The Crowned Tiger

Meilin POV I heard the laughter of my brothers and sister playing while my mama was making dinner. Baba comes home from work and kisses mama on her cheek. I gave him a quick hug and kissed his cheek. I can tell he had let his tiger out for a run since he wasn’t wearing the same clothes he had worn this morning. I can’t wait to get mine! You shift and get your tiger when you’re 16, so my sister and I don’t have ours yet. We just have our tiger mark on our upper arm to prove that we’re tigers. Baba smiles at me and caresses my hair. He almost looks sad like he knows something that I don’t.   “Méilín, nǐwèishéme bùzài wàimiàn wán?” my mom asks me to play outside and with it being a nice and warm day I figured why not. She also looks a little sad, but I didn’t think of it. “Hao māmā xièxiè!”  I smiled and hugged as I thanked her and ran to my treehouse. Little did I know that’d be my last time I’d see her. I heard some screaming, yelling, then some loud noises coming from inside the house so I hid and crouched as small as I could. Then suddenly… the noises stopped. Once I heard the door slam, I ran inside and all I saw was the lifeless looks on my mama, baba, older brothers Ryuku he had turned 20 not that long ago, Chinxi he was supposed to turn 18 soon, older sister Yue… just turned 12 not that long ago… I was the youngest… I’m eight… and now I have no one… I fall on my knees and just cry! After what felt like forever I closed their eyes, said a quiet prayer, and grabbed what I could. Heirlooms, money, passport, clothes, food for a couple of days… you name it I probably grabbed it.  I may have been young, but I knew I had to get out. My village is… hidden in the mountains surrounded by mist and clouds. Almost if it was hidden by magic or something. The buildings look like a mix between bamboo and concrete, but still have that Asian flare that I always liked, but as I looked at it for the last time I wiped away a tear and ran. I climbed as if my life depended on it because it probably did. Climbing down would’ve been so much easier if I had my tiger. When I finally make it to a coastal town, I find the closest worker I could find. “Zhè sōu chuán yào qù měiguó ma?” I looked around making sure I wasn’t being followed, and I tried to calm myself down from all the climbing I did. My arms and legs were sore, and I was tired… the worker looked friendly, but frankly I was just lucky to find anyone and not the person who killed my family. “Shì de. Nǐ de jiārén zài nǎl. Yīgè rén lǚxíng hái xiǎo ma?” I grimaced as he mentioned my family. I tried to hold back my tears, but he hugged me. “Méiguānxì, nǐ bùyòng gàosù wo…” As he reassured me I was ok, and that I didn’t have to tell him what happened I wiped away my tears and he led me to a small room that was plenty big for me and let me sleep. “Dào nàlǐ xūyào liǎng zhōu shíjiān. Nǐ quèdìng nǐ bùxiǎng fēi?” I knew it was going to take weeks instead of hours by boat but I wanted to get away from whoever was after me. I nodded my head slowly, and he went back to his work. I quickly grabbed his hand and smiled at him. “Xièxiè!” I thanked him as best I could without crying. He smiles at me and just hugs me again. “Bù kèqì, qīn'ài de háiz” He walked away to go back to his work, but I grabbed his hand again. “Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì??” I realized that I never asked for his name! After all, he did to help me… “Wǒ jiào Sàshā.” Sasha… I’ll remember that. I smiled at him and he left for real this time to go back to his work. I fell asleep hard as the adrenaline wore off. Sasha would come and go from my little room as the days went by. He’d give me food and water which I was grateful for since I didn’t bring a whole lot of food. I ran out probably day two or three. I’d write my thoughts and feelings in a journal. Sasha sometimes visits on his breaks which is nice. Luckily no one else on the ship knows I’m here. Who knows what'll happen to me if they do. The days went by quickly and Finally I heard the boat horn signaling land. I gather my things and quietly get off the ship. “Xièxiè!” I thanked him for all he had done for me and hugged him knowing that this might be our last goodbye. He had become special to me. “Suíshí huílái”  As he tells me, I could come back I run off into the city. Looking around, I figured we were in some place called… Cal..if..orn..ia… my English is alright. I learned a little from listening around the boat. This was all new to me and I kind of wish I was back on the boat with Sasha. I just kept walking until I started hearing people talk like me. It almost looked like home except for not being in the mountains. The food smells reminded me of home; the shops looked similar. I smiled as everything reminded me of home. Soon I walk into a restaurant to get something to eat. A hostess smiles at me and grabs a menu for me. “Hāi, huānyíng. Gēn wǒ dào nǐ de cānzhuō páng.” I followed her to a small table, and I thanked her. She goes back to her stand and lets another couple go to a different table. My waitress looks disgusted by me, but takes my order. A simple meal of some lao mian noodles and just kept to myself. Soon I could feel myself getting tired. I left some money on the table and left to find somewhere to sleep.