangely. “Of course, you were! You were feeling sick and fainted during class, so Ms Lam had to call an ambulance for you! I was worried sick my boy!” He sighed, “Luckily, everything turned out to be alright.”

“Is that why you are so tired?”

“No,” He rubbed my head with affection, “Daddy is not tired, don’t worry about me! Now hurry up and finish your breakfast so I can drive you to school!”

As I sat beside him, I looked at him, admiring at how my father is. Man, I hope one day I can be like him! I reminded myself not to show my admiration for my father in class, these were some of the things that made you look weak and so people might call you a “papa’s boy” and bully you for it. But just as the car paused in front of the red traffic light, a thought flash by.

“Hey dad?” Feeling slightly weird, “Why aren’t you wearing your glasses? How can you see the lights?”

Once again, he looked at me with a puzzled expression. “Since when do I wear glasses? In this family we emphasized healthy eyesight! Are you alright son? This morning you ask strange questions. Is it because Ms Lam gave you too much homework?”

“No, of course not! It’s alright! I am just worried about the class later…I think she gave us an essay to write and I forgot to write it. She is going to send me to detention for this again for sure!”

“Oh baby,” He held my hand and smiled warmly. “Don’t worry about it! She knows about your situation yesterday; I am sure she will not punish you for it. If she does, let me know, okay? I will speak to her directly.”

“Thanks dad!” I exclaimed, feeling comforted by his words.

“Hey,” I walk up to the girl with a squeaky voice. “Did you manage to find it?”

“Find what?” Her voice somewhat cute and irritating at the same time.

“The necklace that your grandma gave you?” I asked, “You were so sad that you lost it yesterday. But I was not feeling too well so I couldn’t help you. I just wanted to see if you needed help.”

“Popo never gave me any necklace! She just gave me a red packet before leaving for her hometown in Xinjiang! She said it would be great to finally meet her distant relatives!”

“Oh,” I scratched my head. “I must have made a mistake then! I think I just dreamt of you looking for your jade necklace.”

“Do you have a crush on me? Is that why you are dreaming of me?” She grinned, “You are so weird Larry haha…” She trailed off along the packed corridor, laughing.

Just as I was about to turn around, she called my name in a mouse-like voice. “Hey Larry?”

“Yes?”

She smiled, the sunlight enhancing her complexion. “I am so happy you are feeling better now.”