angelic white. That’s when I saw the Khongoryn Els, and immediately I knew where I was --- The
Gobi Desert.
I had no idea why I was here but one thing I was sure I was no longer comfortable. There was
an unpleasant feeling in my stomach.
Since my hometown Jining was next to the Gobi Desert, I’ve learnt the geography of it since I
was small, yet, I found it was no use. I scanned through the Khongoryn Els but all I could see was
endless dunes.
Feeling hopeless, I wandered around, until suddenly something caught my eyes.
‘This mustn’t be it, ’I looked in disbelief.
In the middle of the desert there was a girl lying down lifelessly. She looked really fragile but
was holding a slingshot. I helped her out with a bandage in a pocket of my jeans. Don’t ask me
why it was there, I had no idea.
‘Thanks, I feel so much stronger now,’ she said ,‘I’m Jasmine, why’re you here? It’s
really dangerous!’
‘I’m Jim, I was actually in my sister’s room in Jining but something pulled me here, or I
should describe it as some force.’
‘That happened exactly to me! I miss my family,’ she said with giant tear droplets twinkling
under the sunshine swelling in her big brown eyes.
I started to think of my mom and dad too. I’d do anything to be with them again. I wouldn’t
complain how strict they were. I would let my sister call me Jimmy or whatever she wanted.
‘Okay let’s get back here Jas, we’ll get out of here,’ I reassured her.
Jasmine nodded her little head.
‘She must be about ten like my sister, ’I thought.
Moving from my bedroom to the desert was really creepy for me, a fourteen years old teen,
not to mention to a ten years old kid.
Jas and I told each other what we had seen after arriving the desert and went through by now
sitting under a saxaul tree.
‘How I ended up here was just the same as you but I think I came earlier than you.’
I nodded and encouraged Jas to continue.
‘So I was freaked out in the middle of nowhere but then I saw a man wearing a suit. You
think that’s strange enough, he was even wearing an oxygen mask. I was so scared I tried to
use my slingshot to hit him but I tripped over a rock and got hurt, and then he ran away,’ She
exhaled heavily.
‘Wow ...This is a catastrophe ...’ I shook my head trying to imagine the man.
The sky had a pink tint by then. My mind was now full of ludicrous things like the end of the
world or aliens attacking the Earth.
Unexpectedly a drop of water dropped in front of us; it was not rain it was simply a drop of
water, no more. When I looked more closely to at it, I found a shocking sentence on it .
‘I’m watching you.’
I read it over and again. This made no sense. At first how could a drop of water come out of
nowhere with a sentence floating on it. This was way beyond normal.
That night, Jas and I slept under the saxaul tree .
CREEK, CRACK,SWISH,SWASH.
There were noises the whole night , I didn’t dare to open my eyes to see what they were but I
just couldn’t stand it finally. I lit a piece of wood and looked around.
While I was figuring out where the sound came from, Jas tapped on my shoulder and pointed
