Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 129

The Mysterious Scroll
Chinese International School, Zhou, Henyi - 8
C
rystal-blue, like a sapphire, the river glistened under the scorching sun.
“This ‘Journey to the West’ is such a hoax,” my sister, Joyce, moaned.
“I just wish I could take a dip in the water” I whined, sitting on the rail of the deck.
“Then I can help you fulfil your wish!” Joyce chuckled, giving me a playful nudge. Completely
unexpectedly, I toppled into the water.
My name is Jessica. I’m a big fan of Journey to the West , an old Chinese novel. This may make me sound
like an idiot, but I actually think the tale is real. That’s why I begged my parents to take me on the Journey
to the West tour. I had seen photos from the tour on Instagram and it looked impressive.
“ Calm down! You’re a good swimmer!” I reassured myself. I looked down into the water. A soft
thump,thump, vibrated through the river. It seemed to be coming from a pile of seaweed. My curious
instincts kicked in. I swam towards it and pulled back some of the seaweed. I peeked through. A cave
entrance loomed in the flowing water. I looked closer. There was a long, thin box trapped inside the cave,
bouncing against a mossy rock. I shoved my hand inside the cave and grabbed the box, and swam towards
the surface…
***
Sitting on my bed, I tossed the box around, debating whether I should open it or not. I wondered what
would be inside. I half-expected to find a precious object, but I also felt like at any second, an evil devil
could jump out of the box and snatch me off my bed.
Get that stupid idea out of your mind, Jessica, I thought. I took a deep breath and prised off the lid. Nothing
magical happened.
No devil.
No mysterious light.
No voice coming from mist.
In the box, all that lay was...a scroll. A scroll?
The end-of-school bell rang. I ran like a cheetah, racing after its prey. I spotted Advika and dashed towards
her.
“Do you have time to have a playdate?” I winked at her.
“Sure!”
At her house, I pulled out the scroll and shoved it in her lap.
“Check this out! I found this from an underwater cave on the Journey to the West tour! I have no idea
what this is.”
Advika stared at the scroll. Her eyes widened in surprise. “I think this is in Sanskrit,” she murmured
hesitantly.
“What?” I asked, puzzled.
“Sanskrit is, well, an ancient Indian language. My grandpa has books in Sanskrit. I’ve seen it in his study. My
grandad might be able to help.” She led me to her grandad’s room. XX
“Grandad, can you translate this scroll, please?” Advika asked.
“What scroll?” Advika’s grandad replied. I passed the scroll to him. He skimmed the page, his eyes
narrowed, but slowly they widened. My heart was beating so fast that it would thump out of my chest.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, in a trembling voice full of disbelief.
“In an underwater cave at, hmm… I think it’s called Tong Tian river,” I said anxiously.
His eyes widened even more.
“What?” I asked, feeling puzzled.
“Legend has it that Pilgrim and his disciples went through 80 ordeals and finally got the scriptures. But
Bodhisattva had devised 81 ordeals, so she gave them another task. At the Heaven Reaching River, which is
Tong Tian river in Chinese, the old turtle that was carrying them across the river tossed them into the
water. They salvaged the scriptures but little did they know that the most important scroll was missing. By