Perfectly Scarred

The Captor

"I found her" Kate whispers through the phone.

"She's here, Carina, Roseanne is here!" She shouts to get the attention of the other Whistleblowers.

I ran as fast as I could to get away from them, no turning back, just me barefoot on this forest.

I heard Granddad calling my name but I refused to look at him. I need to escape, there's no way I could let them win.

"There's no point of running away, Roseanne. You're dead meat" Carina threatened me.

A whistleblower hit me with a baton and I crumpled on the ground. Carina laughs maniacally and pull my hair.

"Think you can get away with me that easily? You cannot fool me. I know you're hiding in the woods. I'm just playing your games. Too bad, I'm your worst nightmare, Dear Roseanne"

She pulls me up and grabs my arm tightly. I saw my Granddad crying, begging for Carina to not take me away.

"You'll be branded, too, old man. That, I can assure you" Carina threatened him.

I came back to reality when I heard Kate responded to Dahee. All those scenarios going through my head disintegrates the minute she look away. I expect her to tell Dahee that she's found me, hang up, call to the others, blow the large red whistle that hangs on a gold chain around her neck, but she stays calm, her voice not changing.

"I understand, Judge but I can assure you, Roseanne is not here. I think the grandfather is telling the truth"

She is looking right through me, as though she can't see me at all. Has it come to this? Have I been hiding so long that I'm no longer visible? I actually look down at my hands yo make sure I can see myself.

"You'd like us to take the grandfather to Seoul Citadel" Kate says, looking me up and down, continuing the conversation as if I'm not there.

Why isn't she telling her I'm here?

The news that they're going to take Granddad to Seoul Citadel, to Judge Kim, my aunt, the woman who personally branded me destroyed my life, causes panic to well in my chest. It's quickly followed a large wave of anger. They can't take my granddad.

"We'll bring him in now" she says, eyes still on me, and I'm waiting for the bombshell, for the moment she tells Carina and Judge Kim that I'm right here, beside her. "We'll be with you in two hours"

I'm about to scream at her, punch her, kick her, yell that she cannot take me and my granddad, but I stop myself. There is something liar about the way she is looking at me.

She puts the phone in her pocket fixes me with a long stare as if she's trying to think of something to say, then decides against it, and turns and leaves.

"Right, old man" she calls to Granddad. "We're taking you in. Judge Kim needs a word with you"

Even after I hear the vehicles drive away, I stay where I am. I sit in the cramped and damp conditions of a hollowed-out tree, trying to understand what exactly has happened.

Why didn't she take me?

It's been one hour since Carina left with my beloved Granddad in tow, carting him off as if he's some kind of criminal. I'm still huddling behind the tree, exhausted, hungry, cold and very afraid.