Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 13

I walked until sweat trickled down my face. My stomach grumbled, and my throat felt dry. I was
on the verge of giving up when I saw a small stream from the far corner of my eye. I immediately
knelt down and drank from it. The stream water was sweet and refreshing. I heard a soft snorting
sound and looked up. From across the steam, a wild boar stood majestically with some sort of
bright purple berry dangling from its mouth. I heard a soft and calming whisper in my ear,’ It
means no harm, take them.’ I cautiously withdrew them from its mouth, and it ran off as soon as i
took the berries. The berries were sweet and juicy. They gave me a sudden burst of energy and
filled the empty pit in my stomach. I carried on my path home in silence.
Nighttime came sooner than expected, and the line of green stars came once again. ‘Night is
when the Yaoguais come out. Guanyin Bodhisattva has sent me to protect you from the demons,’
Tianlong said in its usual calming voice. It used its tail to strike a bright fire on a pile firewood, curled
its long body into a circle surrounding me and closed its eyes.. I laid on Tianlong’s scales and whispered
under my breath,' Goodnight.'
The next morning, I woke up to a loud chattering noise. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and was
blown away by what I saw. Tianlong has mysteriously left again, but in the trees, were hundreds of
monkeys all staring at me with big eyes. Out of all the monkeys, one with a golden stick stood out. It
looked familiar in a way, but I just could not put my finger on it. It opened its mouth, and its loud
voice rumbled the forest,’ You have been through much. Those were not us that led you here, they
were just Yaoguais that used their magic to transform themselves into our likeness. They were hungry
and wanted a snack. You were the perfect choice, and fell for their trap. The Guanyin Bodhisattva saw
you from the heaven, and sent us to give you a shortcut.’ I was speechless. Without warning, one of
the monkeys grabbed my arm and carried me. The pack started to move. Even without being able to
use its arms, it still moved swiftly from tree to tree.
It was almost like riding a racecar, with the wind blowing in my hair and the speed making me sick. It
carried on for what seemed like hours, until they finally came to a stop. There, in the opening in front
of us, was the abandoned building and the all too familiar minivan. The monkey let go of me and I ran
towards the minivan without even looking back. My mum poked her head out from the trunk and
yelled out to me,’ We’re ready now sweetie. I’m sorry we took so long to get everything ready, but we
can go in now.’ Dad got out of the driver’s seat and piped in,’ I saw that you were looking at some
monkeys, did you get any good photos of them? Where have they gone anyways?’ I stared at my
parents in disbelief. I grabbed my mum’s wrist and looked at her watch, it has only been ten minutes.