July 16, 2018

I was going through the immigration gates via facial scans to get out of Hong Kong when my booth was flagged. Apparently I wasn’t allowed to leave and a group of officers quickly came to carry me off. “What am I supposed to do?” I repeatedly asked, but no one answered my question.

I waited in an enclosed room for a few hours before my father was able to pick me up. My family was waiting for me in a restaurant across the street but I didn’t care enough to look at the road before crossing. When I walked in the door, I picked up the first chair I came across and smashed it into the floor. The back of the wooden chair broke off and slid across the room.

Aware of what I had just done, I immediately apologized and briskly walked towards the stairs. I could hear my brother and mother rewatching one of the Star Wars prequels upstairs.