The New Adventures of the Great Wall
Cassidy Ozias, Group 2: Fiction, Xi'an International School
he group of seventh graders shuffled through the museum on our field trip. Usually I hated school field
trips but my friend, Elizabeth, enjoyed learning new things. However, today was different. I was
actually enjoying the speech the guide was presenting but Elizabeth was bouncing up and down and not
paying attention.
“
Hey Elizabeth, don’t you think it’s crazy how the…” I said, noticing halfway through my
sentence that Elizabeth was gone.
“
Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” I shouted.
T
“
Shh!” My classmates chorused.
“
Elizabe…” I started to call out again but stopped when I saw a glimpse of her as she turned the corner into
the art hall. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one was looking and hurried after her. When I turned
the same corner I found her, gazing up at a huge picture of the Great Wall of China. I watched as Elizabeth
traced her finger along the painting, but her finger fell through, inside the painting. Elizabeth gasped. If her
finger had gone through then maybe her whole body could too! Elizabeth backed up and ran full speed at the
painting. Instantly she was swallowed by the picture.
What in the world was she thinking!?
I thought.
I have to
go after her!
I backed up and jumped right into the picture too.
I heard Elizabeth scream ahead of me as she plummeted down a dark, empty hole. She screamed even
louder when I grabbed her hand.
“
Elizabeth! It’s me!” I exclaimed and let go of her.
“
Tyson! What a relief!” She said thankfully and began to say more when-
slam!
I groaned and sat up. I felt dizzy and I couldn’t quite see right.
“
Earth to Tyson, earth to Tyson,” Elizabeth said. My vision got better and I looked around.
“
Oh wow!” I heard Elizabeth exclaim, who was already on her feet. I picked myself up and gasped at the
wonderful sight. There is was, the Great Wall of China, crawling up the mountain like a giant, stone snake! In
front of us where crumbling layers of stone stairs.
“
Last one up is a rotten egg!” Elizabeth shouted as she started to climb.
“
Huh!” I scoffed and started climbing quickly up the stairs. Elizabeth was already halfway up, and there
was no way I was gonna be a rotten egg. On my way up I tripped on the remains of the ancient stairs, but got
back up again. When I got to the top, my heart skipped a beat. I gawked in awe once again at the Great Wall. It
was like no other. Winding what seemed like a zillion times back and forth, peeping in and out of the
mountainside. Though how amazing it was, I sighed.
Would I ever be able to see this place again?
I wondered.
Pushing this depressive thought out of my head as quickly as it had come, I turned to Elizabeth. She was too
shocked with the scene below to notice me. Right below us was a bunch of Chinese workers.
“
We have to go around them,” Elizabeth said, her strategic mind already working on a plan. “Hmmm…I
got it! Follow me, Tyson!” She whispered so the men couldn’t hear her. She then hopped down the steps and
began creeping silently away in the opposite direction of the men.
“
Ni men gan shen me?” The men shouted at us in a strange language. Elizabeth glanced back and picked up
her pace when she noticed they were coming after us.
“
Hurry up slow poke!” She shouted as I caught up with her. I kept glancing back every once in a while. The
sky was getting darker as we quickly left the strange men behind. I glanced back one more time to check if the
men were really gone, but that was a fatal mistake because when I turned back there was no ground at my feet.
Far below me was a river moving violently, threatening me. Thankfully, when Elizabeth fell, she had
managed to hold onto a branch, and when I fell, she had caught me.
“
I…I…can’t hold on!” Elizabeth gasped, letting go of the branch. As we fell, I tried to keep in a scream, but
failed. I clutched Elizabeth’s waste, promising that I was going to die with her.
“
Tyson, I just-” Elizabeth said, but before she could finish we plunged into water. My head bobbed above
the water for enough time to catch a breath. A wave washed over my head and I was underwater again. I looked
for Elizabeth but didn’t find her. When I got to the surface she was right beside me. We were floating swiftly
through the river for a while, but it instantly was churning violently, and Elizabeth and I were being jerked
around like a sack of potatoes. Up ahead was a giant water fall, tumbling into the depths of the river. I tried to
grab onto anything I could find, but I had to face the fact that I was going to die once and for all.
I whispered a silent prayer as Elizabeth and I were dragged down, drowned by the waterfall’s force.
Suddenly, I slammed onto a cold, marble floor. The next think I knew, Elizabeth was on top of me.
“
Thanks for the cushion,” Elizabeth said and groaned.
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