Hidden Monastery

by Gabrielle Wang

  Our lives apart but not our souls,

  Always in my heart, my Ruby.

  Jax sprinkled leaves over the little body and covered it with earth. He knew it would be dark very soon. In the tropics there is no twilight and the sun was now low on the horizon. Wiping away his tears, he picked up his backpack and headed for home.

  It was dark when he finally turned into Trumper Street. A lone porch light lit up the paperbark tree, giving it a ghostly appearance. Jax saw Mai playing hopscotch. She bent down to pick up a stone, then turned to look in his direction. At first she hesitated, but realising it was Jax, raced excitedly up the street to meet him.

  ‘Is Ruby all right? Can I see her? Where is she?’ Mai danced around her brother then looked up into his face. Her expression suddenly changed. ‘Jax, where is she?’

  Jax didn’t answer at first. He put his arm around Mai’s shoulders, then said gently, ‘Ruby’s dead.’

  ‘No, she can’t be!’ Mai started crying softly.

  ‘The vet said she was very old, older than any dog he’d ever seen before,’ Jax tried to comfort her. He picked one of Ruby’s white hairs off his sleeve and twirled it between his fingers. ‘I buried her by a lake, Mai. It’s a nice place.’

  ‘I don’t want her to be dead,’ said Mai, sobbing loudly. ‘Why did she have to die?’

  As Jax and Mai stood on the front porch they heard footsteps coming up the hall. Jax turned to Mai. ‘Did Ma find out I didn’t go to school today?’

  Mai shook her head, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. ‘I told Mama you had footy after school, that’s why you’re late.’

  He squeezed his little sister’s hand as Ma opened the front door.

  ‘What are you two doing out here in the dark?’ she said. ‘Come inside and wash your hands. Dinner is almost ready.’

  Jax entered the house. It was filled with the smell of roasted garlic, but he didn’t feel hungry. Instead he felt numb and empty as if his insides had been whittled away with a knife.

  ‘Come on, Mai, you help me set the table while your brother puts his things away,’ said Ma.

  Mai looked at Jax, then followed Ma down the hall to the kitchen, sniffing quietly.

  Now is the perfect time to put Ma’s necklace back, Jax thought, glancing into his parents’ bedroom. He unzipped the outside pocket of his backpack. That’s funny, I’m sure I put the necklace in here.

  Jax began pulling everything out, slowly at first, then with more and more panic in his actions.

  Again and again he searched, hoping it wasn’t true, wishing there was a hidden pocket somewhere. Or that maybe it had slipped down inside the lining. He looked through every corner of his backpack, but couldn’t find it anywhere.

  No, please, no! I can’t have lost it … Jax leant against the wall, his eyes closed, drained of all energy. He wished he could just sleep. But then he thought, no, I can’t give up. What does Ma say? When was the last time you saw it?

  And so he began to play everything through in his mind, from the moment he chased Ruby out of the clinic, to leaving the park after burying her. He examined every detail closely. And then he saw it, there in his mind’s eye, the gold necklace hanging on the roots of the old banyan tree.

  Please, God, please make it still be there, Jax prayed.

  Into Another World

  The storm carried Peng into a strange and lonely place. The water was thick with churned-up matter, and death was everywhere. Thousands of small fish floated amongst broken branches of coral and seaweed, their lifeless eyes reminding Peng how huge and deadly the storm had been.

  But as he swam slowly upward through the murky green water, he felt it growing warmer. Although he could barely see in front of him, a creamy round glow, like a halo from above, seemed to be calling him, awakening a distant memory. The warmth seeped into his muscles giving him energy.

  Peng… Peng… It is time… The moon called to Peng just as the wind had called him twelve years before. There was a lightness in his heart as he swam up towards it.

  When he finally broke through the surface, he saw the full moon rising, laying down a silver path for him to follow. And he knew it was the place he had so often dreamt about. The world he had been searching for.

  Peng swam all through the night until he came to the mouth of a wide river. Mangroves lined the riverbank, their roots reaching down through the mud then up again as breathing tubes poking out of the water. Mud crabs quickly backed into their holes when they saw this strange creature pass by. He could have been a ghostly ship, moving silently through the water. The wake he left rippled out to the banks, washing over the mud-crab burrows. Has the tide come in early this night? they wondered. As they peeped out, their eyes twisting this way and that, they whispered to each other, ‘What is it? What can it be?’ They were used to boats, the noise, the smoke and the smell of their engines. And they were used to the crocodiles that sometimes hunted this far downstream. But this creature, with its huge head and long flowing tail, was not a crocodile or a fish or a giant turtle. He was not from around the mangroves or even from the rock pools up river. He smelt of another place – a dark and mysterious place.

  As Peng swam towards the rainforest that met the water’s edge, the song of a million buzzing insects filled the night. He lifted his head towards the stars and a bell-like sound came from his lips. It was soft and low at first, and then, like a mounting wave, it rippled throughout the forest, caressing each leaf, penetrating deep inside every trunk, and reaching down through the roots to the soul of the earth. It touched every creature that lived there. They knew the call. They had heard it before. Not in their own lifetime, but in an ancient memory.

  A large fox, snuffling around the roots of a flame bush was startled, and looked up as the great beast glided by. He lowered his head to work his teeth around the hindquarters of a particularly luscious cockroach. Then, flipping his head in one movement, he tossed the cockroach in the air, caught it in a grin, and trotted off up river after the creature.

  Peng’s sensitive nostrils had picked up a strand of pure air, floating out of the rainforest. He followed it to where the river widened and the water ran deep and cold. There was a canyon where the walls were made out of thin layers of fossilised rock. Skeletons of small animals were embedded into the sides. Peng dived. In the rock face he saw the large mouth of a cavern and out of it flowed sweet fresh water.

  Inside the cavern, the walls sparkled like a million stars in the night sky. He swam deeper and deeper into it, and then, there it was again, the silver moon refracting through the water, calling him to come up and meet it.

  Two frogmouth owls huddled together as close as they could, like one fluffy body with four eyes. They looked out wisely from the ancient branches of the banyan tree. At a sound, all four eyes turned. Then the owls took off in fright, each in a different direction.

  The fox watched them greedily as he loped up to the tree. But then he noticed something shiny, high up, hanging off one of the roots. He stood up on his hind legs to sniff the object and his eyes lit up. Thrusting his nose through the glittering thing, he slipped it over his head and let it hang around his neck. At once the fox felt a surge of energy shoot through his whole body. The power of the gold had begun to take effect.

  When a huge head split the water, the fox looked towards the lake then crouched down low. A sly smile spread across his face. This fox was no ordinary fox. No, this was a fox spirit!

  The Monster in the Lake

  That night, Jax waited nervously for the house to settle into sleep. Ma always said it was dangerous to go out after dark, that only homeless and drunk people were wandering about then. Jax shuddered at the thought of the rainforest, the lake and the park at night.

  To pass the time and calm his fears, he watched two shadows sparring across the ceiling of his room, one blotting out the other. Finally, he heard the click of Ma turning off her bedside light. He would wait another half an hour. That would give her time to sink into a deep sleep.r />
  At midnight, Jax got out of bed. He was already dressed. All he had to do was put on his jacket and shoes. As he tiptoed to the front door, he checked to make sure the torch was still in his pocket, yes, then, quietly lifting the latch, he slipped out into the cool night air.

  Night changes everything, Jax thought as he walked along the road. It’s as if there were two separate worlds, one black, one white, mirrors of each other. He sniffed the air. Even the smells were sharper. The alleyways looked like dark tunnels and that rubbish bin like a monster ready to pounce. Jax had to keep his mind steady. Even the tree branch with its long spindly fingers looked as if it was waiting to reach out and grab him as he went by.

  But to his surprise, Jax found that with his hood up and his hands in his pockets, and if he didn’t let his imagination run away with itself, he was almost invisible. The dark seemed to wrap around him like a thick cocoon, giving him a strange kind of comfort, changing him into just another shadow amongst many.

  It took about an hour to walk the distance to the deserted pawnshop. By then, grey clouds had covered the sky and he could hear the sound of distant thunder. As he continued on towards the bridge that crossed the river, he heard some boys shouting and swearing. They jumped their skateboards up onto a concrete ledge, trying to knock over empty beer bottles like skittles. Some smashed to the ground, others rolled noisily across the road. Jax could smell alcohol and cigarettes in the air.

  The boys were much older than Jax and he didn’t want them to see him, so he ducked behind a neat row of bushes on the other side of the road. Then, keeping his head low, he crept along undercover, until he came to the stairs beside the bridge. He was about to go down when one of the voices made him stop dead in his tracks. It was a voice he knew well.

  ‘My parents wouldn’t care if I was dead or alive,’ Buzzy said. ‘They only think about themselves. I’m meant to be at my dad’s tonight but he’s gone out.’

  Jax thought Buzzy sounded like an injured animal, tired and desperate.

  ‘Yeah, know how you feel, mate. My parents split up when I was your age.’

  So that’s why Buzzy has been acting so strange lately, thought Jax. Why didn’t he tell me? I always thought he came from a happy home, much happier than mine. I’d hate it if Ma and Ba wanted to get a divorce. I couldn’t imagine not being a family together. Poor Buzzy.

  He watched as Buzzy took his skateboard and climbed up onto the stone wall of the bridge. It was about two metres off the ground.

  What’s he doing? Jax was horrified.

  ‘Hey kid, you want to kill yourself?’ said one boy.

  ‘The wind’s pretty strong and the water’s pretty deep,’ another boy laughed.

  Jax wanted to yell out but he was scared to show himself. All he could do was hold his breath as he watched Buzzy bend over slowly, and put his skateboard down on the top of the wall. The wheels only just fitted. At that moment, a big gust of wind caught him and he windmilled his arms, trying to regain his balance. Jax put a hand over his eyes, hardly daring to look. But Buzzy righted himself and pushed off with one foot. It was like watching a circus act but knowing there was no safety net. One slip and his friend would plunge into the water below. Maybe break his neck.

  When Buzzy reached the big pylon at the end of the bridge, Jax breathed a sigh of relief. The older boys crowded around Buzzy, messing up his hair and patting him on the back.

  How can I leave him here when he does a stupid thing like that? Jax thought. Buzzy was his only friend, the one who understood him more than anyone else. Buzzy was his hero. But he couldn’t stay. He had to go find Ma’s necklace. Glancing back at Buzzy one more time, Jax took the steps down to the river.

  The moon’s half-light cast an eerie shadow across the track as Jax walked on, and the mark on his palm began to itch. He knew the feel of the little creature on his hand so well – the silky smoothness of its body, and the way its head lay snuggled into the fleshy part at the base of his thumb.

  As he neared the park, the singing of night insects was so shrill there was not a break in the sound, unlike the still silence earlier on that day. One lone lamp, silk-wrapped in cobwebs, lit up the entrance into the rainforest. And the gate was still gently swinging on its hinges.

  Jax turned on his torch and followed the path through the trees. When he came to the bamboo grove, the leaves brushed one against the other, adding to the call of the insects.

  At the top of the rise, Jax saw the lake lying like a black inland sea, and in the distance, the umbrella shape of the ancient banyan tree. He hurried towards it.

  When Jax reached the tree, two possums scampered down a branch, jumped to the ground and ran off along the shore, their bushy tails waving in the air. Jax began searching the lower branches just above Ruby’s grave. He found the root where he had left the necklace, but it was no longer there. At first he was calm and methodical, shining his torch in every nook and cranny, watching for that glint of gold. He went down on his hands and knees, pawing through the leaves and scratching the damp earth with his fingernails. But again he found nothing. How he longed to be home in bed with Ruby beside him. ‘Oh Ruby,’ he whispered. Tears came so easily now.

  As he brushed them away with the back of his hand, he heard a loud splash from the middle of the lake. Jax stood up, startled, and looked out over the water, his heart pounding in his chest. Probably a fish, he tried to reassure himself. He waited, listening intently, straining his eyes. Could a crocodile have come up river then slipped into the lake? He shivered at the thought. Reaching down slowly to pick up his torch, Jax clicked it on then swept the beam across the water. The light fell on a large rock in the middle of the lake. But then the rock moved!

  Jax flicked the light off and stood there in the dark. Small waves rippled out to the shore, wetting his feet, but Jax was rigid with fear. Then he heard a beautiful bell-like sound skipping across the lake towards him. The insects of the forest fell silent all at once, and the whole park seemed to quiver with delight. The sound was so pure the tight knot in Jax’s heart loosened. He was mesmerised by the song and no longer felt afraid.

  But then a sharp painful cry filled the night. Jax turned in terror and ran into the rainforest.

  The Monster on Two Legs

  As Peng shook the water from his mane, silver beads flew off into the night. He blinked his eyes and looked around. A movement from the edge of the lake caught his attention.

  Peng was wary at first. The two-legged creature wasn’t big. But sometimes it was the small ones that were the most dangerous. A light swept across the water catching Peng directly in the eyes. The beam hurt like a sharp splinter, but he was held transfixed. Then the light went out.

  There in the black silence, the two creatures watched each other. Peng felt as if they had met somewhere before so he lifted his head and called out. The small creature did not move.

  Peng walked towards the shore. With each footstep, clouds of silky soft mud drifted up to the surface. But then, something sharp on the bottom of the lake cut into his foot. Peng cried out in pain.

  Drums, Dragons and Hungry Ghosts

  As Jax fled in terror, away from the lake, he could almost feel the monster breathing down his neck. Where’s the path that goes into the rainforest? Oh, where is it? I should have come to it by now, he thought as he stumbled over tree roots, blind with fear. The lake was behind him, that much he knew, but on either side were palm trees, their long straight trunks like stilt-walkers with their heads high in the air. He had never been this way before.

  In the distance, Jax saw lights winking through the trees. A wave of relief washed over him and his mind filled with warmth as he imagined a friendly house belonging to the park ranger. There he would escape this scary place of monsters and creepy sounds, and be surrounded by people who might give him a mug of hot chocolate, before showing him the way home.

  Soon he entered the forest where a dense mist was rising off the ground. He could barely see his legs as tendrils of
white vapour swirled up around him.

  The lights were growing brighter now, illuminating the tops of the trees. The house must be enormous, he thought. And why are there so many lights on in the middle of the night? Maybe they’re having a party. Jax listened for the sound of voices or music, but it was eerily quiet. He walked on through the mist until he came to the edge of the forest. As he stepped out from the trees, he suddenly heard the rhythm of drums. It was as if the trees or the mist had acted like a sound barrier.

  He smelt the incense before he saw the four-metre high wall looming in front of him. It seemed as if it had just sprung up out of the ground. The black tiles along its top reminded Jax of the monastery he had visited with Ba, high on top of Hua Shan, one of China’s sacred mountains. It had been built, impossibly, into the side of a cliff, and appeared to hang in the air, with nothing but a sea of white clouds below.

  Jax was intrigued. This building certainly didn’t belong to the park ranger. He followed the wall until he came to an octagonal-shaped gateway. On either side were two stone statues, one a dragon curled around itself, the other a lion, or something similar, looking over its shoulder. As Jax walked up to the dark-red door, the statues seemed to move. He hurried past them, not daring to look at them again.

  The drums were now joined by the sound of a rhythm stick, now a bamboo flute, now a Chinese violin. As the notes reached Jax’s ears, it was as if each instrument was speaking comforting words to him, reminding him of how he used to feel – happy and loved – back in China.

  On the massive wooden doors hung a big brass knocker. It was the head of an ugly beast with fierce staring eyes and a broad nose. Jax lifted the heavy ring that pierced the flaring nostrils, then let it fall back hard against the wood. He wondered if anyone inside could hear him over the loud music. But the music suddenly stopped, and he heard light footsteps approaching.

  ‘Gui, zou kai! Go away, ghost,’ came a growling voice on the other side of the door.