Xia of Tumen

Chapter 1

A seven year old girl sat beside her parents, on a little boat that was sliding through the Tumen river. She was laughing every time she got hit by a splash of water. She couldn't understand why her parents let her swim in other rivers, but never this one.

"Papa, Who lives on the other side of the river?" She asked.

"That is a whole other country. It is called North Korea. So who do you think lives there?"

The girl jumped up onto the railing of the boat, "The North Koreans!" And right at that moment, the boat jerked to avoid a rock the captain had managed to not see till that moment. Her father grabbed onto the rail, on the opposite side of the boat from Xia, so he wouldn't fall over.

Her father turned around while saying, "Get down from there Xia!" But she wasn't there, she wasn't anywhere. He looked behind the boat, and there she was swimming towards the bank behind them.

He turned to his wife, "Pick us up on your way back down the river! Don't worry! I'll find something fun to do with her!" He then dove into the water.

"But what if you aren't there?"

"If I'm not there at 7 you have to go back home without us, but we will be there! Don't worry!"

His wife replied under her breath, "I've heard some bad stories of North Korea, and that is the way Xia just went."

Xia reached the other shore, and panting, watched the boat slide through the water, going away from her. But it would turn back. She knew it would. Then she saw someone jump out. They were swimming towards her. He came to her, and then she recognized him as he came on shore, and started walking towards her.

"Papa! I knew you would come back for me! I knew it!" Xia shouted excitedly.

"We're going to have to miss the beach trip. Mama is going to come back to pick us up. We get to spend a day together, just you and me. Do you think you can swim across the river? Are you strong enough?"

"Of course I am! I'm strong enough for anything! Let's go!" Xia jumped into the river, "Well, Are you coming?"

"I'm coming." Xia's father hadn't quite realized how dangerous crossing that river would really be. He knew they wouldn't allow North Korean's across, but he wasn't North Korean, he had just crossed over, surely they would let him go back!

So they both began to swim across. Soon the guards began to yell at them, but they couldn't understand what they were saying, so they continued swimming.

BOOM!

Xia jumped at the sound of a bullet launching from a gun, and Papa's frightening shout. She saw him begin to sink, and there was something red coming from his back. She was old enough to know what just happened. She couldn't think of what to do, so she screamed, and then grabbed her father and tried to drag him back to the nearest shore, the one she had just left.

Those were the most terrible few moments of her life. Her arms were quickly tired. She had to hold her father's head above the water. She couldn't take a break because her father would drown, and she knew each moment brought her closer to losing her father. Even though it only took a minute or two, it felt like forever. She finally got him on shore.

She wanted to just collapse beside him, but she knew she had to do something! So she ripped off a piece of her father's shirt and tied it around him like a bandage. That was all she could do. She just sat there holding her father's hand. He tried to talk, but she couldn't understand him.

Suddenly she noticed she didn't hear any breathing, except her own. She put her hand over his mouth, But she didn't feel his breath! She tried to do CPR like she had seen in movies, but it didn't work. She even tried stomping hard. It didn't work. She just sat down beside him and cried. Her whole life had fallen apart within a couple of minutes.. One minute she was with her family going on a trip to the beach, happy as any seven year old could be. Now she was a lost little girl, with her father lying there beside her, never to get up again.

She cried and cried, then finally fell asleep, with her head resting on her father's chest. All her sadness was forgotten in happy dreams of how her life was before. Oh how sad she would feel when she woke up, and found that the nightmare was reality, and the dream was only a memory.