Dreams of the Journey to the West
Harrow International School Hong Kong , Yau , Alicia - 11
Whoosh ! A chilly breeze swept through the school playground causing leaves on the trees surrounding it to fall . Something felt different today . David was hurriedly stuffing all of his things into a small red backpack . After everything was sorted , he sprinted out of the school gates and down the road . David always took the same route back home but today he really needed to get his homework done and instead used a shortcut around a narrower street . Now David is your average , scrawny sixth grader and he wasn ’ t incredibly athletic so he only managed to get a few blocks down the road before having to stop and rest . Out of the corner of his eye he spotted an old store sitting in a lonely corner by itself .
Soon , curiosity got the better of him so he decides to investigate . A quiet chime rang through the shop as David stepped into the store . Rickety shelves lined the gray walls and on them were a number of antique curiosities , they had gleaming porcelain teacups , ivory angel statues and polished wooden clocks . David felt a bit uneasy because he couldn ’ t see anyone in the shop . He was about to leave when something at the back caught his eye .
He shuffled to the back making sure his backpack didn ’ t knock anything off the shelves in case anything was expensive . Standing alone was a statue of the fabled Monkey King “ Sun Wu Kong ”. David ’ s mom had told the journey to the west to him and his dad , who is American so he had never heard of the story . David ’ s mom is Chinese and her mother also told it to her as a young child . The story , as he remembered , was about a monk travelling from China to India to deliver the Buddha ’ s teachings along with his three disciples the Monkey King , Pigsy and Sandy . Out of all the main characters his favourite was always the monkey king- Sun Wu Kong because he could always relate to him .
The statue was completely made of wood that David thought smelled like green tea . A mysterious golden glow shone from the monkey king ’ s eyes like a blazing sun . The monkey king was sculpted incredibly well , he was wearing his battle armour and his facial features were immaculate . David wanted it . He reached into his jean pockets where the only thing he felt was a wadded up post-it note . David sighed , who was he kidding ?
As he reached the front door , a voice from behind him said “ weren ’ t you going to borrow this ?”. David spun around , surprised . A tall old man stood behind him , holding a small cardboard package with what seemed to be the monkey king statue in it . “ But … I don ’ t understand ” David stammered as the old man handed him a piece of card with a due date for something on it , similar to what you get when you check out a library book . “ You can return it next week , now please scooch over there so I can sweep the floor ” the old man said “ we close in fifteen minutes ”. Feeling flustered , David decided to sleep on it and maybe return tomorrow .
“ Mom I ’ m home !” He yelled as he fumbled with his shoe laces . “ David ! Where have you been ?! “ David ’ s mom scolded when she came out of the kitchen a few seconds later . “ You … your Father is going to hear about this when he gets home ”. David had lost track of time in the curiosity shop , he was twenty minutes later than usual .
After dinner he showered , did his homework then went to bed . As he lay in bed he thought about the wooden monkey king statue now sitting on his shelf . David fell asleep within five minutes .
Suddenly David woke up , he was being tossed around in a swirling vortex which made him feel extremely nauseous . It seemed like an eternity that the vortex swirled . When It stopped and David opened his eyes , he found himself sitting on a willow tree very , very far from his bed . He was so surprised , he almost fell off . When he regained his posture , David surveyed the area . The tree grew on a craggy cliff overlooking other mountains . However , the mountain that the willow tree grew on made all the other ones look like dwarves beside it .