Helicopter Page 9

When we headed out of camp, the sun was rising up to the clouds. I could feel the heat touching upon my shoulders as I saw Ping and Lynn looking as healthy as we ever were. I had a smile across my face and looked out on to the horizon. Out there was just a path, the dirt road to our family. Even though we had to go through many different treacherous obstacles we could never forget the event that we had been experiencing for over four years. I thought back to Dad, and how loving, caring, and kind he was to all of us, to everyone. I closed my eyes shut for a few second holding back the tears, I had a small laugh to myself as I looked up to the sky and saw as the clouds formed his face. I could clearly see my dad up there in the sky, watching over us, proud that we had survived the pain, the sorrow. We continued walking for several hours as the refugee camp was not close to where we stayed previously. I looked over to Ping as she also looked happy for the first time in a long, long time. I brought out my short arms and placed it over her shoulders and said in a calming voice “We did it, it’s over, I can’t believe we made it, we’re alive.”

  “Yeah, I can’t either Seang, I thought we were going to die, now we are alive and healthy, we all are going to be together soon.” She responded as she took a deep breath and water started to form around her eyelid.

  “Hey, don’t cry Ping, we’re fine, we are going to meet Mom, Sakol, and Sophea soon. They’ll come and get us, don’t you worry about that. Isn’t that right Seang, everyone’s going to be okay, you got that?” Lynn spoke with certainty in her voice.

  I hoped what Lynn said was true, I’m going to believe her, after all she is my older sister, and older people know what’s wrong and what’s right. If Lynn thinks we are all going to be fine, then I think we are all going to be together as a family once again with smiles instead of pain.

  Hours passed ever since we started our journey, and we were all starting to get tired, but most importantly hungry. I opened that bag that I had prepared just before going back, and it was filled with fresh fruit from the refugee camp. Lynn had carried the clothes, while Ping had nothing to carry as we didn’t want Ping to carry heavy things over the long walk or else it would tire her out. I took out the three bright colored oranges that had a sweet fragrant. I handed each of us one orange to eat and we all sat down next to an old lifeless tree. I took out my orange and started to peel the skin off with my fingernails as Lynn had to peel both her orange and Ping’s orange as she still didn’t know how to do it herself. I took one bite of the orange, and I could feel as my hunger was going away and I could now continue walking a longer distance. I looked at Ping and Lynn as the orange had the same effect on them with Ping becoming more energetic and looked as if she had just woken up from a good night’s rest. After taking a short break from eating the fruit, we got up once again and continued walking.

  The time was around the afternoon as the sun was still up at its highest peak. I wondered to myself how there was no one else walking around, and we couldn’t hear any fighting, gunshots, cars, or other people. It was just us three walking together on one dirt road back where we had stayed. “Do you think any more of the Khmer Rouge will be there, do you think anyone is going to be there or did they all flee and leave to the refugee camps?” I asked Lynn.

  “I don’t think you should worry about that, I’m sure that there will be kids there and the Vietnamese soldier told us that there was no Khmer Rouge soldiers anymore. Besides the Khmer Rouge is probably too scared to fight now that the Vietnamese soldiers are guarding this place.” Lynn responded. Lynn always had that personality which made it seem that everything was going to be fine. She always made me think the future will be better than the past and that I should have no worries. I love that about her, she is an amazing sister whom I glad to have by my side.

  The wind was blowing hard and my back was starting to ache due to the amount of weight that I had to carry for the food. When Lynn questioned me to sit down and take a few minutes to rest, I just responded with a simple “we have to continue” and we always start walking again without stop.

  The sun started to go down as we realized we had been walking for over 12 hours on the same road. “How much longer until we get there Lynn?” Ping asked with an annoying tone.

  “Not much longer actually, we are almost there, you see that hill across that tree, after that we are back at our house. Just a few more kilometers to go, come on and hurry up.” She responded with another phrase which made Ping and me happier to understand that we were going to arrive at our destination. Another hour passed and the sun had finally gone down, we were at the hill which she told us would be where our house was, and looking forward, I saw how steep the hill was and had hope that after this, Mom will come pick us up. I climbed up the hill with Ping just right behind me, and we got to the top. Up there, I saw the view of Cambodia, looking all around I could see everything; the hills, the trees, the buildings, the fields, and most importantly our house that we had stayed for. However for a moment, I wasn’t smiling, I frowned, as I realized this was the place of hard labor and sorrow that everyone in my family had to go through. This was the place where they took my dad to prison and I never knew what happened to him; he most likely was killed during torture. I clenched my fist as I looked down to the ground and took a long sigh. I had to let the past go, I had to understand that nothing would be better if I felt sad my entire life. I knew that Dad wouldn’t want me to be crying, he wanted me to smile throughout my life. “We’re there, let’s go to our house.” I said to both Lynn and Ping who were behind me.

  They followed as we finally entered our home back in the fields after a day or two. “Well, we are supposed to wait for Mom, Sakol, and Sophea near that large tree over there, so we can see the tree from here. It’s already dark so we should just get some sleep; I doubt they will come at night.” Lynn told us.

  “Lynn, when do think they will come, when are they picking us up?” I asked her wanting a clear response.

  “Probably in a week or two at max, I don’t think they’ll wait that long, don’t worry, you can wait for them starting tomorrow morning. Ping could rest in the house while I get food and water for the day, wouldn’t that be nice?” Lynn responded.

  “Yeah, that sounds nice, but it isn’t too much work for you to do, I mean you have to get water and food, I could help out if you want.”

  “No it’s okay, you go to that tree over there and wait for Mom and her helicopter.”

  I smiled at the thought of finally being reunited with Mom once again; it already had been two weeks or more ever since she left, so I expected her to come soon. I quickly went to sleep after my legs wore out from the long journey that we had just been through.

  The next morning I woke up to the sight of both Lynn and Ping still fast asleep on their bed. I quickly got dressed with the spare clothes that Lynn had carried back from the refugee camp and went to the tree. This tree was old brown, but had colorful green leaves growing through the branches. I sat under the tree on the grassy ground as the leaves blocked the heat of the sun. Under the tree, there were grass and a cool area to sit under as the sun could not heat up this part of the ground. I lied there on the floor and stared up into the cloudy sky. I looked up from the morning to the night, only have a few breaks to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most of my time was just spent looking up and out to the horizon where I waited for the sound of the roaring helicopter and the sight of Mom, Sakol, or even Sophea in the blue sky.

  This happened for weeks, much longer than the anticipated two weeks where we thought Mom would come and pick us up by then. One month had already passed since the Khmer Rouge left and we had arrived back here from our walk. This day was different, when I woke up this day; I went out to the tree and lied there once again. I still had a sliver of hope left in me that Mom would come. To my surprise, when the sun was up and three hours into waiting, I heard loud sound from the distance. I immediately got up from my back and onto my feet and looked out. I could see something blurry in the sky moving towards us at a great speed. />
  It was a helicopter, a helicopter, it was Mom, she had finally came back to pick us up. I looked closely as tears started to flow down, the object was coming more into view when I fell to my knees.

  It was only a cloud, a white cloud drifting across the sky. It was my imagination and the hope that I had been holding on to deep within my heart had disappeared along with that one cloud.

 

  Epilogue

  Months passed since the end of the Khmer Rouge, Seang, Lynn, and Ping were the only survivors of his family. Nothing has been known of what happened to his mom, Sakol, or Sophea as they most likely were caught at that time and killed. Seang, Lynn, and Ping all had to stay together and the first thing they had to do was to continue with education. The only way for them to live now was to find and meet their aunts and uncles in Battambang, another province in Cambodia, who were surprisingly still alive. Once staying in Battambang for a few years until Seang got back in track with education in the schools in Battambang, he received many different scholarships to other schools outside of Cambodia. This resulted in him leaving his family for another decade to continue with education in a foreign country due to his knowledge and skills in learning. Throughout this time Lynn and Sophea continued to stay in Cambodia with their aunts and uncles while also getting an education. After many years, Lynn and Ping moved to Thailand and grew much older. They were able to make income and their own money through various jobs in Thailand. During these times, Cambodia had to rebuilt itself from the destruction of the Khmer Rouge. It took many years, and during the 1980s to now, there are many tribunals that are being held for the criminals of the Khmer Rouge. In 1998 Pol Pot was claimed died and the Civil War of Cambodia was finished, and by 1999 the Khmer Rouge had officially ended. From the 2000s to now, Cambodia is becoming more technologically advanced and is rebuilding the structure and foundation ever since the 1975-1979 genocide.

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank my dad for helping me create this book, as it if weren’t for his motivation to finish, I would have never been able to complete the entire product. This story was inspired by my dad’s life during the Khmer Rouge and it helps shows the many dangers and hardships people’s lives were during the Khmer Rouge.

  Other people that have helped me create this book was all the interviews I had conducted in order to get my research to write my book. This includes the people at the International School of Phnom Penh or ISPP, as the both the teachers and students had helped me keep in track with my work throughout the many months that I used in order to create the book.

  This book was written for the sole purpose for my personal project that is needed for the Middle Years Program at International Schools or otherwise known as the MYP . The book was the product in which I believe should be able to help educate people about the Khmer Rouge, through the historical fiction genre.