Lost In Life Written by Peggy Chang

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Contents

Introduction 4

About the author 6

Chapter 1 The Victory Meeting 8

Chapter 2 Where is my shadow? 11

Chapter 3 A whole new life! 20

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I n t r o d u c t i o n

“Everything is as usual, the wind blows,

a dog barks, stars shine in the sky.

Suddenly, I find out there is something

wrong. The stars and moon still shine in

the sky, but…… where is my shadow?”

Have you ever imagined that your

shadow will disappear? This is a story

about a hard working man who

suddenly lost his shadow one day. He

started to think about his life after he

lost his shadow. Finally, he found the

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answer. What are the most important

things in our life? Money? A good job?

Or the dreams in our heart? This story

can help people to think about life’s

value. When we live a busy life, we can

easily forget what our dreams are, but

dreams are so precious. Are you sure

that you haven’t lost your “shadow” or

e v e n l o s t y o u r s e l f ?

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A b o u t t h e a u t h o r

Peggy Chang is an 18 years old girl now

studying at Wenzao Ursuline College of

Languages. She likes to read and write,

especially detective novels. Her first

short story is named “My Dream”. Her

favorite types of music are jazz and rock.

These two kinds of music are very

different from each other. Sometimes

she can be very quiet but without

w a r m e r s h e c a n b e c o m e v e r y

conversational and active. “Lost in Life”

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is her first novel. She wrote this novel

because she thought too many people

are too busy in their daily lives but too

easily to forget what their dreams are.

I h o p e y o u a l l e n j o y i t !

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Chapter 1 The Victory Meet ing

“Congratulations, Elliot”

“Yeah, you really did it! Congratulations

and cheers!”

“Thanks. Cheers!” I replied.

Yes, it’s me, Elliot. I’m now at my victory

party. It is a big party which is held by

my coworke r s to ce l ebra te m y

advancement. There are champagne,

delicious food, fabulous music, and

many famous people around me. I feel

very pleased with myself. For me, there

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is nothing more important than money

and a regular job. I used to be a writer

till the day I found out it wasn’t the life I

wanted. Yes, being a writer used to be

my dream but not anymore. So I

changed my job and applied for this

job. I worked very hard, even on

Christmas worked till 11:30 p.m. It was

very tired but I think it was worth it. Now,

I just became the manager of our

department. This is what I call “Life”.

“Elliot, I have got to go. Thank you for

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your hospitality,” said the chairman of

the board. ”Oh, by the way,

congratulations. You really did a good

job.”

“You’re welcome. I’m very glad to do

that.”

The victory meeting was about to end.

After guests left, I turn off the lights. Then

I drove back home. It was so dark and

quiet everywhere. There was nobody

waiting for me….

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Chapter 2 Where is my shadow?

It’s the fifth day after I became the

manager. As usual, I worked very hard

in the office. When the time reached

11:00 p.m, I started packing my things. I

felt a little bit hungry so I went to 7-11 to

buy a sandwich. After coming out of

7-11, I started to eat my sandwich.

While eating it, I stared at the ground

and started to space out. Everything

was as usual, the wind blows, the dog

barks, stars shined in the sky. Suddenly, I

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discovered there is something wrong.

The stars and moon were still shining in

the sky, but…… where was my shadow?

I tried to calm down so I closed my eyes

and talked to myself, ”Elliot, there is

nothing wrong. You must be too tired.

Now, after opening your eyes, you’ll

find that your shadow is back.” So I

counted to three and opened my eyes.

There was no shadow. I closed my eyes

and counted to three again. No, there

was still no shadow. My shadow was

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GONE!!! I felt disturbed and almost lost

my mind seeking my shadow. I didn’t

know what to do so I got in my car

quickly and drive back home. After

arriving home, I ran into my room and

locked the door although there was

nobody else in my house. I tried to stand

u n d e r t h e f l u o r e s c e n t l a m p s .

Unfortunately, it was useless. I also tried

to stand near my table lamp. But they

were all useless. I still couldn’t find my

shadow. I tr ied to f igure out the

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problem. Is there anything wrong with

my eyes? No, this was not because

other things in my room still had their

shadows. The desk had its shadow. The

chairs had their shadows. Everything

had their shadows except me. Ok, I

started to accept the truth. The truth

was that I lost my shadow, but I didn’t

know the reason. I felt a little bit dizzy

and still didn’t know what to do. If I lost

my shadow, would I die? Alright, it is

very clear that I won’t die. So I decided

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to go to bed, although I felt this was

really weird. Maybe this was just a

dream. When I get up tomorrow

morning, my shadow will be back and

e v e r y t h i n g w i l l b e t h e s a m e .

The next morning, the clock woke me

up. I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

Then I looked down at my feet. Guess

what, M-Y S-H-A-D-O-W I-S B-A-C-K!

As what I thought last night, I was just

too tired and was hallucinated. I

brushed my teeth, changed my clothes

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and went to work happily. I had a great

mood today until I went out to buy my

d i n n e r . I t w a s a b o u t

7 : 0 0 p.m. I was still working on my project and

then my co- workers asked me to go

out for dinner. So I turned off my

computer and went out with them.

After having dinner, we sat on a bench

in the park to take a rest. I sat under a

street lamp. At first, we chatted happily,

but after a while, I looked down and

found my shadow had disappeared

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again. I didn’t know why. My shadow

came back this morning but it was

gone now. I felt very nervous and afraid

that my co- workers would find out my

shadow is gone. So I made up an

excuse and went back home as soon

as possible. When I got home, I rushed

into my room and turned on my

computer. I wanted to know the reason

why I lost my shadow, so I surfed the

internet. But I couldn’t find the answer.

No matter I keyed in shadow, lost, no

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shadow, it was all useless. I almost felt

like gave up. Finally, I searched for”lost

life” and I found a website. It was an old

man’s blog. His name is Isaac. The page

which I found was one of his journals.

“11 / 6 / 2002 Sunny ☼ Today, the same

situation still happened to me. I still

can’t find my shadow. Where is it? Did it

get lost? After I lost it, I also feel like I

got lost in my life.” He wrote this journal

seven years ago. I felt shocked after I

read the whole paragraph because

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the situation he had was exactly the

same as mine. I left a message and

explained my problem to him in his on-

line guestbook. After three days, he

replied. ”I live on No. 271 Greenland

Avenue #9. Come here and you’ll find

the answer.” I thought for a while and

finally decided to visit him at that

m o m e n t w i t h n o d o u b t .

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C h a p t e r 3 A w h o l e n e w l i f e !

I took a month off from work the next

day and began my journey. Greenland

Avenue is very far away from my home.

First, I bought a train ticket and then got

on the express. While sitting on the train,

I looked out the window and watched

the scenery. Is this really the city in

which I live? How long has it been since

I rea l ly looked at the scenery?

Everything seemed so unfamiliar to me.

I really should take a break. After six

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hours, I arrived at my destination. I

found a Café and ordered a cup of

l a t t e . I t o o k

a seat outside the Café. There was a

young boy sat next to me. He was

working on a paper. I felt a little bored

while waiting for my coffee, so I tried to

talk to him. “Hey, boy. How are you

today?” “Fine. Today’s weather is very

nice” “What are you writing?” “Oh,

nothing special. It’s just my novel.”

“Novel? Wow, sounds cool.” “ Thanks. I

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hope someday I can publish my own

novel. My goal is to be a writer.” “Keep

going. It’s really a good idea.” After

talking with him, I started to think about

something. I used to have a dream of

being a writer and writing my own book.

It was just the same as the boy’s. But

finally I gave up because of money. I

couldn’t earn enough money if I were a

writer. That was the reason why I

entered in my company and became

a businessman. I used to think this is the

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life I want, but after I talked to that boy,

I was not sure if I still had the same

opinion. Then I got on the bus. About 15

minutes late, I arrived at Greenland

Avenue and then walked to the ninth

floor. I took a deep breath before

knocking upon the door. After a while,

somebody opened the door. An old

man opened the door and said, “You

must be Elliot. Hello, I’m Isaac. Come in,

please,” he said. “How long has it been

s i n c e y o u l o s t y o u r s h a d o w ? ”

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“Umm…about three to four days,”

I answered. “ Well, that’s not a long

time. Listen, young man, I won’t tell you

why your shadow is gone. I think that

you can find the answer yourself. You

just have to remember one thing: The

most valuable things are not the things

that can be seen by eyes, you must

experience with your heart. Now, you

can go and enjoy your life. Good luck,

young man.” So I left his house and took

a trip in the city. Everything seemed so

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interesting to me. The flowers, the

butterf l ies, the bui ldings were so

wonderful. And even the wind blew

through my face. I felt free. I hadn’t

enjoyed my life for a long time. I just

kept working. But now, I think that life is

so beautiful and it can be meaningful.

After 25 days, I returned to work, but I

changed a lot. I am still a hard working

man, but I enjoy my life at the same

time. I go hiking or camping on the

weekend. I go shopping or watch

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movies with my friends after work. One

night, I had a dream. In my dream, my

shadow returned. I asked it some

questions. “Why did you leave me?”

“Your life used to be so boring . I felt so

bored. One day, I found that I could

leave you. So I left.” ” Then why did you

come back?”” It’s because that you’ve

changed. Now you know how to enjoy

your life and know what you really care

about.””Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding” my

alarm clock went off and I got up. I

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rubbed my eyes, looked down at my

feet and realized my shadow was back!

It really came back to me! So I have a

normal life again. I don’t know how

many days had passed then. One day

when I was on the way to my office, I

saw a girl walking on the street reading

her science textbook. I noticed that she

didn’t have a shadow. I stopped my

car and talked to her. “Little girl, I just

want to tell you one thing: The most

valuable things are not the things that

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can be seen by eyes, you must

experience with your heart. Money or

grades are not the most important

things in your life.” Then I got back in my

car and drove away with a big smile on

my face. This is what I call “Life”.

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Lost In Life Written by Peggy Chang

LOST IN LIFE “Everything is as usual, the wind blows, a dog barks, stars shines in sky. Suddenly, I find out there is something wrong. The stars and moon still shine in the sky, but…… where is my shadow?” Are you sure that you haven’t lost your “shadow” or even lost yourself?

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