The Wall | Yejisu

Chapter 2

Yeji lived in the new town with her parents, one little brother and one little sister. When she was born, the wall had been there for a while.

They had an apartment on the hill, where rich people lived. The place was quiet and had a garden grown with a variety of flowers.

The school where Yeji went was down the hill. She had to take school bus for fifteen minutes in the morning and took the same route back home.

The school had four buildings made of red bricks. The main one looked like the front of a castle. Green plants climbed up the bricks and the entire campus gave you a historical vibe.

It had a soccer field beside the wall. Yeji and other soccer players would practice after class until late at six. They would be playing in summer game soon.

Today, they were practicing on the field in the afternoon. Two teams were playing. The air was warm. The sunset spread its orange-gold light on them. Shadow was printed on the grass beside each person. They ran and so did the shadows.

"Yeji! Run a bit faster ahead." Yuna shouted before she passed the soccer to Yeji.

Then, Yuna kicked the soccer hard and to the direction of Yeji. It was in a beautiful curve, but Yeji missed the ball and now it was on the player of other team.

Yuna's jaw must have crashed the ground. She ran back to their soccer gate. Yeji turned and followed. In the next thirty minutes, Yeji missed a few times. But she scored one point for the team with an excellent kick.

In the last ten minutes, Yeji got the ball and went through three players. She ran, hopped, played a little trick, and ran. Now, there was only a goalkeeper ahead. She opened wide her arms, ready to take down that ball. Yeji ran to the right side of gate in quick paces and kicked!

The goalkeeper jumped, Yuna stopped and Yeji watched. The soccer went higher than the gate, higher than wall, higher. It flew over the wall and went down, down, hit straight on a girl's head and knocked her to the ground.

The goalkeeper looked relieved and the game kept going. Yuna went back to defend, leaving Yeji alone with an O mouth.

She saw that girl on the ground and she slowly approached. She never walked so close to the wall. It was made of strong stainless steel. Five meters high. You could see through it. So, it was actually a long, well protected chain-link fence.

The girl didn't move, faced down on the ground. Yeji pressed her face on the fence to take a closer look.

"Did she pass out?" Yeji thought with anxiety growing in her heart. She wanted to check, but she couldn't climb over the wall. She cleared her throat.

"Hello?"
"Can you hear me?"
"Are you alive?"
"No..." the girl said weakly with a low, tiny voice.
"Thanks, you are alive" Yeji wiped out the sweat on forehead.
"Are you able to stand up?" Yeji asked.
"No, I think I see stars..."
"I um, I'm sorry. I dunno the soccer"
"Don't say sorry. I'm tired of it" the girl cut in before Yeji could explain.

It left Yeji confused. She then sat up and patted off the dust on her uniform. She turned and looked at Yeji.

"Okay, then how can I help? I mean if you don't want me to apologise" Yeji said.
"I grazed my knees"
"I can get the bandage for you. There are some in school. Um, what do I call you?"
"Lia"
"Okay, Lia, I'll be back soon. Just wait for me a few minutes" Yeji ran back, cross the field and to the room where the players gathered.

There she pushed open the door and looked for first-aid kit. Yuna saw her and asked.

"Why you looking for something in a hurry? For that girl?"
"Yeah, I need some bandages to wrap her wounded knees"
"No way, you talked to her?" Yuna asked in a sour tone.
"Yeah, why not? I wanna help" Yeji was busy looking for bandages.
"They are bad, we shouldn't talk to them"

Yeji stopped. She looked at Yuna and said.

"Hey, don't be ridiculous, they are people like us, why shouldn't I talk to them?"
"Mom and dad say no, teachers say no and my friends say no" Yuna talked back.
"That's because they don't understand, Yuna. Fine, I'll talk to you later."

Yuna shrugged and went back talking with other players.

"Bingo! The bandages" A bright look flashed pass Yeji's face. She ran across the field in sunset. Her shadow on the ground was lengthened.

"How do I pass this to Lia?" she panted and murmured as she slowly walked to the wall. But when she looked around, she didn't see Lia there.

She called her name. She walked along the wall but found no one. Yeji messed up her hair. She was worried and she felt guilty not to help. Lia must have been hurt. Yeji looked to the left and to the right.

Still, no sight of Lia.

Just a line of dusty brown houses bathed in the last rays of sunset. The streetlights had been put on. Some people rode bikes on the street. It was her first time to get a closer look at the corner of old town. She felt fresh and pleasant.

Yeji thought that perhaps Lia lived here. She wasn't able to walk too far with wounded knees and aching head. She lived here. Yeji was very sure about that and decided to come here again tomorrow.
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