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When she regained her senses, Anyu found herself lying on a pier, her clothes soaked, her hair dripping with water.

She sat up, squinting, the hot sun burning her eyes.

Her face was burning as well; when she wiped it, she could feel sunburned flakes of skin peeling off.

She had no idea what she was doing on the pier, how long she had been out there, or why she was near the water.

Japanese soldiers surrounded her, their faces stern.

Anyu blinked. What’s going on?

But so strange, she couldn’t hear herself.

A soldier slapped her. Where is the egg?

She held her face. What egg?

Eventually, the men tied up her hands and threw her into a green six-wheeled truck. Her head hit the metal frame of the window and she tasted blood in her mouth.

Panic raced through her.

She had lost her voice; she had lost her memory; she couldn’t remember her own name.