It was another brown day in the year 1970.

Soojung was clad in her favorite white dress that covered down to her knees. The light cloth waved gently as the easy wind brushed up against it. In her moment of waiting, her bare legs were outstretched in front of her and over one another. She was waiting alone for the six o’clock bus to pick her up and take her home, which was located out in the countryside. Beside her were her weary leather backpack and tape recorder.

Only by looking at the position where the sun sat in the sky, she could tell that it was about 5:45 and there were about 15 minutes left before the public bus make its appearance over the hill. No other bus ran the same route, thus she made sure she always catch the bus at eight in the morning and get drop off at six. Otherwise, it would be an eight-hour walk from school to home.

In the moment of waiting she looked around for something to play with, though she was already very familiar with the empty, dull sight she was used to seeing for the past almost two decades. With her eyes roaming about, she came to a stop when she noticed black markings on the shed’s post. She leaned closer in to read what it was and noticed it was someone’s writing.

“Hello”

Soojung didn’t think much of it and ignored it. As she sat in silence, she kicked the gravel under her shoes until the tiring 15 minutes came to pass and her ride showed up in time. Once she got on the bus, it was a two-hour ride before she was dropped off at her stop. As she sends off the kind driver who always made the trip for her, the male driver waved to her and turned the bus around, heading back into town. Upon turning around, Soojung was greeted with the same broken, rusty fences which used to be white. Her home was made up of two cottages that sat side by side, one was used by her father for work and the other was for eating and sleeping.

No one but her family lived out in the open fields in the middle of nowhere. She wasn’t sure why that was, but it has been for nearly two decades for as far as she could remember. Growing up alone, she never knew what it was like to have neighbors or having friends over the house meant.

“I’m home,” she announced her arrival but no one greeted her, just as she had always expected. Once she made her way through the unlocked door, she set her bag and tape recorder on the only dining table as she made her way toward the kitchen sink to wash up. “Mom are you hungry?” Soojung asked from the kitchen, but silence answered her. Slightly irritated by the cold treatment she sighed in distress, “I’m making rice with water and salt again then,”

“Do whatever you want,” the voice of an annoyed female said from the room farthest from the kitchen.

Without replying, Soojung dried her hands and began making rice on the stove. After a certain time her cooking was done and ready to serve. In a bowl, she had warm rice dropped into a bowl that contained cold water in order to cool down the rice. Over the top, she sprinkled a little bit of salt to give it its flavor. With both of her hands cupped around the bottom of the bowl, she made her way toward the room and noticed the cracked open door. Using her feet, she gently pushed it open until she noticed the lying figure on the bed sheets.

It was her mother. The older woman had her back to Soojung as she lay quietly. “Mom, I bought you your meal,” she said softly in order not to frighten her mother.

“Leave it there and get out,” was all the older said.

Soojung looked on the ground to see an open space, but instead, she was greeted with the old dirty dishes. She sighed a little, “Mom, you shouldn’t leave dirty dishes near you, what happens if you get sick again…?”

“I said leave that and get out,” her mother said, this time with a rougher tone to her voice. Soojung did as she was told but tried to clean the old dishes. “If you’re going to clean then can’t you do it quietly?! I can’t sleep with all that noise!” the older woman said, glaring as she turned her upper body around.

“Sorry,” Soojung apologized quickly and proceed to clean after her mother turned back around with an annoyed twitch. Her poor mother suffered from depression, sleep deprived, and migraines thus were not allowed to work. Her father, a man with anger management cannot stay in the same house thus lived and work in the other tiny home across. Her old man was a fisherman who would kill and freeze what he had, then go to the market once a week to sell it all. If the man does not sell everything then he won’t co