Tears of Yesterday
Aalia Ashraf, Group 2: Fiction, French International School
terrible tragedy happened many years ago when my family was crushed to death. I was the
only one who survived and even when I talk about them after all these years, my eyes fill
with tears.
duri
som
We were on an adventure, traveling across china when we became completely lost
ng a sandstorm. Wandering around like blind zombies, we realized we were walking on
ething that looked like an extremely long and wide bridge. We decided to follow this
odd looking bridge as it seemed to go on and on, as if there was no end to it.
A
As the sunset and the orange glow turned dark blue, I suddenly saw something lurking in the
shadows. It had two brilliant blue eyes that were as cold as ice and as it moved I could see its long
white tail. Its body was covered with creamy white fur and it growled at me, opening its jaws and
baring its teeth. There was no time, the huge beast leaped towards us; a terrible scream came from my
sister as the ferocious animal leapt onto her, knocking her to the ground. My father beat the animal with
his stick, hitting its head and it turned around and clawed at father’s head with its huge and powerful
paws. Father was hurt badly and the snow tiger had killed my sister, leaving her on the ground with
blood pouring everywhere. I was a frozen stone with shock, my mother started to scream but my father
got up and told us to run but as they did, they stumbled in the dark and fell over the edge of the bridge
onto the jagged rocks below.
It was dark, I was alone, exhausted and thirsty. All the food and water was lost and I was too afraid
to go to where my parents had fallen and the snow tiger was also nowhere to be seen. My eyelids were
getting heavy and I couldn’t stay awake. I lay down as the fresh air swirled around me, it made me feel
tired and before I knew it I was curled up into a ball and fell fast asleep.
“
Ahhh!” I yelled as I woke up. A hairy face, with huge eyes was staring down at me, it was a
panda cub. I hurriedly got up and looked again to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I remembered what had
happened to my sister and parents, and became scared again…. what if the snow tiger were still alive it
would try to attack us. I decided to take the panda with me, I wanted to save it, I needed a friend and it
looked so helpless. I called it Ming Ming, my sister’s name and tempted him with a piece of bamboo to
follow me. “Come, Ming Ming, a treat for you!” she crawled towards me and snatched it with her fat
paws and chewed it down quickly. “You greedy little thing!”
We walked for hours, we didn’t see anyone else and I was exhausted. I lay myself down on the
cold, hard solid floor, Ming Ming snuggled next to me and I wondered where her mother was… maybe
the tiger had also attacked them. Another day was about to pass as it got dark. I wondered if I would
make it to the end of my journey alive with Ming Ming by my side. Would somebody help us, she was
my only friend here now. I turned to look at her but she was already snoring, fast asleep. It was already
dark when I heard noises in the distance and got up, feeling terrified. I looked around but in the
darkness there was nothing to be seen. I pulled Ming Ming close to me as she whimpered, I faintly
heard padding noises coming closer to me. I saw those ice blue eyes again, shining in the light of the
moon and reached in my pocket for my knife. It crawled towards us slowly, snarling but I wasn’t going
to let it get my Ming Ming. I attacked first, screaming as loud as I could and holding the knife high up
and slashing down towards the tiger. I must have hurt it as I felt the warm blood on my hands but it was
nowhere to be seen. I decided to come up with a plan to kill the snow tiger. I sharpened my father’s
bamboo walking stick into a long spear with my knife, it was the only thing I could think of as I had
nothing else except the knife and put Ming Ming on the rocks beside the wall of the bridge. I would
wait, hiding above the rocks so if the snow tiger came for her I could leap on top with my sharpened
spear. I told Ming Ming to stay put and then, laid down and waited.
“
Yeeep. yeeep” came the cries. I jumped up but where was my spear. “Ming Ming, what have you
done?” I yelled. I had fallen asleep and my companion had crawled back to my hiding place and
chewed the weapon I had made until it was all soggy and soft. It was too late, the snow tiger attacked,
hurling itself on to us making us fall backwards. The loose rocks started to fall away and the
humongous tiger lost its balance and couldn’t get a grip. Ming Ming bravely scratched at the tigers eyes
and with my last breath, I stabbed at the bleeding leg of the tiger and watched it crash into the darkness
below.
Some travelers found us the next morning and helped us with food and water. They told me that it
wasn’t a bridge we were on but The Great Wall of China. We continued our journey, strangers helped