The Weeping Masses: A Young Adult Dystopian Survival Saga (Juche - Part 3) by Adria Carmichael

Author:Adria Carmichael [Carmichael, Adria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-02-27T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

The next morning, I woke up furious. Mom and dad had already left, but Nari was still sleeping. My cracked rib, as well as my swollen and bruised face, ached horribly, but I hardly even noticed it. Lying motionlessly on my quilt with my eyes fixed on the dark cracks in the ceiling, the overwhelming feeling that everything was against me swept over me again and again. Both General Roh and Colonel Wan were personally targeting our family because of what the men in our family had done at one time or another. Nari had been raped by Chul - who was supposed to be our friend - and now she was just as weak and sick as before the heart surgery. Yesterday, we were not able to fill our quota, and in addition to only getting half rations for two weeks, we got the crap beaten out of us by Mr. Ma and his posse. Finally, our last lifeline - the two bags of rice under our floor - was severed, leaving us with virtually no food… and no chance for survival. And on top of all this, mom decided it was a good time to lose her mind, which not only resulted in alienating Mrs. Choy - the only doctor available to care for Nari - she also managed to get a whole month of cut rations for her and dad as well.

Another wave of warm hatred swept through my body and into my head, where it merged with the warmth from the throbbing swelling and bruises.

How could mom have been so thoughtless? Because of her, we will starve… all the while she eats to her heart’s content in the Chrysanthemum Garden with the other privileged prisoners. And we still have no idea who stole our rice!

With dad growing weaker and more broken by the day, the entire burden of Nari and me surviving had ended up on my shoulders, and on my shoulders alone. An enormous weight pressed against my chest. The room was spinning together with the thoughts swirling around my mind, making me nauseous. I remained in bed, unable to get up. I just needed a little more time…

And who could have taken our rice?

It had been well hidden under the floorboards, so you wouldn’t have found it if you didn’t know it was there. In that regard, I understood mom accusing the Choys, and sure - they could have hidden it somewhere else - but personally, I had a hard time believing it.

Could it have been taken by the guards?

It’s possible. It was like the arrogant senior guard said yesterday - it was nothing short of a treasure that we harbored in our house… more than they get in two or three years.

But how would they know it was there? There are literally hundreds of houses here, and we would have known if they were searching all of them…

Whoever took it, the brutal truth was that the likelihood of getting our rice back was close to zero.

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