The Waters That Hated

Ghost Lights

The sun didn't make an appearance throughout the day, and the clouds continued to gather densely in the sky. It hadn't rained enough to create puddles, and I kept thinking about the people down by the shore who had likely done everything they could to catch a few drops. In the afternoon, I knelt in our garden, trying to find and remove the small plants that were trying to steal the good soil from our cabbages. You were not far away, wrapped in blankets and lying in a basket. I wanted to play with you, but we needed the cabbage. Some of the passersby reported fights down at the docks, brawls and even some spilled blood.

"That bastard snuck in here and tainted the water! Just because they have nothing themselves in their rat-infested land!" spat someone as they passed by.

Others carried filled buckets. Presumably, they had started carrying water from the mountain streams down to the houses below. However, there weren't enough people to even come close to supplying the people and gardens near the harbor... I quickly brushed these terrible thoughts away. Guilt plagued me. I hated myself because I hadn't objected to our adventure back when we were young. Would Joo still be with us?

"Hello, my flower," a voice said from behind me.

I jumped and looked up.

Finally! Your father had returned! Eun stood there at the garden gate, his face dirty, and his hair tousled from the wind and weather, still wrapped in his coat that he usually wore at sea. His boots were dripping, and he looked tired and sad, but when he spotted you in your basket, he beamed.

I miss him so much, Joon-Ho! I wish you could have met him...

I quickly ran to him and hugged him. I could feel his warmth, but he flinched slightly when I wrapped my arms around him.

"Is everything okay?" I asked cautiously.

"It... It was a tough and long journey. We lost Seok..."

He now trembled and looked at me intensely.

"What? How?"

"I... Let me tell you inside. Not here. The people seem so... I don't know. When we docked, they swarmed us like vultures, asking questions. Whether we came from the South. Whether we had someone on board we had picked up somewhere. Whether we had been away for so long because we had in reality not gone fishing but smuggled food away. Nonsense. The people were hostile, as hostile as I've never seen anyone before. They tried to take our catch from us, said it didn't belong to us, and cursed us as filthy traitors. Madness! The port authorities helped us. I think we were almost attacked. After everything... Well. The catch is unloaded, and the ship is in the harbor. The others said they want to go home too, but I think they're going somewhere to have a drink together. I can't blame them..."

He flinched again.

"Is everything all right? What's going on?"

Wordlessly, he stepped back and rolled up his sleeve. A dirty cloth was wrapped around his upper arm, a makeshift bandage that seemed to cover a wound.

"But... what? What happened? You're injured! How, what? What happened? Please, tell me!"

"Inside."

His voice now sounded determined, and I got the feeling that it would be better to go inside with you two. I took you in my arms and headed toward the door when I noticed a group of children walking up the street, looking at us with a dark, hostile faces. I quickly got inside the house. When I locked the door behind Eun, he looked at me with a furrowed brow.

"I think we both have a lot to tell each other some things, don't we?"

I nodded slowly and began to heat up some soup for him while he looked after you.