JAMES TAM  谭炳昌

On the 7th of May, I was summoned to Fingerprint Room and told that our appeal application would be heard in the High Court two days later. It will be an application hearing to decide if we had sufficient grounds for appeal. I tried to maintain an even mind. No anticipation. No wishful thinking. But hope, like fear, or humidity, is hard to quell. After receiving this hopeful news, I lost concentration for the rest of the day, attempting incoherently to think about nothing

As I worry about security and safety in HongKong's worst hellhole, more guards show up. Don’t know how many. The silence tells me there are more than one. Unlike the duty officer, their steps are light, purposeful, and ominous. Without a word, the gate is opened. Without a word, they leave. Quietness resumes, punctuated by caterwauling, humans snoring, and the roaring of my internal furnace stoked up afresh by volatile adrenalin and dark energy.