The Broken Window

“Submit your essay on any given topic related to a traumatic incident” Mrs. Sarah bellowed to her little students. The little Asian girl came forward with a book in her hands. “Is that yours?” Mrs. Sarah asked. The little girl nodded. “Oh, read it for us” and Mrs Sarah showed the girl to the middle of the class.

The girl read “

  “The Broken Window”

It was during the early hours of the evening. The smell of coffee was filling the air in that part of Seoul. Three dogs were coming back home from an evening walk with their owner. Jihoon, hooked back the dogs to their chain and ran back into the house.

  Collapsing on a sofa, he texted his brother, I’m home, where are you?”.

  A shrill sound of a cry came from upstairs. It sounded like one of Ju-Young’s victory shouts. Jihoon dragged his eyes from his phone and looked up to the ceiling. “What game are they playing now?” he thought to himself. Maybe Monopoly or Chess?

   A message popped up from his brother on his phone: “Almost home. I bought dinner! *Smiley face*”. Jihoon leapt from the sofa and sluggishly walked outside to wait for his younger brother, Seo-Jun, to arrive. Seo was already two houses away.

  Soon his little siblings came stomping down the stairs. “Seo bought dinner!” came Jin-Hye's tiny voice as she ran downstairs into Seo's arms. With his normal sluggish movements, Jihoon went into the kitchen to arrange their dinner. Seo came in to help soon later.

 They were finally done with their meals even though Ju-Young was still munching on something. The environment was quiet, a little too quiet for a normal night at Seoul. Jihoon looked at his siblings, even they too weren’t chattering like usual.

  It was almost ten o'clock but his younger siblings weren’t showing signs of sleepiness nor drowsiness. “Did they sleep at noon?” Seo asked his older brother, also surprised his siblings weren’t asleep. “Dunno” Jihoon shrugged, then quickly bought out his phone to begin texting. His siblings, Jin-Hye and Ju-Young soon began a game.

  Suddenly, there was a loud sound. The breaking of glasses. Jin-Hye began screaming and ran into Ju-Young. Seo jumped right in front of his little siblings. Jihoon felt confused, Jin-Hye's screams got louder and confused him even more.

  A man on black with a fifty pound club appeared behind the broken window. He had a mask on. His growling were like that of a hungry wolf and his eyes were fixated at Jin-Hye.

     He was about descending into the house when the lights of the night watchmen shone on his face. Jin-Hye began screaming again, she was holding on tight to Ju-Young now. Ju-Young kept staring into space for a while then he slowly sat on the floor.

  Jihoon couldn’t recognize his face and the man soon ran away. Neighborhood dogs were now barking noisily even his own dogs soon joined the chorus. It also seemed like they were trying to pull out of their chains. Some gunshots were heard. Seo kept calling on everyone to stay calm but Jihoon could see his body violently shaking. It seemed Ju-Young had passed out.

   The watchmen came back later to inspect them. And Jihoon reported his siblings and himself safe. The crashing of the window had thrown their heart into near heart attack. He thought of calling his parents but objected since it was already too late in the night.

  Seo opted to carrying Ju-Young to bed, he didn’t seem like he could but Jihoon let him anyway. Jin-Hye glued herself to Jihoon as he carried her upstairs to her room. Although, they were all in bed. They found it hard to close their eyes. But soon they finally went to sleep. The night was long.

 Jihoon barely slept. Replays of crashing windows, screams and barking of angry dogs played in his head. He climbed down his bed and walked carefully to his siblings' room.

 Ju-Young was a bit hot. Jin-Hye seemed to be calm but had a pale face but Seo-Jun was already high with fever. Jihoon placed his little torch at a table and left to get a bowl of water and a towel. He soaked the towel in the lukewarm water and placed the wet towel on Seo's head and checked the temperature of his neck. His hand burned. Seo was still shaking slightly.

  It weakened him to see his brother this way. Seo was one person who could man-up in times like this. If he falls into trauma, then their parents might really need to visit. Jihoon couldn’t handle this on his own.

 By eight o'clock the next morning, Mrs. Park was already at her children's apartment. After making sure Ju-Young and Seo-Jun had some medications. She walked round the house to the broken window.

  “That window would cost a lot to be repaired” Jihoon said from behind his mother. She nodded in agreement. The window was a rare blue colored. Hard to find around. It was almost five-feet tall and anyone standing a meter away from it could have been seriously injured when it was broken.

    Since it was late already, the robber might have only thought of breaking in through a window since he couldn’t crash the duralumin door. “Get a long blanket” Mrs. Park ordered her son, and he quickly disappeared into the house.

  Stooping low, she felt the broken glasses on the floor. They were scattered outside and were dangerous. “That man must have been desperate. He should have known breaking a glass window would raise an alarm” she mumbled. She stood up straight and kicked against the glasses. “Well, Thank God, he made some rackets or what would have befallen my children?” she sighed heavily.

  Jihoon soon came with a blanket to cover up the window.”

A round of applause was given to the little Asian girl. “That was far past the amount of words you were given. Impressive performance!” Mrs. Sarah smiled. The girl cheeks went a slight red.