Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 553

The New Journey to the West
Yew Chung International School (Primary), Lung, Eve - 10
I
’ve been hearing some of the other people talking about a great wizard of the village’s departure to the
west, even my best friend Elizabeth was talking about it all the time.
By the way, I live in China, in the village which is quiet and full of greens. Life is peaceful but sometimes
wild as we all love to be farmers and hunters in these distant mountains.
My parents always say that I am a curious child, and that applies to me right now, thinking, ‘What will he
find in the west?’ When I asked my parents about this, they said, ‘Oh, don’t bother, his work and
knowledge are beyond children’s understanding.’
I feel like I’m getting bored of them telling me that, I want to know what exactly is going on. One night, I
secretly clambered out of my bed and sneaked into Elizabeth’s house. I asked her the same question and she
said, ‘I don’t know, I’m wondering too. I wish to go to the west to find out but I think it’s dangerous, going
alone. Since you asked, why don’t we go together?’
I was delighted. We started to slip into the forest of the west. In the forest, we ‘made friends’ with many
wild animals of different species: pandas, monkeys, owls. We also filled our pockets with plants.
Walking continuously into the darker depths of the west, I shivered like a scaredy cat. I started to hate
adventures, after all. I committed to myself this is going to be my final adventure.
Oh no! It’s getting dark, and I shivered more. Elizabeth must be puzzled, ‘Why are you shivering so much?
Are you cold?’ I’m not cold. I just didn’t want to tell her the painful truth.
‘Hello?’ A voice suddenly dazzled me in the darkness. Phew! It was just Elizabeth. I found that I was
daydreaming, and she was trying to catch my full attention. ‘Make your tent.’ she said. How? I was totally
confused. So I pretended to daydream, later realising myself daydreaming actually in front of a finished tent
which Elizabeth made.
‘Don’t you ever pay effort to anything?’, Elizabeth asked. Obviously, she was annoyed. I blankly stepped
into the tent and said, ‘Wow, thanks.’ I knew I sounded rude. I don’t care.
We ate some plants which tasted terrible but were definitely edible. I said, ‘I want to sleep. I’ve finished
eating.’ Then I slept on the mattress inside the tent. ‘Where are the blankets?’, I asked, but Elizabeth
couldn’t hear me and continued eating, so I just slept on a hard mattress without blankets, causing me to
freeze in the unforgiving cold.
The next morning, I was woken by a creepy yawn. I looked at the next mattress. No sign of Elizabeth. She
must have yawned while eating breakfast, I’m guessing.
I walked out of the tent. Elizabeth was mumbling to herself, ‘Six cherries, ten tiny seeds, one small tomato,
two edible leaves… and one pure soul’
I stopped her by saying, ‘What are you doing?’ She answered, ‘Ah you’re awake, finally. We’ve made a big
mistake. Yesterday, we shouldn’t have eaten all the plants. Now I’m just counting what plants we’ve eaten.’
‘It’s okay,’ I laughed, ‘I don’t usually eat breakfast. My mum and dad’s crops are too precious that we can
only eat them once a day, during dinner.’