The Journey to Freedom Volume 1 | Page 6

Yeong wanted to have a baby, but we simply cannot afford feeding another mouth. My mom even has to steal from the bigger stores since they fired her from her job. I still work as a teacher although the North Korea government lowered my Check from $8 to $2 a month. I would have quit, but I simply could not leave behind my students. My sister has been extremely quiet and never really spends time with us anymore. I think it got to her and wants to spend her time alone. Yeong on the other hand spends most of his time taking care of me. He says he doesn’t want the government to lay a hand on me and what not. His family escaped down to the south with a help of a secret soldier. The soldier helps people escape from the north to the south. I would have gone with my family, but my mother is in no condition to travel at her age. Yeong couldn’t bear the fact that he had to leave me, so he decided to stay. I begged him to go to a safer place, but he insisted he stay. Although his parents did offer me to go; I couldn’t leave my family to die. How can I possibly carry the burden of knowing my family is dyeing while I’m having a good time down in the south! Today it started snowing rapidly covering the streets with sheets of snow. What can you expect in January. My sister yet again disappeared for two days straight. I would have been nervous, but she is most likely staying with her friend. We always find her there when she goes missing. My mom on the other hand is laying in the couch reading a book. She has had a high fever and a runny nose. I remember when I was small she would tell me stories about how the Japanese would control everything from magazines to public health, or when they would confiscate our religious temples and sell them to the Japanese. I of course didn’t know what she was talking about until I became older. Today we can’t even afford anything but a few rations of food.