Seoul

Its a typical morning for everyone. There was no ring from the bell until the clock strikes twelve. Every last students struggled on their way to school, trying not to miss the class before the door closes. The class was almost full, filled with high school students playing and chatting together. That was before someone came in, shut them down in a second as she came. In that short silence, rain suddenly landed and hit the windows, covering that silence.

She walked into the classroom, as the first rain pelted for this spring. It was the first day after a long time of absence. Everyone wondered of where she had gone, but the reason was something astonishing for the persepective of a high school student. Ashamed are what they felt towards her, as TV stations broadcasted the shocking news of her family. A car accident happened to the family, which left her mother dead. She survived, along with her father who later commit suicide. But truth wasn’t the first thing to look, and judgements came up instead. Her father and even herself, was speculated as the perpetrator for the accident.

It was shameful, but it was a topic that can be talked without a guilt to her family. She chose to shut , holding back her anger to the classmates who talked behind her back. Drowning myself in books and earphones probably will help, she thought. Slowly, sleep was about to take her, and she stood up. But someone bumped to her.

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

She saw her classmate who accidentally spilled some food to her. What her friend didn’t realize was the sudden tremor that hit her. She was trembling all over, couldn’t say a thing. The trauma took her back, recalled the words.

“Filthy punk”

“You’re dirty, don’t you know that?”

“This dirty kid, why would you even be here?”

“I don’t want to be with the girl who dirtied her hands to kill her mother”

Her friend wasn’t given a word, not seeing the trauma on her. She quickly ran away from the class and cleaned her uniform. Wasted a lot of water without realizing, the words kept replaying inside her head. She faced the mirror, looking at herself.

She was me.

*