The Great Adventure in the Great Wall
Sana Khullar, Group 2: Fiction, Delia School of Canada
here was a loud boom some distance away from him. Andrew looked around, his eyes and
ears alert for any sign of movement. He felt a slight breeze of hot air behind him, and,
following his instincts, quickly turned around and pointed his sword at... Nothing. There was
nothing behind him except dirt some loose rocks, a few cobwebs, and two or three rats. Bang!
Another deafening sound was echoing through the caves of the tunnel. However, unlike last
time, there was a gigantic dragon behind him. It had scaly, reddish-brown skin with spikes on
its back, and wings the size of airplanes neatly folded on its back. His eyes were blood red, and as soon
as Andrew looked in them, he felt like he was paralyzed. The dragon was coming towards him, ready
to pounce at any minute, but Andrew couldn't move. His felt like his shoes were glued to the ground.
"
What should I do?" echoed through his mind.
T
The moment Andrew got off the school bus and entered through his front door, his mom, Mrs.
Edwards, ran towards him, with a large grin on her face. "Andrew, guess what? We’re going to
Beijing!!!" She exclaimed. "What's so special about that? I don’t want to go! I want to stay right here in
Florida!" Andrew replied back with anger in his voice. The smile on Mrs. Edward's face fell drastically.
With that, Andrew left hastily to his room, and shut the door with a slam. He thought more about the
trip. Honestly, he didn’t have anything against going. In fact, he really wanted to go. The only problem
was that his parents’ idea of fun… well, let’s just say that it doesn’t appeal to many people. His parents
worked at the museum of Ancient China, and all their conversations somehow pointed to that topic.
Andrew pushed the thought to the back of his mind, and got started on his homework.
A few days later, as planned, the Edwards were at the airport. They checked in their bags, and
boarded the flight. During the entire flight, Andrew kept on asking, “When will we get there?” and
every time, his mother would reply soon. Andrew figured that he wouldn’t get much more of an
answer, and fell asleep.
When he woke up, Andrew had arrived at Beijing. Lantern shops filled the streets as soon as he
got out of the airport. His parents and Andrew took a taxi to their hotel, but didn’t stop a minute to rest.
“
Come on, go, go, go!” his father pushed, “We still have a few hours left, we can go take a sneak peek
at the great wall!” The family immediately left, and in less than 25 minutes, had arrived at their
destination. Andrew was staring in awe, with his mouth wide open, when his mother asked him,
“
Amazing, isn’t it?” Andrew nodded his head vigorously in agreement. She said, “Here is some money,
go have fun.” Andrew was bursting with joy, and quickly took the money, and left. While he was
walking, Andrew saw a small rope that was hardly noticeable attached to the great wall. With no one
around him, Andrew did what any normal person would do: pull it.
All of a sudden, a small trap door opened, and Andrew fell in it. The cave was dark and murky,
kind of like a swamp. There were some puddles on the floor, and some torches that hung from the sides
of the cave. He kept on going, and soon discovered a well near the left side wall. Leaning against the
well was a small brown sign with black Chinese characters. Andrew looked at them, and surprisingly
could understand them, despite the fact that Andrew didn’t know any Chinese. What was written was
this: Come, and make your wish. But beware. It will fail you when it is most needed. Andrew was
heedless of the warning, and wished for possibly the best thing he could think of at that moment: A
sword. A golden sword that could be transformed into a coin at any time. When Andrew dropped the
money into the well, within a few seconds, a coin appeared in his pocket. A small hidden button was on
it, and when Andrew pressed it, it magically transformed in to the sword.
Footsteps. Andrew detected some sounds of footsteps somewhere in behind him. Not knowing
where to go, he crouched behind a large rock to the side of the cave as the person who was causing the
footsteps came closer. Andrew found out, to his surprise, that it wasn’t who; it was what. A large
serpent-like dragon slithered towards Andrew, most likely detecting his smell. Andrew soon regretted
not taking a shower for a few days. The dragon came toward Andrew, and opened his large and slimy
mouth. Sharp fangs were about to cut in to his arm, when Andrew slashed the sword with all his might.
The dragon backed off, as Andrew stepped in closer to slash again. If there was one thing Andrew had
learned from video games, it was how to use a sword. “And mom thought that video games were
useless!” Andrew mumbled under his breath.
Just as Andrew was about to make the final swipe of his sword, the large black dragon faded into
the air, looking like a wisp of fog. A small paper curled up near the boulder where Andrew was hiding