The Hidden Treasure

~59~

"Why are there bad people in the world?"

The television was on and news of a vicious crime was playing on the screen.

"Ahh, Hyejinie, that is a question people have asked for centuries. It's a difficult question." Hyejin's father pulled the small child into his lap and snuggled her close.

"But Appa, what makes people become bad?" The little girl snuggled her head into her father's warm chest and plopped her thumb into her mouth.

"Hmmm...sometimes it's fear. Loneliness. Bitterness. Anger. If someone is unhappy with their life and sees no other way out, they can become quite different. But Hyejin, listen to Appa. Inside every bad person, there is a small part of them that was once good. But they stopped listening to it and shut it away. They may have become delusional and confused. It was easier for them to listen to their anger because it was the loudest part."

Hyejin's father pulled away from her and put her on his knees in front of him. He lifted her tiny chin and looked into her wide and innocent eyes. "Hyejinie, don't become one of those people. Always see the good in others. Don't let the sadness, the anger, anything bad that might happen to you, don't let it take over your mind. Don't let it run your life. Be strong. Fight it. Be happy and be good. Alright?" He kissed her forehead and smiled warmly.

Hyejin nodded and snuggled back into his lap.

She heard noises. People talking anxiously. Metal clinking together. Beeping. Lots of beeping.
Her body felt like lead. No part of her really wanted to move. Something felt hot across her chest and her hand struggled to raise high enough to try and get the hot thing off of her.

"I think she's waking up," said an excited voice.

"Get it off," she mumbled, her hand floundering as it tried to find its way to her chest. Once it did, and it felt the bandage, the memory and pain came flooding back to her with a vengeance.

The burning must be...

"Ma'am, please, don't grab at the bandage. You might open up that cut again." A cool hand gently took hold of her hands and moved them back down to her side.

Hyejin's eyes slowly fluttered open and tears threatened to pour out as the pain in her body decided to remind her of all the injuries she had sustained. The bright light over her bed caused her to squeeze her eyes tightly shut in an effort to stop the pain from shooting through her head because of it.

"Turn the light down now," said the voice. Hyejin could tell it was an older woman but she didn't want to open her eyes again for fear of the light shining right into them.

"Hyejin-ssi, can you open your eyes now? I need to do some evaluations and see where we are. Hm?"

The kind voice comforted her like a warm blanket. She breathed in as deeply as she could and opened her eyes slowly. Once she realized the light was no longer going to blind her, she opened them fully. Looking around the white room she finally found the owner of the voice.

"Ahhh there we go. Hello there! I'm Nurse Jung. I'm going to be taking care of you, okay? But I need you to let me know if you're in any pain right now. Okay? Can you do that?"

Hyejin slowly nodded her throbbing head and tried to point to all the places that were hurting but it became quite clear it would take less time to point out the places that did not hurt, rather than point to the ones that did.

"Alright, that's enough. I understand. I'll get you something for that in a few minutes." She began asking Hyejin all types of questions such as what her name was, where she was, what day it was, and others. Hyejin answered every one correctly and Nurse Jung smiled in approval.