Ari’s breath came in short gasps. We’re almost there. She thought. Ari grabbed her little brother’s hand and said, ” Min Joon, we must go now!” Ari and Min Joon were fleeing from their captors, they were trying to escape from North Korea. They were almost across the border when the soldiers saw them. “Eomeoni, please, if you are up there help us!” Ari cried in Korean, up at the clear dark sky in anger. Ari and Min Joon’s mother died last month of a horrid disease. Then their father got too dangerous to be around and started beating Ari and Min Joon. A few hours ago, Ari had snuck her and her brother out of their little apartment and fled for their lives. Ari thought about how in North Korea, they drilled everything into everybody, about how good they all had it, no! Ari thought. I will not listen to their garbage,m they killed Eomeoni! One of the soldiers shouted breaking into Ari’s thoughts. “Come back, you little yeoja!” Ari’s little brother started to slow down. “Little hyeongje, we have to keep going!” Ari said to her brother. Min Joon whimpered. By now the guards almost had them. Ari saw something up ahead and gasped. It was a large barbed wire fence! Ari lifted Min Joon onto her hip and started running faster and faster. Min Joon was 6 years old but weighed barely anything, because, in North Korea, nobody has jobs so nobody can afford food and everybody is malnourished. It did not help that their father had spent all the money on alcohol, so they had not had much to eat over the past few weeks. Ari was 14 herself but was way underweight for a 14-year-old. Ari searched for a place to slide under the fence but found none!
Eomeoni- means Mother in Korean.
Hyeongje- means brother in Korea.
Ari- means pretty, lovely, and beautiful.
Min Joon- means clever and talented.
Stay tuned for part 2!!
Short Stories! 