In the Pocket is Something

During a writing course this summer, the students did a guided meditation in which they listened to music and had to write down what came to mind. The guidelines were 1. where is the story taking place?, 2. Who is in it and what is their relationship? and 3. What are they doing? After that, each student was given a postcard to look at. On the postcard there was a place for something to be hidden. They were to combine the setup from the music with the hidden mystery of the postcard to write a story. This is Tae Heon's story.




Once upon a time, there was a rich couple who lived in a small town. The couple was very nice and the couple always helped poor people and old people. Most people who lived in the town respected the couple. The couple had one anxiety. The anxiety was that they didn`t have a child. The couple always prayed to God. Their neighbors also prayed for the couple. One year after one day, the wife of the couple became pregnant. After 10 months, the couple got a pretty baby girl ‘Silvia’. A number years later, Silvia became a nice girl like her parents.
Silvia and her parents still helped other people. Because of this family, the town was very peaceful and happy. There was only one bad couple that didn`t like Silvia`s family. They thought Silvia`s family pretended to be good. One day, the bad couple slandered Silvia`s parents to the King, so Silvia`s parents went to prison. Although Silvia didn`t go prison, she had to become a slave of the bad couple. The bad couple were very happy. The bad couple`s son who was named Ted. He didn`t like his parents` behavior. In fact, Ted loved Silvia.
As soon as Silvia arrived at Ted`s house, the bad couple ordered her “Change your clothes! Get ready work!”. She had to change her clothes from clothes which her parents made for her to shabby clothes. She always worked hard, without rest, for the family. Silvia was very tired because she had to always work hard. Ted was so sad and sorry to her. He wanted to give her freedom. He decided to help Silvia become free. One day he heard his parents say “Next week we will go to a party which will be held at the palace. Silvia will be trapped in her small room in the house.” Ted thought ‘It is a good chance for Silvia!.’
One week later, the party day came. As soon as the party time came, the bad couple ordered Silvia “Go into your room!. We will lock the door, don`t try to escape from the house”. She was very sad. When she entered her room, Ted gave her one small note and whispered to her “Read this note after we go to outside”. Although she was very surprised, she didn`t speak anymore. When the family went outside, Silvia read the note in her small room. The note said “Hello Silvia, I`m Ted. We will arrive at home very late. In your room, there are some clothes which you can wear. In the clothes`s pocket, I put your room`s key. Open the door and escape my house. I love you, but I want to you be happy.” Silvia started to cry and she looked at the clothes. The clothes were clean like new things. The clothes were hanging on the wall, and she found key from in pocket.
Silvia escaped from the house, and she became free. Silvia went far away. Nobody knew about the place. Silvia and Ted thought about each other until they died. They prayed for each others’ happiness.

~Lee Tae Heon
HUFS FLEX Writing Course