Flash fiction is a valuable training tool for all writers. It helps promote clarity and precision by forcing the writer to be succinct.

This week WHAT PEGMAN SAW travels to North Korea. Be very careful of what you say to whom you say it.

To enjoy stories inspired by the What Pegman Saw prompt or to submit your own 150-word story, visit the inLinkz button:

For guidelines and rules for the What Pegman Saw weekly writing prompt, visit the home page.

 Many thanks for hosting this challenge to Karen Rawson and  and J Hardy Carroll .

For this week’s challenge I revisited a Friday Fictioneers piece I posted two years ago, added 50 words and gave it a new title.

Genre: Realistic, Historical and All-Too-Current Fiction

Word Count: 150

ASLEEP IN THE LIGHT

            At thirteen Myung Hee was three years older than the rest of my students. Despite my many scoldings, they laughed at her and called her babo.

            One day I found her weeping in the schoolyard.

            “What’s wrong, gongjunim?”

            “I’m not princess.” A single tear trickled down her cheek. “I feel sorry for these children. They are not understand.  In time a heart beats this light can be snatched from them.”

            I tried to hug her but she pulled back. Her swollen eyes, old beyond their years, pierced my heart.

            “My baby brother and I escaped Kim Jong-il’s prison camp, but two days later I buried him in the desert with only the stars to see. I thought South Korea would be the center of my dreams, but they lie with my brother in darkness.”

            Myung Hee’s words resonated deep within me and, in that moment, the teacher became the student.