The Revenge of Nature
Shenzhen Yingcai Xingdi Education Training Center, Sissi Li, Fiction: Group 2
When I was little I used to play a game called ‘Gobi – Desert’. It is where one Gobi bear closes
its eyes and shouts, “Gobi!” and all the other bears shout, “Desert!” and then the Gobi bear with its
eyes closed has to follow the others voices and catch them. We all thought it was the nicest game
in the world but I haven’t played it for a long time.
At night it is freezing cold, however in the afternoon it is burning hot. In the past in the Gobi
desert there were many trees and my family and I would find it much easier to find shade. Now
there is mostly dust and not much else. It’s hard out here on my own.
Now my favourite place to be is asleep. When I sleep, I can dream. One time in a dream I saw
that the trees that were cut down were growing again. I could see my brother trying to climb one
of them. I was laughing for joy. I called out to him, but he couldn’t hear me. I called again and
again. When I woke up I was still alone.
Once I met a nomad girl called Lara. She saw that I was sad so she tried to comfort me. She
gave me a little food and water and let me stay with her underneath her shade. She also knew that
because of changes to the environment there was only a little food many animals were starving.
That was why there were so few bears now. Lara understood, life was harder for her too. Luckily,
she had a plan.
Lara tried to plant trees every day. She was growing as many she could. I would sit and watch
her as she would plant seed after seed. She said that one day they would grow and that one day
they would bring life back to the desert. It gave me a strange feeling inside. I liked it. But it was
still cold.
Although I was happier with Lara my dreams continued to deteriorate like the desert around
me. I would dream of sandstorms all round the Gobi desert, destroyed it. Destroying the nomads,
destroying the animals, destroying the trees Lara planted. Everyone was buried in the sand
including me and Lara. We couldn’t breathe. We cried out. I was scared. I woke up.
I know that nature’s revenge will come to us all one day. I feel terrified, frozen like ice and I
can’t breathe.
I look down and I hit the sand with my paws. I see a sandstorm swirling beneath me, I see
the animals and nomads being buried under the sand, but not us. No, not us because we planted
the trees. But there will be nothing left. I can feel it. Maybe I can find another home. Lara and I
together. We are the same. She lost her family a long time ago and so did I.
When we look at the desert we see the same thing. We know what we need to do. And we will
try to do it.
