By: Tiffany Zong

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You see, I never wanted to end up in the underworld.

If you are reading this because your parents are fighting, you see weird things that others don’t and you think you’re going to end up in the underworld just like me, I am telling you now that I am not here to reassure and help you through this.I’m here to tell you the truth and the truth is that you might just as well be Quarter and have the exact same fate as me.

My name is Sarah Lin and I wrote this story for the kids that think they are so special and want a journey to other dimensions. I’m sorry to say this but after your read this book you won’t want to go any dimension, in fact you won’t even want to stay in your room alone. So if you want to keep believing that other worlds are all cute and fun and safe, you should close this book and pick up a fairy tale where everything is happily ever after.

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My family was very religious and we strongly believed in the zodiac and the Fo. We would go under golden roofs and red walls every morning and pray to our ancestors and also visit the zodiac which helps keep us healthy and strong.

A few mornings ago, things changed for my family and I. As I walked into the neatly painted temple decorated with smooth fine gold, I stared up to the glimmering gold rooftop, thinking what I should pray on today. Seeing the radiant rays of sunlight shine down onto gold helped me become calm and relaxed. I never liked praying because it was useless to me. But Ma always made me pray because she says it brings good luck to the family. The worst part was, I was never allowed to pray for myself, only for my family and friends. They seemed to get everything I prayed for them, but I never received a pray myself. No one seemed to care that I was here. Especially Ma.

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My family was very religious and we strongly believed in the zodiac and the Fo. We would go under golden roofs and red walls every morning and pray to our ancestors and also visit the zodiac which helps keep us healthy and strong.

A few mornings ago, things changed for my family and I. As I walked into the neatly painted temple decorated with smooth fine gold, I stared up to the glimmering gold rooftop, thinking what I should pray on today. Seeing the radiant rays of sunlight shine down onto gold helped me become calm and relaxed. I never liked praying because it was useless to me. But Ma always made me pray because she says it brings good luck to the family. The worst part was, I was never allowed to pray for myself, only for my family and friends. They seemed to get everything I prayed for them, but I never received a pray myself. No one seemed to care that I was here. Especially Ma.

She didn’t treat me like the little princess other mothers treated their daughters. She wanted me to be the smartest. So she never cared about how I felt or my opinion. All she cared about was how I studied. She discourages me to participate in other activities such as swimming and art. Everyday all she says is “ Lin, have you studied yet? Have you finished your school homework? Did you complete the extra math problem I gave you?” And every time I would answer with no. I could never finish all those before I had to make dinner again. I always wished that I could quickly eat dinner then work on my homework again so I could go outside and play before it was dark. But Ma says we weren’t allowed to even touch the food if Pa didn’t eat first. Usually Pa comes home when I make the steamed fish. But tonight I finished cooking the fish and there was still no sign of Pa.

2 years later and Pa’s name was never even mentioned. We lost hope for finding him to.

The next day, Ma asked me to take little Yan with me to the temple. Little Yan was my younger brother, and I loved having him around. His glossy red cheeks and his chubby little body always made me feel so much better. As the temple came into our sight Little Yan ran off to chase the chickens, I didn’t care at first but when he got farther and father down the road and closer to the lake, I screamed for his name, but I was one second to late. He fell in the water, almost as if he got sucked inside. Oddly, there was no splashing of water. Confused, I walked closer to the clear blue lake, face as pale as a sheet of paper, petrified. And what I saw next was unbelievable. Little Yan was under the water breathing, and each time I blinked he seemed to get smaller, he seemed to fall lower and lower down the crystal blue lake.

Without any longer hesitation I jumped into the water right after him. I felt the water gently prickle down on my body, and the world above me just seemed to have vanished. Looking down it was just a tunnel of swirling water and right in the middle of a slow and soothing hurricane was Yan. I waved my arms around trying to get his attention so she feels safer by knowing I was right behind her and also to speed myself up. From above the crystal clear water, I heard a faint voice sounding like grandpa’s from above. It seemed like it was telling me something but I was to distracted from Yan. I was distracted until I heard something about Yan.

Without any longer hesitation I jumped into the water right after him. I felt the water gently prickle down on my body, and the world above me just seemed to have vanished. Looking down it was just a tunnel of swirling water and right in the middle of a slow and soothing hurricane was Yan. I waved my arms around trying to get his attention so she feels safer by knowing I was right behind her and also to speed myself up. From above the crystal clear water, I heard a faint voice sounding like grandpa’s from above. It seemed like it was telling me something but I was to distracted from Yan. I was distracted until I heard something about Yan.

“Collect the pills from the last zodiac animal and return them to the head of zodiac and Yan will be safe. If the pills aren’t returned by the new year, Yan will die in front of your eyes.”

With that I got sucked out of the water by my back and surprisingly for the amount of time I was in the water I wasn’t drenched, in fact there wasn’t a spot of water on me.

I slowly rose up from the water looking around fascinated. Green and red temples placed in a line. Animals were all over the place doing all the things I did back in my village. Shopping and talking the dirt path were crowded with animals. Quickly realizing how distracted I was getting I set myself back into mind for my mission.

“The last animal of the zodiac, last animal, last animal, is that the pig or the dog?” I whispered over and over again to myself. In what seemed like a decade I figured it should be pig because mice was first and mice and pig were next to each other in the zodiac circle. Now I knew I should be heading to the pig for pills, my next problem was where the pig was. I turned around and right behind me was a giant sign staying “ The Pigs Temple” but it didn’t seem quite right. Why would they send me on a journey which was claimed long and hard when it was just this simple? Hesitating, I heard a whooping sound I didn’t care at first. Honestly, I was on a strange land where animals had the ability to talk and humans could stay underwater while they were dry and breathing. Why would I care about some random thing flying? Actually I didn’t even give it a thought until the scaled dragon descended behind me breathing fire. I sprung up from my feet and raced down the long and narrow dirt path. Naturally, a dragon is faster than human so it took one large step and ended up in front of me blocking my way of escape.