星期五, 六月 02, 2006
All I Have LeftBy The Asian Angel of Death
Sadness, Loneliness, Pain, Misery… it is all here in my country. The country of China has fought Japan for a long time now. The Chinese and the Japanese used to get along so well, what ever happen to the relationship they had. Now I feel deep hatred for them now.
My father and my mother were in the war between Japan and China. My father’s name was Tian Sheng. My mother’s name was LiGun. My father was a soldier and my mother was a nurse. One day on May 19, my father was shot near the bottom of the left lung. Li Gun was horrified at what she saw. She had not seen anything like this before up close. She had only seen it on books and she will still be horrified at what she saw, but she knew what to do. She first started a fir out of wood and matches. After the fire was ready she gave Tian Shang a rag. My mother said to bite it as hard as you can, it will help lower the pain you are going to go through. Now she got a piece of long metal and put it into the fire. It didn’t take long for the metal to be burning hot. She then took it and stuck it into the wound. This method helped stop the bleeding. This pain was unbearable to Tian Shang, but he couldn’t scream. Then Li Gun bandaged up Tian Shang’s wound.
That whole night they both talked. The huge fire was roaring through the whole night. Everything felt peaceful. Tian Shang and Li Gun began to like each other after that night. This meeting of my mother and father was one of my favorite stories that my mom used to tell me. It always made me feel like I was going to meet that special person to me.
My name is Shu Ping. I am only 16 years old, but already I have been through a lot. I grew up with a loving family, but the Japanese took that from me. My older sister’s name was Ai Ling. My older sister was really good in sports. My sister always will make people smile and make people feel very good about themselves. My older brother’s name was Wen Pin. My brother was the same way as my sister. He was very good in sports. He had this very good sense of humor that he could take almost any joke without getting mad.
My family was really happy, but we still had one person missing, my dad. My dad was still at the war between Japan and China. My mother isn’t a nurse there now because someone sent her a letter that stated that she could go back home. She doesn’t have to be there anymore. My father was not very fortunate; he had to serve at the war for another 4 years. My brother and sister both got to see him, but never remember how he looked. When one day was I was four years old, I saw my father for the first time. Everybody was crying that day. For a long time we were happy, until…
On my older brother’s birthday on May 19, my mom and dad decided to go to a cemetery. This cemetery was a special because it only held the people that died in the war. Some of my parents’ friends and family was there. My parents were very emotional when they saw their friends and families’ names on the grave stones. There was even my grandfather’s tome there. I never saw him, but I had heard so many wonderful things about him. Both my brother and sister got a chance to see him and remember him, but I didn’t get a chance to see him, or it was probably that I was too young to remember him. My grandpa died and left my grandma alone. My grandma lives with my cousins in the town north of us. We all was hopping that my grandma and my cousins were safe from the Japanese,
Everything was fine for s while. Until that fateful day, our hopes of having our grandma and cousins safe from the Japanese turn into fear. I was only 6. That year the Japanese invaded the town north of us because the town was by the ocean. When they came they were ruthless. They destroyed everything in site and killed everybody in site too. All the women were raped then killed. The men were chopped off of their heads. It was like a modern day Nan king slaying. While all of this was going on, everybody was watching it on TV they didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t do anything. Everyone felt helpless and they couldn’t only sit there and do nothing.
I didn’t want to see anymore. It took many days for the slaying to end. Nobody survived, that was what everybody heard. There was nothing left, but a burning town. My family decided, like many other families, to go to visit the town that day. It was an hour long drive from my town to theirs. Once we got there all the flames were all gone. Everything was burned up from houses to trees. That day we saw things that not everybody would want to see. We saw infants that died in their mother’s arms. The mothers looked like they were trying to protect their child, but both of them died. Before the children can start their lives, their lives ended. These scenes I saw were unbearable to see and watch. We finally got to grandma’s house; we found my cousins and grandma sleeping peacefully. The look on grandma’s face was a mixture of fear and peace. My cousins’ faces had the same look. The fire didn’t kill them but the burnt up wood from the ceiling did. The fire was so big that the ceiling caved in on them. All the families that lost a love one decided to bury them so they will rest in peace.
That day brought an uncertain future for them and fears. They began to think is this my future one day. Will I have to suffer the same fate as my love ones did? I would hear these questions from people that lost a love one. What will ender me and my family now? These questions will pop up everywhere in my mind.
On this day everyone was dressed up in white. White is used in burying love one because it symbolizes peace. That day everyone remembered the good times they had with their love ones. Some of the people burn their love ones bodies to ashes so they can dump the ashes in the ocean. When the burying began, everybody knew that they will rest in peace and they won’t have to be sad in the afterlife.
The Japanese didn’t stop there. They separated into two groups. The first group went east, while the other went north. They couldn’t go east because the ocean was to their west. The Japanese didn’t have enough men to go south. They thought that once they get more people to join their army they will go south, before they leave China.
The Japanese was not very successful at conquering the north or the west of China. The Japanese didn’t know that China’s best soldiers from the military was there waiting for them. For two years we were beginning to have a little hope that the Japanese would leave China soon. Every time Japan tried to destroy or conquer a town or city, the folks living there and the soldiers would push them back. The Japanese army was decreasing in numbers soon. The Japanese was pushed east, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t push back. Since they couldn’t push back, they decided to go south. No soldiers were protecting the south. Nothing could stop the Japanese from coming. When we found out that the Japanese were coming, many townspeople ran for it.
May 15 was the day the Japanese came to my town. The people started fighting them with all their might, but there weren’t enough people. Much of the townspeople left the town to get to safety. While the parents were fighting the children were hiding. Many of the children witnessed their parents get killed right in front of their eyes. They would soon come out of their hiding place and run to their mother and father’s side. They would cry while getting there and begged them not to go. The Japanese just smiled and kill the children as well.
Many children and adults were killed in horrifying ways. Some would get stabbed, others were chopped from some of their body parts, and some were victims of arrows. HE was the leader of the army. When HE found my parents, he started charging in rage after them. Me and my older siblings wanted to run towards him and protect our parents, but we promised mother and father that we wouldn’t come out no matter what happens. We knew all to well who that person was and how dangerous he could be.
My parents were fighting a great battle that we thought they would win. They managed to strip him from some of his weapons. HE was so distracted from the battle that he didn’t know that most of his soldiers were dead. Only 5 survived and they decided to run for it, but the remaining townspeople killed them before they reached the gate. While my parents were fighting him, we saw him pull out a gun. He took out the gun and aimed it at our mother. Father saw it and he stepped in front of my mother. My dad took the bullet straight into the chest, he was badly wounded. Me and my siblings wanted to scream, but nothing came out of our mouths. My mother was left to fight. She was fighting with rage instead of thinking about her every moves now because she was so mad. She charged at him and managed to take out his right arm, but HE took out the same gun and shot her right in the left chest. Me and my sister and brother were full of fear now and we were very horrified at what we just saw.
HE managed to find his sword and kill the remaining townspeople and children. HE couldn’t find us, though. Anger took control of us now and we wanted to kill him for revenge. So we took a bow and arrow from 3 dead soldier and we tried to shot him with the arrows. The first one missed, now since the arrow missed it gave away our location. We didn’t care so we just took different bows and tried to shot him again. As HE was coming nearer and nearer, we kept on shooting at him. Finally we each shot an arrow and it hit him in different places around his chest. My arrow hit him in the top part of his heart. My brother’s arrow hit him in the left chest. My sister’s arrow hit him right through the middle of the chest. We knew our parents would be proud.
After HE died, me and my brother and sister started to run to our parents. As we got there both our parents were laying next to each other barely breathing. “Ma, Pa, are you two ok? Don’t worry we will help you get better!” These were the words we said to our parents, but they just said it is ok, it is too late. “I am sorry that we have to leave you all, but take care of each other. Goodbye!!!” One day we will be united again.” That was the last thing that both my parents said to us. They died after they hugged each one of us. We knew then on that we needed to take care of each other since we are all alone now in this town. We decided to try to bury all the people that died in the hands of the Japanese. It took us about a week or so. It was lucky that they didn’t destroy the tower where our town saved the food. They didn’t destroy the well, too. We had enough food and water for a while.
For a while, we tried to clean up the town, but we weren’t very successful. We needed adults to help. My elder brother was often frustrated. The reason was because he never did anything to the Japanese. On the day on my brother’s 12th birthday, he told us that he was going to try to kill as many Japanese as possible. Me and my sister were surprised at what we just heard from big brother’s mouth. “For so long now the Japanese have tortured us, do you think I am going to sit here and let them ruin our lives even more and others too?!” My brother did have a point, but why would he leave us just to get revenge on the Japanese. I t was like my sister read my mind at that moment; She said exactly the words that I was thinking in my head. After, my sister said what she said, big brother calm down a bit. He said he was just frustrated about what has happened.
That night Wen Pin couldn’t sleep. He felt like he was in a lot of pressure. He had 2 sisters to take care and on the other hand he wanted to get revenge. What should I do? He would ask himself. He knew that there wasn’t enough money and food to last them for a long time. He needed a job so he could get money. Then he knew just what to do.
Wen Pin that night wrote a letter saying that he was going to find work. He also stated that he would be back later that day. Wen Pin got on a bus to the city and tries to find work there. He found a job as a coal miner. The coal miner job was just outside the city and it was a 9 hour job. The conditions in mine were not very good. Some of the rocks from the ceiling will fall down once in a while. My older brother’s job was to shovel the coal and put it in a bucket. He would then take the bucket outside. At some times the bucket would be very heavy and he could barely lift it.
Later on that day, my sister and I woke up. We found the letter beside the bed that we were sleeping in. When we read the letter, we felt proud of him. Then we decided that we would get together a feast for big brother. We got the food that we had so far and try to cook all his favorite foods. We started a fire to cook the food and then we would boil some water. We cooked up some steamed chicken and vegetables, fish, and some soup. We then set up the table to try to make it nice. We did the best we could with the table, but it was very burnt up, from the fire that happened. We had no choice but to get the other table that was very heavy. We finally got it up and we set the food on the table.
At 8:00 at night, Wen Pin came home. He was tired from work. When Wen Pin saw the food on the table he was so happy that he started to cry. This was the first time he felt happy and warm inside after that day. Wen Pin saw his sisters sleeping peacefully on the living room couch. He then went up to them and woke them up. He then said “Let’s go eat now, together as a family.”
The food was so good that all of us ate as fast as we can. We didn’t know we were that hungry that evening. That was the first good dinner that we had together since mother and father’s death. That moment we felt like one happy family. All our pain and sorrow was temporally gone for that brief moment in time. We all didn’t want it to end.
Every morning our big brother would go to work and bring home some food and money for us. Then one day our big brother was injured from work. A rock fell on his arm and broke his arm. He came home that day with so much pain. This happened 2 weeks after he got the job. Before my mother passed away, she taught my sister on how to cure wounds and stuff. My sister tried to cure our big brother’s arm. She pulled his arm rally hard and then bandaged it. My brother was screaming with pain, when she did that. After a whole week passed, our big brother’s arm recovered fully. He no longer felt pain in his arm. By the next day he was ready to go back to work. Me and my sister wished him luck and told him to be careful.
On the month of August, the Chinese army needed more soldiers. They said that they would send letters to all the men in each family to join the army. They had to join or they would be killed. We didn’t want our big brother to go join the army. On the next day the letter we dreaded came. Our big brother was holding the letter in his hands.
We knew then on that he had no choice, but to go. We didn’t want him to join the army. Me, big brother, and big sister sat down together and read the letter. It said:
Dear Shen family,
We need every male in your family to join the army. We don’t care how old they are, the younger the better. We understand that you don’t want them to go, but we need more soldiers to fight the Japanese. This is the only way to stop the Japanese from doing anything else horrible. We need to stop them once and for all. They start on August 8th. A bus will come at 10:00 in the morning.
Thank you for your corporation,
The Chinese Army
August 8th, August 8th was on Monday. Today is Saturday, so we only have 2 days left to spend time with our big brother. From that moment in time we tried to spend time with our big brother like it was our last. We tried to have as much fun time with him as possible.
August 8th came was fast as you can say the date. A bus was parked in front of our house at 10:00 a.m. A man stepped out of the bus and asks fro our older brother. Our older brother came down with a pale and sad face. He didn’t want to leave his sisters. He didn’t want them to be unprotected. The oldest sister was just 11 years old and the youngest was just 9 years old. They don’t know how to protect themselves. He left saying he would write to us everyday. He also told us how proud he was of us. We said our final goodbyes and then he loft.
We felt very lonely that day. The house was very quiet, but then again everyday was quiet in the house. The reason is that we are the only ones here in this town. Today felt different then the other days. Since our big brother was gone, we had to try to find a job now. My older sister decided that she was going to go to the city tomorrow to find work.
The next day I woke up a little early to wish my big sister good luck. When I woke up she was already dressed and heading out the door. I yelled out good luck outside the window. She just smiled and said thanks. That day I was alone in the house. Well, I thought to myself, I might was well clean up the house and make the house nice when my older sister comes home. That whole day I was cleaning and cooking.
My older sister came home at 7:00 pm. She found a job as an account in a local bank. I wasn’t surprise; she was always good in math. She got home very happy and it felt like nothing could slow her down. Her job was paying more then the coal miner’s job that our older brother had. Like what I did for my big brother when he came home with a job, I did the same thing with my older sister. Her face expression was so much like older brother’s face when he saw the food. She was bursting with tears of joy. I fell asleep before she came home. She woke me up to eat.
E everyday was same as always. I would be home alone cleaning and cooking until my older sister came home. Except this one day, my sister came home from work and was full of bruises. I asked her what had happen to her, but she just hid her feelings and just said I fell. Off course I didn’t believe her, but I just said ok and just left her alone. For the past 3 weeks, she will come home with bruises all over her. I was worried for her. So I decided that I would go to work for her. I told my older sister about the plan, but she refused to the idea. I couldn’t just stand there and just ignore the pain that my sister was enduring.
One day she came home crying with even more bad bruises. That day she couldn’t take it no more and told me just what was happening. The old boss retired, so a new boss was hired. The new boss was a very cruel man and he had a very bad temper. That temper can make him turn into a murder. I f he was losing money he will beat up his employees with a tree branch and threaten to fire them. No matter how hard everybody tried they would always get beaten. My older sister was his favorite target because she was the youngest and she was smarter than him. This boss never was very good at anything and he was dumb. He didn’t even know how to speak very well. The boss hated everybody in his bank and kept on boasting that he was the best and was smarter than everyone there. This boss never drinks, but he often smokes these fancy cigars. The employees wanted to call the police, but they couldn’t.
My older sister said someone once called the police, but she was immediately fired and was beaten to death. Her body was dumped into the ocean and threatens them to not tell anyone. After that day more deaths occurred. The boss was often very angry and would take any employee all beat them to death and then dump them in the ocean. When I heard all of this I felt sorry for my sister and fear for her.
The following day after my older sister explain everything to me, she came home very happy and I didn’t see anymore new bruises on her. She told me that the boss was caught dumping one of the recent victims of his anger. The police arrested him and was charged with a lot of money. The police told them to net come to work until they found another boss. My sister came home after the police told them everything. I felt happy for her and relieved. She now doesn’t have to fear the boss no more. The police said every employee will get paid while they look for a new boss.
It has been 11 months since the old boss was fired. I am now 10 years old and my sister is 12 now. We had enough money to last us for a long time. We were happy and we would read our older brother’s letters. He said he fine and he will be able to fight the Japanese very soon. That was his 10th letter to us. One day the letters stop coming from our big brother. We started to become scared. Many questions popped up in our heads. Questions like did something happen to him? Is he ok? We were very nervous and scared.
One day a letter came from one of my big brother’s friends. The letter was signed by lots people and most of them were his best friends that he made while he was in the army. The letter said:
Dear Shen Family,
Wen Pin Shen was a great fighter. He is going to be honor for his bravery. When he first came to us, he was a beginner, but we saw fierily anger in him that we had never seen before. He was ready to fight the Japanese. He passed all his training with flying colors. Even though he was tough person, he had much bravery and kindness. On August 1, a bunch of cars were going to a base in the south. Your brother/son was in one of the cars. A group of Japanese surrounded them. The soldiers managed to kill all of them, but they lost a lot of men. While fighting one of the cars exploded and send everybody flying to many different places near the area. Your brother/son tried to take almost all of them to the camp in the south. After he dropped of some of the people there, he then went back for his other friends. He managed to get his friends near the base. He was very close to the base until a group of Japanese soldiers surrounded him. They showed no mercy to him and killed him immediately. Two of his friends witnessed his death and tried to kill the Japanese soldiers off, but there were too much. Both of them got shot, but not very badly. After laying here for almost a half an hour, they found Wen Pin on the ground laying there motionless. Wen Pin’s friends decided that they should take his body back to the base to be sent home. He is going to be buried in your home town’s cemetery. We would probably bury him next to his relatives. We are going to bury him on August 7th. We are sorry for your lost.
For all due respect,
The army cadets, his friends
Our brother is with father and mother. When we read this it was like another empty space had appeared. We felt like we were going deep into the darkness. That day was full of despair and sadness. This feeling was just like the day our parents died. We felt like we didn’t want to live.
August 7th was a proud day and a sad day too. The people in the army base found out that we had lost our parents from the hands of the Japanese. That day a bus came full of our older brother’s friends and sergeants. Five of my brother’s closest friends held his coffin. My brother that was honored a medal for his bravery and heroism. The sergeants would tell me that even though he was very young, he will always be remembered. My brother died wanting revenge and he had it. He was happy, but he never saw what he was going to do next in his life. Now me and my sister knew he was happy. I know he wanted us to be happy because he was happy now. He is up in the beautiful place up in the sky. Mother and father would protect him there now. Finally my older brother was buried next to my mother and father. It was a quiet and sad time. There was no sound; except for the sound of thunder telling us that rain was coming. Everybody helped filling in the grave so that rain wouldn’t get into the hole. We finished just in time, right before the rain could come down hard. We all took shelter in the house until the rain calm down. Out of all the years I lived I had never sent the rain come down that hard before for a long time.
My sister and me had to move on, no matter what we can’t give up. Maybe one day we will get out of this nightmare. One day the money stop coming from the old boss. I think he ran out of money. Then again the money he sent us weren’t that much. We were running out of money and food.
She went back to the city and tried to find work, but she couldn’t find any. She looked hard for the whole day. That night she came home with a disappointed face. She told me even though our luck is bad today, tomorrow will be better. The next day it took a while to find a job. She found a job where she could sell goods to other people. That day she came home with 2 boxes of goods, water, and many other things. Her job was to sell everyone of the goods by the end of the week. She had to carry around the goods everyday on her back. Even though this wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. My older sister would try very hard to sell everything. Each week 2 more boxes would come. Even though my sister sold all of these goods, she only receives hold of the pay she sold. That money was enough though for food and water for us. There wasn’t enough to buy new clothes. We were getting taller and our clothes were getting smaller. We haven’t had new clothes since our older brother went away to join the army.
On my birthday in March, I finally got a chance to go to the city. The city was beautiful. My older sister took me there so that we can spend more time together. We went to all these different places. We went to zoo, the park, and we walked around the city looking at the fancy stores they had there. At the zoo there were lots of animals that I have never seen before. I had never seen animals like lions, penguins, and a seal. They made some really funny sounds. We took a walk in the park after we came from the zoo. There were many trees and plant life there. I saw many people just there to sit down and relax. I saw many types of birds, too. Then we went to look around the city. We never enter a store because we couldn’t afford all the tings in there. The last thing we did was go to a restaurant to eat. I had a bowl of ramen and my older sister had a bowl of ramen too. It was so good. That day was one of the best birthdays ever.
The next day my sister went back to sell goods. She would carry the goods on her back and try to sell as many goods as she can.
Ai Lin will always wake up everyday and think about work and taking care of her little sister. She knew that she had to take care of herself, too. She knew that if she continue to work very hard she will gt sick, but she didn’t care. As long as she is breathing and alive she will work hard to take care of her sister and herself. Everyday she would go out and work hared to sell everything. If she sold everything by a week she can have a break until it is time for her to get the next load of boxes. She sold all the goods before a week only once and that was on Shu Ping’s birthday. Ai Lin felt so glad that she had a chance to spend time with her younger sister, Shu Ping.
Ai Lin often got sick, but she will still try to sell the goods. When she is sick she will never let Shu Ping notice. Shu Ping was always worried about her sister. Shu Ping knew that her sister was not that kind of person to show how she is feeling inside. Ai Lin’s determination came to a big halt when she got very sick.
Another tragic happened my sister is very sick. She can’t even walk or eat. She couldn’t even get up from her bed she would often try to get up so she can get to work. My sister needed medicine and fast, too. Her fever would often go up and then go down. Since my sister was sick I would often sale the goods and carry it home. That I would use the money and buy her the medicine she needs. Everyday was the same as usual, the medicine would make her feel better, but it would never get rid of her illness. Sometimes I would come home with little to nothing of the goods sold.
For weeks my sister’s fever has not gone down to normal. I am starting to worry some more. Everyday I will try to convince her to go to the doctor. She would always refuse to go. She would always tell me that she would get better. Everyday when I come home she would look like she is in so much pain.
One day my sister agreed to go to the doctor. I decided not to work that day so I can get her to the city. My sister barely could get up from her bed. She was very weak. I helped her up from her bed. She has gotten a lot lighter because of her illness. She was in so much pain that she could not eat or drink anything anymore, but she would always try to. I carried her all the way to the city. I had been to the city for a long time and I knew where everything was by heart. I quickly ran to the hospital because I could feel my hands and arms starting to slip.
I finally got in the hospital. I was just in time too. I put my sister on a chair, while I went to talk to a nurse. I asked the nurse where I might find a doctor for my sister. The nurse asked me to wait so she can contact a doctor right away. I went by my sister’s side and try to comfort her. I told her to wait a bit so they can call the doctor. After about 15 minutes of waiting, the nurse finally called us. The nurse told us to go to room 666. That room was on the 6th floor of the building. We have to go right to go to the elevator the nurse told me. The elevator was pack when me and my sister got there. I tried to get in there, but me and my sister couldn’t. We had to wait for another one. It came down in about 3 minutes or so and we got on. It took us to the 6th floor and we started looking for room 666. We found it, and it was hidden in the left far corner of the floor. The doctor’s name was Li Syoran. He gave my sister many test, while I was waiting outside of his office.
It is about 5:00 in the afternoon, my sister has been in there for about 5 hours now. The door finally open and I found my older sister crying. Those made me worry more than I thought. The doctor told me that my sister is very sick and she has a very bad illness. When the doctor told me the name of the illness, I didn’t listen; my mind just went blank at what I just heard. My sister is very sick and she might die. That is all I heard from the doctor’s mouth. I didn’t want her to be sick; I wanted her to get better. I went by my sister’s side and she looked sicker than she ever had been. She was very pale; she looked like a ghost to me. That moment I thought to myself “why is all of this happening to me? I am only 12 years old!” This is too much for me to handle and I didn’t want to be alone in this world. I didn’t know if I was ready. I began to feel tears coming down my eyes. My sister wiped my tears away, but more just came out.
The doctor told me that she can stay in the hospital until she is better. They would provide the best medicine for her. These words that Dr. Li Syoran told me, left me with a little hope. I went over to my sister and told her I will try to visit everyday. I couldn’t live in the hospital to on my sister’s side, but I was allowed to visit her. I was left with no choice, but to go home. I walked all the way home that day worrying about my sister and a little hope of her getting better.
When I got home it was about 9:00 at night. I was tired from today. I just wanted to go to sleep, but I had things to do. I had to clean the house and get myself something to eat. That day when I looked at myself in the mirror, I found nothing but sadness in my reflection. I had become so skinny because I never had much to eat. My reflection showed me how I really felt inside and showed me the real me inside. It kind of scared me to see that I look like that now.
The next day I would take the goods and try to sell them out to people. After it was done I went to see my sister. She was very happy to see me. Even though she looked so pale and sick, deep down inside she felt better than any day in her life. After that I would ask the doctor if she was getting better. They just frown at me and just walk away. That wasn’t a good sign. The doctor knew that she was not going to get any better. Every single day I would come after work and visit my sister. My sister always would greet me with the warmest smile. Everyday I would ask the doctors the same question. They always gave me a frown and walk away. All the hope of her getting better was starting to cease. It was not long until her birthday came that my hope was gone.
On March 29, my sister’s birthday, she looked so sick but she felt no pain unlike before. The medicines help her get rid of the pain, but never helped her get better. Everybody that knew my sister in the hospital came to celebrate her birthday. Mostly everybody gave her balloons and flowers. The rest of the people gave her a teddy bear. I couldn’t give her anything but the thing I cooked that morning. These gifts helped her get better a little bit. My sister was very happy to have all her friends and family with her on her birthday. She never felt that happy for a long time. That was a birthday that me and my sister would never forget.
After a week from her birthday, I went to visit my sister. She wasn’t in her room. I began to panic. I asked the doctors where my sister was and they told me she was in the emergency room. I went near the emergency room and waited until she got out. The doctors finally came out and told me that my sister is very weak and she only has a few hour to live. I wanted to scream and try to tell myself that this is all a nightmare, but I am only dreaming. I knew this was not a dream this is reality. I stood by my sister’s side the whole night.
Ai Lin knew that she only had a little time to live. She needed to tell her sister how proud she was of her and to not worry about her. She looked to her side and saw her little sister there crying her eyes out. Ai Lin told Shu Ping, “Don’t be upset about my death. The angels above us are coming for me. They will take care of me. Mom, dad, and our brother, Wen Pin will take care of me. We will be looking down on you protecting you. For all my life I was so proud to have you for my sister. You would always be there for me when I needed help. I may not have much time now, but I am telling you now you will never be alone. Everybody you love will always be with you.
After she finished these words, I felt her hand getting colder. I knew she was dieing, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I saw my sister’s last day on earth. I couldn’t stop it; I cried my eyes out that day.
The next day I went to pick up the goods, but the person died from a heart attack last night. The place was then close down and burned to the ground. I guess it was in the boss’s will to burn down the store. I started to try to find work again, but I had no luck. There was nothing I could do. It felt like everything is starting to fall apart. I found a paper where it said that there is going to be a train to go to Beijing. It would come on April 14. That left me 8 days to prepare. I had to pack light. I am going to sneak on to the train. I could not afford the tickets to go on the train.
On April 14, I woke up extra early. I was going to leave my hometown. I am really going to miss my hometown. I took all the things I needed and I started to go to the train tracks near my house so I can sneak into one of the cargo carts. The train was going slower than I thought. It was not long until I got myself and my things on one of the cargo cart. I thought to myself that I was finally free and I can find a job better in Beijing than here. I found myself not alone in that cargo cart. There was a family in there. The family looked like they have been there for a long time. There was a mother, a father, a little boy, and 2 little girls. This family reminded me about my own family that I lost. The family looked surprised when they saw me.
I started to close the door of the cart so that nobody would notice something. As I did the family lit up some candles. They gave me one, too. I could see they were very much prepared for their journey. The youngest girl came up to me and asked me for my name. I told her my name was Shu Ping Shen. She told me I had a nice name and that her name was Xing Zhou. She introduced me to her family. The father’s name was Liu Wen Zhou. The mother’s name was Xian Ling Zhou. The young boy’s name was Yun Yi Zhou. The other young girl’s name was Xian Ying Zhou. They told me that they had no money and could not find a job. They wanted a better life in Beijing.
The journey to Beijing was long and hard. Every time the train would stop we had to hide among the back. We didn’t want to be seen. Every once in a while another person would come onto the cart. Not all of them were lucky to pass the next stop. They were captured and then punished. At some times we would have so little food and water. Me, the Zhou family and others would try to go through the passenger’s bags to find food. At times we would have large amounts of food and at times we would have none. Many people would get sick because of the lack of air the car had and the poor nutrients they were getting. It was a 2 week ride, but it has felt like 2 years.
Everybody survive that journey to Beijing. Everybody got there after 14 days of being in the train cart. Even though we made it to Beijing, we had to be careful of the police checking the carts. We had to move quickly if we want to not get caught. The Zhou family and me were lucky not to get caught by the police, but everybody else was caught. They would be punished for something that they wanted a better life. I even heard a woman’s voice screaming on top of her lungs pleading for mercy. That voice sounded a lot like the woman who was pregnant. The woman wanted to have money for her baby. Her husband died and she was left with no money or anybody by her side.
Beijing was a beautiful place. There were tall buildings and the streets were filled with stores.
- All I have Left
by Xiao Liu Lu @ 9:14 下午