The Dark, Cold Night That Changed My
Life
Lena Haug, Group 3: Fiction, Zhuhai International School
ay 1
The day began as normal. I woke up early in the morning. I tied up my shoulder length,
wavy black hair and put my short, brown dress on. I opened the window and saw my Father had
already started planting rice. It was a wonderful spring morning. It wasn’t really hot, but it was just
the right temperature.
I ran out of the house, passed our huge meadow with the beautiful flowers. When I came to the field, I
also started planting rice with my Father. He was smiling at me. At that moment, I just couldn’t imagine my life
without my father. He was just the best father I could ever imagine. We did everything together. Sometimes we
had the same ideas at the same time. I was so happy to work with him.
He started telling me stories as he had always done, stories about the past methods of farming and his
life as a farmer. Today he told me about the year where they had no food. It was a really depressing story
because that year, they could only eat once every three days. My Grandfather died during that time because of
the lack of food.
Then my Mum called us for lunch. As we went into the house, my Dad told me, “Remember Liya,
there is always a way to solve problems. You just have to think.”
As we both came into the small and comfortable kitchen, my Mum and older sister were already sitting
on the bench by the table. We had rice for lunch.
We were almost finished when someone knocked on the door. Who would knock on the door? I looked
to my Mum.She just pulled her shoulders up as if she wanted to say, ‘I don’t know who that is.’
My dad went to the door and opened it. He stood there for awhile as he was talking to someone.
Then he came back to our table. He was ghostly white in his face. My sister asked him, “What’s
wrong? Who was...” She didn’t have to finish the sentence. We all knew who it was.
My Mum was saying really quietly, “No, it is not…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. The words just
wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
My Father nodded and answered, “Yes it is. Sorry, I have to go.There is no way I can escape. I have to
go to build the Great Wall.”
I was so depressed. Those were the last words my Dad said. Then he hugged us all and had to leave.
My Mum, my sister and I just sat at the table and cried. We sat there for thirty minutes.
After awhile my Mum stood up and announced, “This isn’t the best way to deal with this, to just sit
here and cry. Tomorrow we will have to go work on the field.”
I stood up and trotted to my room. At that moment, my tiny, comfortable room really looked empty,
even though it wasn’t empty at all. There was just something missing. I sat there and cried again.
I don’t know how long I sat there. I felt like I had been there an entire day but when I looked out of the
window, it was still light outside. I decided to draw because most of the time that was the only way I could
distract myself. This time the painting that I drew was horrible. I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
In the evening, while we were having dinner, no one talked. Terrified, I went to bed.
Day 2
I was awake the whole night. I was so fatigued when I went to the field in the morning.
As I was working in the field, a tear rolled over my cheek. I loved the times when I was working
together with my father and listening to his stories. There just had to be a way to get my father home! So many
ideas came to me as I was working but none of them were really good.
After lunch, I sat in my room and started drawing. As I drew, I had the perfect idea. The rest of the day,
I packed some of our family’s precious objects. It wasn’t easy because I didn’t want my sister and Mum to
know what I was doing. They wouldn’t have let me do it.
When the evening came, I had prepared everything. My Mum and my sister were asleep. I quietly
grabbed my black cloak and put it over me.
As I went outside, my hair waved in the cold, dark night. The wind blew into my face. I put the hood
up.
D