MyStory

"Arte (factually) Speaking" Story-Writing Competition

Shortlisted Entry (Lower Secondary Category)

Contest ID: 26

Name: Tan Yan Kang
Gender: Male
Age: 14-year-old
NRIC: SXXXX109G
School: Raffles Institution

Artefact: A Pair of Earth Spirits

Museum: Asian Civilisations Museum

Image courtesy of Collections of Asian Civilisations Museum

Two statues

Two statues. Unmoving, they hid in niches concealed in the wall. They had guarded this tomb for many centuries, protecting the deceased held in the main chamber. Throughout the centuries this tomb was not disturbed…until today.

This was the 21st century, and budding archaeologist Danny was on the verge of discovering a tomb that had not been touched by human hands since it had been built. This was possibly a discovery of a lifetime, and Danny was aware of it. He kept the possible location of the tomb a strict secret, and performed research in private as well.

After months of hard work and sleepless nights, today was the day his efforts might pay off. Danny was now heading towards the location of the tomb in a jeep. The sun shone down on the plains, and sweat streamed down Danny’s face in buckets. He was impatient. All that was left between him and fame was the road trip to the tomb, and yet the jeep moved as slowly as ever. It was excruciating.

After what seemed like an eternity, the jeep began to slow, and Danny looked up and scanned the plains before him. Danny was filled with a sense of relief and wonder as he gazed upon the tomb that lay on the landscape. It stood out like a sore thumb, and was instantly recognizable among this featureless land.

Danny plucked himself out of his dazed wonder, and made his way quickly towards the tomb. Now that he was up close, he could really start to marvel at its construction and size. The tomb comprised of a massive gate and a stone corridor connecting the entrance to the main building.
Danny chided himself. He could always get around to admiring the various aspects of the tomb after he had at least brought out an artefact from inside the tomb as evidence of his find. Without further ado, he passed through the great gate, and entered the stone corridor.

A musty smell hit him, and Danny choked on the smell. Giving the corridor a quick look-over, he noticed that it was covered with a thick layer of dust and not much else. Perhaps the walls were painted once before, but not now. The corridor was unremarkable by any standards, and Danny decided not to waste time here, opting to run through it and get to the main chamber quickly.

Halfway through the corridor, Danny felt a gust of cold air. It was odd, and he stopped running. As he looked for what could have caused the gust of cold air to leak into this corridor, his eyes spotted two figures hidden in niches on the left and right of the corridor. He carefully pulled the both of them out of their storage and examined them. As he stared at the statues fearsome features, he suddenly felt fearful. Fearful that he was exploring in somewhere he should not, fearful of receiving divine punishment for trespassing a forbidden territory.

Perhaps his unstable state of mind at this point of time led him to hallucinate, but as he turned around, he saw something he would not forget for the rest of his life; a ghostly apparition in the appearance of the two statues he was holding.

Danny ran without thinking. The next few moments passed in a blur, and before he knew it, he was already outside the tomb and in his jeep, with the two statues still cradled in his arms. Danny silently promised to himself that he would say nothing about his find to anyone.

(593 words)