Where the Light Leads You
Maryknoll Convent School (Secondary Section), Tiffany Yip, Fiction: Group 4
Surviving may be a human instinct but living takes a huge amount of courage, and that what
we lack may only just be the spark of hope for us to hold on.
I started walking, my feet on the heated, hard ground, covered with a thin layer of dust.
“Amy? Wang?”
I received no replies but the occasional howling of the wind. I stared into the barren land
ahead of me. No human beings were to be seen. Only me and just me.
Now I believed that I was stranded. In the middle of the Gobi Desert.
Although I had had a handful of desert travel experiences, I still freaked out. I was panicking
on the spot when a surge of anxiety hit me. I froze, and my hand went inside my pocket instantly.
Thank God, it was there.
After fully absorbing the fact that I was alone, which was hard, my instincts told me to figure
out a plan to survive. It was nearly noon and was getting hotter, so I searched for a shade under
a big boulder and decided to rest until the sun fell again so that I could embark my journey. I ran
through all the tools and materials I had, and decided to go west so I could hopefully discover a
village. The plan was vague, but it was the best chance I got.
After I finish checking all the survival essentials I need, my hand found itself in my side
pocket again and took out what was inside: a piece of rock. It wasn’t just any piece of rock. It was
from the desert. It was from my father.
My father was, like me, a desert explorer. The stone was a gift from him. I still remember the
time he gave me the stone, he was leaving once again for the Gobi Desert. In full gear and all, he
bent over to the seven-year-old me, and said “This stone is from a magnificent place in the desert.
One day, you will be able to explore the desert.” He gave me a kiss, and I, holding the stone in my
hands, awed, and watched him leave. It was the last time I ever see him leaving home because he
never came back after that again.
The stone was brick-red with roughly cut edges. I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but it
seemed to be glowing warmth in my hand. I had no idea why I would worry about a stone when
I was actually lost in the desert, but feeling the presence of the stone gave me some kind of
reassurance, that it was going to be fine. I closed my eyes, and listened to the winds. I almost
thought they were mocking at me.
I set off when the temperature got cooled off a bit. The sun was setting, so I fumbled out a
torch and hugged myself to keep warm as I walked.
It has been days and I was still in the middle of the Gobi Desert. Three days, to be specific,
since I have remembered to mark down the number of days I had spent here.
An array of stars covered the night sky, accompanied by a white crescent moon at the east. It
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