A Series of Sadness

Part 2

"Iseul, wake up! It's nearly time for schoooooooool" laughed Jeong-Ho as he sat in bed. I groaned and opened my eyes. I looked at him and sadness washed over me. He had lost both his legs in a plane crash arriving in Seoul, and we were the only survivors. No one else. Our parents had died. We were forever looked upon with scorn because of my brother's handi-capped state. He always tried to be brave, to show that he didn't care, but I had seen under that. I'd seen the sobbing mess he'd become after people started to bully him. People in Korea were great at bullying; they'd gang up on him when I was gone, taunting him endlessly.

I sighed, then helped him into his wheelchair and went downstairs to see what meagre breakfast we had today. An egg each. The orphanage owner gave us a sad smile and told us to eat. It wasn't enough, but food never was. We had been here for two years and we had never had a decent meal. Never. Our days went somewhat the same: wake up, eat, school, come back, homework, dinner, free time, sleep. It was boring, it was not fun. But it was life. Or at least, it was my life.

Our school wasn't far. Actually, it was pretty much next to our orphanage. I quickly threw on my hand-me-down, dirty blazer, shirt, and trousers. The shirt was meant to be white, but after at least a dozen orphans had worn it, it had been stained a light brown, even after being washed. I helped Jeong-ho put on his trousers, but accidentally dropped him, when he moved about suddenly. A welp broke the silence, and my heart skipped a beat. There, with my one mistake, he lay sprawled across the hard, wooden floor. Because of me. I tried to lift him up, and eventually, he was up on his wheelchair again. Eventually, meaning in half an hour. Suddenly, I remembered that we were going to be late. Very late. Very, very late for school.

"I'm really sorry, Miss, we didn't mean to be late. It was a mistake, like, there were some unex-" I tried to explain. And failed.

"ISEUL AND JEONG-HO!" the teacher screamed, whacking her cane on her desk, "YOU ARE LATE!" she yelled.

"As if we didn't know that," Jeong-Ho muttered.

"Do you know how much of a DISAPPOINTMENT this is? You have missed half of your first lesson, missing such a significant teaching from me and also..." the teacher began, rambling and rambling on. I just blankly stared at the wall, completely zoning out. Honestly, I was quite annoyed with this absolutely ridiculous teacher. As the teacher finally stopped yelling, I turned around and spotted many of my classmates snickering and pointing at my brother. Why do they need to be so irresponsible and mean? My day had been completely spoiled. At last, the final bell rang, and I wearily pushed Jeong-Ho out of the building. My classmates laughed at me for a whole two periods about being late. Great. I don't have a lot of friends. Well, I don't have any friends except for Jeong-Ho. But I don't think that counts.

"Hey, why don't you have legs?" asked Yonghee, a new orphan.

"I lost them in a plane crash," Jeong-Ho replied flatly.

"Hey, do you want to have a race- Wait, you have no legs! HAHA!" She burst out laughing. That was when I snapped completely. I don't know what I did. All I remember was screaming. Later, Jeong-Ho told me what happened. According to him, I threw myself onto Yonghee and started beating her up, and I would not stop until the orphanage owner prised me from her. He asked me what was going on, and I told him the truth. He punished us both, and Jeong-Ho was with me the whole time. And so, the night passed.