Multiple lives
St Margaret’s Co-educational English Secondary and Primary School, Kimmie Cudia, Fiction:
Group 2
A
sad, lonely girl who nobody believes. That’s all I am.
Here’s how I even ended up alone in the Gobi Desert. This is what happened to me
when I was still a six-year-old:
Every night, just when I’m about to fall asleep, I would see sudden sparks around
me. They’d grow and grow until they eventually turned into ‘things’. You may not believe this,
but these ‘things’ were actually goblins, fairies, etc. Maybe you call them ‘fantasy creatures’.
Whenever I’d tell someone, they’d laugh at me and say things like ‘you’re imagining things’ or
‘you’re becoming crazy’. No one believed me… not even my family or my closest friends.
Now, this part is sort of like what happened to the two kids in the story Hansel and Gretel. I
knew my folks thought I was mad, but I never knew they disliked me… and that was all because
they thought I was nuts. So one day, we went for a walk. We lived in the Gobi Desert, by the way.
We kept walking and walking, but we finally stopped after around 30 minutes. “Why did we
stop?” I asked. Clearly, everyone else was trying to think of an excuse, and there was a moment of
silence. “Because…” Mom struggled. “Because… I’m thirsty, Sofiya. Let’s go back.” From there, my
whole family ran quickly, and I couldn’t catch up. They had abandoned me.
So here I am now, eleven years older than when everyone left me. Most seventeen-year-old
girls care more about fashion or whatever, but I care more about surviving for as long as I can.
I no longer see them, the ‘fantasy creatures’ that I told you about before. But the only reason I
had survived for so long was because they had helped me. Without them, I wouldn’t even be here
anymore. I want to thank them, but as I said earlier, I don’t see them anymore.
With the sun beating down on my back, I start a desperate search for food and water. At last,
I find some wild onions and a large desert spoon plant. I gladly eat the wild onions and drink the
sap from the desert spoon.
Due to the recent sandstorm a few hours back, my eyes are still stinging. Despite that, I can
still see, though not very clearly. I cautiously make my way back to my half-buried house. As I try
to clear my house up, I notice the sky getting darker and darker. By the time I’m finished getting
most of the sand off the yurt, I notice a large object tucked under a pile of rocks. I can’t really
make out what it is, so I leave it alone and go to bed.
As I wake up the next morning, I remember what had happened last night. I walk to the pile
of rocks and slowly uncover it, and discover that it’s… a cluster of dinosaur eggs! I’m instantly hit
with a wave of shock that quickly turns into sheer excitement. I’m paralyzed, unable to think or
move. I suddenly snap out of it when I notice the sand under my feet begin to sweep away.
“SANDSTORM!”
I try to return to my yurt, but I can’t even see it. In a panic, I tie a piece of cloth that had been
in my pocket and cover my airways as best as I can. I fearfully adjust my sand goggles and brace
myself. The danger of suffocation is all I can think about. I’ve survived many sandstorms, but will
I survive this one? I try not to think negatively, but the howling wind interrupts my thoughts.
“How dare you ignore us for so many years, Sofiya!” it seems to say.
“Wha… What are you talking about?” I manage to whisper back.
