As her tired infant child desperately suckled her milkless breast, she felt no pain. Cold and hardness of the floor, uneven mortar of the brick wall on her back, and the biting of the shackle on her skin… all felt strangely normal. Her view on life was now at coldness that no sun could melt, a beast that no gods could tame. She swallowed her baby with her body and whispered into his ear. “Shhh go to sleep my baby, in your next life, this will only be a nightmare…”

“name, get up. Let’s go.” said, the guards. Although she has already accepted the fate, her body reacted with a chill running down her spine. Her name, was the most vile word she has ever heard. So with her sleeping baby in her arms, she walked silently amongst the devils, down the dark and ghostly hallway, passing by the empty cells.

“The Room” was much brighter than she imagined. And the chair was warmer than she expected. Despite the surprises, she knew exactly where she was. She made no resistance as the guards fidgeted around her to adjust the drill’s height that would soon kill her. But she did resist the urge to cry.

“Click” They took a picture of her from the front.

And she took pictures of her own in her mind. Banana trees, her baby’s first word, reflection of her old wrinkled face on a mirror, grandchildren…  When her eyes blinked like a camera shutter, tear rolled down her cheek.

“Click” They took a picture of her from the side.

Whirling sound of a drill starting began to vibrate her ears.
And she covered her baby’s ears firmly so as not to wake him up.

–writing based on photographs of a mother with her baby, and a captured tear drop.

*This by far was the hardest thing I have had to write about. I honestly did not want to write it for I knew that it would disturb me. I did not even know where to start or how to begin. after many crumpled papers, I decided to put myself in her shoes. I hoped to reflect not only the pain and suffering of the victims but also the reality of evil in human nature.

Brief background: The Khmer Rouge, or more formally, the Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot, Ta Mok and other leaders, organized the mass killing of ideologically suspect groups, ethnic minorities like the ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese (or Sino-Khmers), Chams and Thais, former civil servants, former government soldiers, Buddhist monks, secular intellectuals and professionals, and former city dwellers. Khmer Rouge cadres defeated in factional struggles were also liquidated in purges. The number of the victims is estimated at approximately 1.7 million Cambodians between 1975-1979, including deaths from slave labour.

THIS HAPPENED ONLY 30 YEARS AGO.

-Boaz Lyu
10/01/2009
Mui ne, Vietnam