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(Chokes down tears) MY life, ripped from my friends and family. They didn’t even stop to question why? What had I done? Did I deserve this? They… (breaks down, unable to speak)
I slept, dreamt and thought freedom, to be free. Free from the grey, claustrophobic walls that were suffocating my soul. To break free from the confinements of the heavy weights on my wrists and my heart. The freedom that we longed for, wasn’t the kind of freedom that occupied her mind day and night. She was never unhappy, at least she never showed it. She tried so hard to hide pain and sorrow, it almost made me cry watching her. She always wore her smile, making others feel better. She was comforting to those in pain, while no-one noticed her rot inside. She had no family, and no hope.
She dreamt of a free place, a place where she could never be captured. A place so beautiful and just that it could not be real.
I still see her scared face, when I close my eyes at night. Thick scars of pink and white, criss-crossed on her skin. Burns aren’t like skin. They have no character; they don’t show happiness or sorrow. She bore this scar and was no longer able to comfort people, only horrify them. Her neck was so severely torched that she could no longer move it. Her smile had turned into that of a hideous old woman’s, not of a young girl who had yet to see the world and live her life. Her face now matched her mind, emotionless, and burnt to the core, with pure hatred and rage, unlike any other. Slowly she disappeared as people turned away from her in disgust.
At that point I knew I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t give into the fear that they had instilled into us. I had a family, or I believed I had a family, and I was determined to see them again. Then it happened. That was the day time stood still, I’ll never forget that day.
Open the door. (taps his foot impatiently)
(fumbles with keys)
(panics) What’s happening? Where are you taking me?
Shut up.
You’re free. You are free to go.
But how…..why? (mumbles incoherently)
Stop your questions, before we turn you around and lock you up in there to die.
I didn’t point out to him that it had felt like I was already dead, the time I had spent in there, killed me. My wish had become a reality. My freedom was restored, and the air I breathed became lighter, almost sweeter. It felt as though the weight that had been bearing down on my soul had been lifted. The same weight that made me consider ending my life had evaporated, like that of morning dew in mid afternoon.
My mother and father had escaped the Korean officials. However before they got a chance to get out of China the Korean government hunted them down. My father was shot by a Korean official, Ki Mu-Hak. My mother managed to escape and had fled to England to seek help. It took her 4 years of tireless fighting and campaigning to find out where I was. She didn’t even know if I’d be alive, but she didn’t give up.
Chang-Sun Nam’s daughter has finally been released form the detention centre where she had spent the last 5 years of her life. Unfortunately her father cannot be with us to celebrate this triumph for the Nam’s and Human rights throughout the world.
Maybe one day when things are different, when humans don’t judge each other for their beliefs or the colour of their skin and everyone is treated equally and no-one is made to feel pain or suffering, then I will go back to Korea and face the ghosts of my past.
(Fades back to music)
END
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katherine watson
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