New Tales of the Gobi Desert
St. Joseph’s College, Henry Wong, Fiction: Group 3
L
ed by his muscular hand and his sensitive senses, Victor proceeded from grave to grave
in the lonely graveyard of San Lorenzo. It was pitch dark, the perfect time for Victor.
Victor knew he had to search fast as dusk would come in a few hours. Victor knew he
couldn’t fail, his mother was lying on bed, sick, and his father’s limb’s lost, as a result of
a mine explosion. If he could find Marco Polo’s treasure, then his mother would be cured and his
father could move in prosthetic limbs.
Victor stopped when he felt a plain, rectangular, and somehow rough tombstone. Turning on
his torch, he saw: HERE LIES ELISE SCROOGE. He chuckled how clever it was for Marco Polo to
bury his treasure in a fake grave. He studied the grave again. Plain, rectangular, rough. That’s it,
it was made of coral, this must be it.
Victor breathed heavily and exhaled into the chilling air with his warm breath. He picked
up his shovel and started digging. His shovel soon unveiled the coffin. On it was a poem full of
gibberish:
Great things will
Occur in this great Earth.
Big,
Indeed.
Dread them, my son. As
Evils will be unleashed.
Spirits will revenge.
Evil! Evil!
Roused and bring this to an end.
There is where it began and where it ends.
Cheer for the mad,
Hatred is the best.
Inside your soul
Nothing
At all.
Victor laughed again without considering the consequence. What an easy code! Victor
immediately deciphered the message: GOBI DESERT CHINA. China. His heart sank. He had no
money to go there. Sighing, he opened the coffin to see if anything precious was left inside. No
carcass, no treasure, as Victor had expected. He was about to return when the sky caught his eye.
It was already dusk.
Victor grabbed his shovels and ran, only to find the gates locked and a watchman entering.
Without hesitation, he raced to “Elise scrooge’s” grave and hid in the coffin. He felt the soil
pressing down. He pushed the lid but in vain. Victor started at the pitch darkness in fear. Soon, he
