Vicki Tang, Period 6, 5/18/23

 Vicky Tang

Period 6

5/18/23

Modern Mythology 2023

Fan Fiction

“Achoo!” 

“Careful,” Ba ba, my father whispered.

Tonight, Ba ba and I are going to “fish” for treasure. It’s not my first time. We’ve been trying to find stuff for some time now. Lately, we haven't found anything very valuable.  Honestly, I’m very excited. I wouldn’t call us poor, but our lives could definitely be better. There isn’t much money that could be made in our rural village. In fact, our village wasn’t always where it currently was. Since our current village is “New Dachang”, of course there is an “Old Dachang”, where we're heading towards now.

With all the abandoned villages, there must’ve been something valuable left behind in Old Dachang. It’s illegal, but the government isn’t going to help us, so we need all of the help we could possibly get. Redevelopment currently is for the more populated coastal cities. The country wants to help where they can help the most people first. Being in the middle of China isn’t exactly where you would find a bunch of bustling cities. Mostly villages. Plus, that Old Dachang village was our village before we moved. 

We had reached the area of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Making sure no one else is around, we started our search. 

“Wait up here first. I want to check that it’s safe,” Ba ba insisted.

“Splash!” My father dove into the water first. I excitedly thought of all of the things that we could possibly find. He waded through the water for some time, and eventually determined that it was safe enough. I carefully joined Ba ba in the water. We looked around the water for a bit, not really finding anything. To be honest, I was kind of scared of an animal possibly lurking around in the water, which is kind of dark and muddy. 

“Er Zi! Son!” Ba ba excitedly motioned me over.

“Look at this!” Ba ba exclaimed.

It was gold jewelry. I couldn’t believe that we actually were able to find something valuable. We originally headed out to the reservoir without too many expectations. We weren’t the only villagers “moon fishing.” There were plenty of other old abandoned villages too. Some of our more superstitious neighbors weren’t too keen on the idea. Particularly the elderly. They believed that in some of the abandoned ruins, there rested spirits that shouldn’t be disturbed. I don’t believe in these superstitious beliefs. After all, our country is modernizing in all kinds of ways and these beliefs are probably just something that we need to abandon. 

I started to look around with much more motivation. I ventured out a little further than I should’ve, so I hurried back. 

“Ba ba!” I called out. 

“Er Zi! Get out of the water!” Ba ba yelled. I saw Ba ba get dragged into the water. Moon fishing isn’t exactly safe, and this river isn’t shallow, but what could make Ba Ba look so scared. 

“Now! Don’t worry about me!” Ba ba shouted.

I couldn’t possibly leave Ba ba behind. I hurried toward Ba ba’s position, but before I could get there, Ba Ba was suddenly pulled underwater.  

“Ba ba! Ba ba! Answer me!”
“Hic…Hic”

Tears were now streaming down my face. I searched in the water for a bit longer, but there was nothing. Ba was gone. Nowhere to be found. 

“Ahhhh!”

“Owww…”

My gut instinct told me to run. The water was no longer safe. I was in big danger. Whatever was in there, it was definitely very bad news. I ran and ran and I ran. Once I got to the village, I yelled for Ma ma. 

I saw Ma ma run towards me with a very worried look. I started to feel very tired…

“GROwlLLL…”