Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 185

New Journeys to the West
St. Paul's Convent School, Keung, Joanna Ka Wai - 15
“N
ow that we have a year of nothing to do,” she types with hesitation, “should we go and
experience the west?” The text finally found its way to the group chat. After years of
dreaming, Bette was determined to make this a reality.
The group chat remained idle for minutes, which was saying something. Bette’s breath grew deeper
and deeper. Sipping her coffee by her book stand, she was waiting patiently, still.
Ding, ding! It finally rang! Bette rushed to check, and she was disappointed. Jake texted, “Are you
kidding me?” with an additional question mark in the end.
“Yes, I am sure!”, “I have been waiting for months to ask you all this.”, “We all love the book so
much, why don’t experience it once?” This was what she typed, in immense anxiety. It was late at night, yet
she did not want to sleep.
Now, Matt broke his silence by saying, “I want to lose some weight. I have time too.” Thank you ,
thought Bette.
Privately, she spoke to Sandy, their last member in the quartet. Sandy, as usual, said, “Sure.” If Bette
had a bucket list, retracing the Journey to the West route would be right on top. She still remembered all
her imaginary childhood adventures with the three were running around Jake’s backyard, pretending to fight
the tree spirits (which were the trees of the backyard), to fight the bull demon king or even the white bone
demon. The novel has always been a staple of their childhoods. The four of them used to read the book
countless times during sleepovers. Their show-and-tell sessions often included action figures, comics, books
and toys from the book.
“I know that this is a tough decision, but wouldn’t it be great to finally fulfill our childhood dreams?”
**
“So, we start at Xi’an. Then, we take a plane to Dunhuang. We walk and sightsee for a few days,
then we go to Turpan by taking another plane, then a bus.” Bette started. There was a sense of confidence
and excitement in her words, that made her seem like a kid in a toy store. As she continued, Sandy started
jotting her notes, while Jake and Matt listened. As Bette was taking in a deep breath in between, Matt
uttered, “This is going to take ages, trust me.”
“Gosh. Just let her finish.” Jake replied with a certain degree of dismay.
Bette, who let out a little frown, pulled it back and continued, “So, where was I…Yes…After
walking to Kuqa, we go see the canyons and caves and mosques there. It would be great for taking
pictures.” She looked at Sandy and gives her a little wink.
As soon as Bette said the word “walking”, the room fell into a deep sort of silence. Walking? Jake
thought. His eyes exerted anxiety and panic, which was terribly uncommon for the happy-go-lucky boy.
Trembling, he asked, “How long is…you know… the walk?” Seeing through the worrying eyes of his,
Bette gently replied, “It won’t be long. I won’t tire you guys, you know that.”
As Bette continued talking about her masterplan, the room (which was in fact Matt’s living room)
fell into silence, with the four of them contemplating their decision to join in, but at the same time a slight
sense of joy was brewing in their hearts.
**
The day finally arrived. Carrying their hefty backpacks, the four gathered up in the Hong Kong
International Airport, waiting for their adventure to begin. While Bette was checking in at the counters,
Matt, with his especially heavy backpack, uttered as sweat slid down his face, “I have a bad feeling about
this…” Jake, trying to lighten up the mood, cheerily said, “Snap out if it! It’s going to be great and trust me,
you are going to lose, like, 50 pounds when you come back.” Matt laughed in relief, saying, “Well, that
would be great, wouldn’t it?” Touching his belly (that was very obvious), he started to dream of the day
when his belly fat all disappeared, and where he became the handsome man that he aspires to be.
“Let’s go!” Bette excitedly screamed at her lifelong pals. Merrily, the four best friends embarked on
their journey to the west.
**
“Wake up! Wake up!” Sandy whispered as she patted on Jake, as the flight attendant murmured on
the speaker of the flight’s arrival. With a bright smile, Bette looks out of the airplane window, and all she
sees is her childhood. It somehow made he