Shortlisted
The Voodoo Desert
Hong Kong Academy, Divya Rajagopal,11
S
ummer vacation was on with my best friend Jenny. We were on Princess Marina, my
private cruise. We were spending our summer holidays together. Our families were good
friends, and we knew each other well. I smiled as I smelled the fresh sea and fish. It was
a sunny day and I really wanted to take my ship out. Our fathers were really wealthy
business men and our moms were actresses. That’s how we became friends. We sailed past small
inhabited islands and saw tons of dolphins!! The ship rocked gently like a cradle making us sleepy.
We woke up one morning and were eating breakfast, talking about school and joked around. We
laughed, probably our last laugh for a long time.
Suddenly the ship rocked violently. Jenny squeaked in surprise and the milk spilled
everywhere. She looked terrified. I didn’t realize I looked as scared as she did. The ship was on
Auto Pilot so there was never a captain, only a camera, which had broken. I looked at my route
and realized something far too late. We were getting sucked into the Bermuda Triangle. I screamed
as we were sucked in. I couldn’t feel my body or anything. There was no air around us and we
were panting, every second counted to our body. We suddenly fainted, maybe forever.
When I woke up I only saw sand. I saw Jenny, fainted next to me. It was really hot and the
sun was killing me. Jenny slowly stirred after I shook her. We were still alive but in the middle
of nowhere. All we saw was sand. Jenny took a deep breath and she sat up. She looked at me,
her pale grey eyes staring at me with fear. I helped her and myself up. “Where are we??!!!” she
coughed, getting the sand out of her mouth. “I don’t know,” I worried. Jenny murmured random
curses, which I tried to pretend I didn’t hear. She whimpered “What now?? We don’t even know
where we are!!” I sighed. “You can’t expect ME to know everything, I mean...” “I DON’T CARE
I WANT TO GO HOME!!” She snapped. I really lost it. “WELL THEN FIND YOUR OWN WAY
HOME!!!” She sat back on the sand and cried. I sat beside her and put my hand around her. “Come
on this is better than you leaving....” It was true. Jenny was going to leave, to England. She
nodded, interrupting my thoughts. “I know but...” I sighed and lifted her from the sand. She gave
me a small smile. I squinted my eyes to look at the horizon. Still, all I saw was sand. Suddenly I
realized where we were. I looked at Jenny with dismay. “I think I know where we are.” She gave
me a hopeful look. I took a deep breath. “The Gobi Desert.”
She stared at me like I was nuts. I suddenly spotted my backpack. Stupid me! “Here is my proof!
This book!” She took the book from me and the cover made her go pale. It was the same photo as
the place we stood. No doubt. She gulped. “What if we are here??!!” I guessed “It might be written
in the book” She flipped through the pages - “How to survive in a desert. Perfect. Surviving in the
desert blah blah” Suddenly she exclaimed - Found some nice information in this crappy book.” I
laughed and she showed me “The most important things are...” She pointed at something. “Some
plants are edible if peeled well and cooked. Some plants also provide water. Some examples of
plants which are edible are...” A bunch of plants were listed. “That’s..CRAZY!!” I yelled. She looked
at me seriously. “If there is no other food then...” I nodded. I knew what she meant. We didn’t
know how long this would take or how we would survive. We spotted some plants, and I used my
Swiss Army Knife to cut them. Big mistake. A green monstrous thing formed and tried to eat me.
I screamed and pulled Jenny out of the way along with me. This man-eating cacti head became
longer and bigger and meaner. I swore this was the last time I did this. I pressed a little button and
