ETERNAL FREEDOM Essay, Research Paper

The time to escape did come! He had been waiting for it for several months. Taking advantage of

the careless of the guards, he dipped himself in water while the prisoners were passing across the stream to

go back to the camp after an exhausting working day in the field. The first part of his plan went exactly as

desired.

Being sure they went far enough, he quickly jumped out of the stream and headed for the woods.

He knew there was a highway nearby so that he could hitch-hike to go to the coast where he could easily

find a boat and escape farther.

It was almost midnight. He had been going about five miles, but found nothing. The cold night

wind touched him, increasing his nervousness. He looked back again to make sure that nobody followed

him.

In a nearby small village flickered some candle lights. Cautiously, he went around the village,

trying not to make any noises. Suddenly, a farmer’s dog sensed him from a distance and began to bark, then

followed the other dogs in the village. He was very upset but could do nothing. Some farmers came out of

their houses to see what happened. Seeing nothing, they spoke harshly to their dogs, then returned to their

houses. He signed a deep sign of relief and carefully went away.

By dawn he still did not see the highway. He felt a little paniced. However, as inhaling the fresh

air, listening to the birds, looking up the broad blue sky, he felt more comfortable. Freedom was really

precious! There was a stream nearby. He wanted to take a bath. Being a son of a fisherman, he had swum

very well since he was a kid. Fresh water reminded him of the days he had lived with his lovely wife and

son in a fishing village on the coast of Yellow Sea. Because he was a patriotic Manchurian who had

protested the assimilation of the Japanese on his people, the Japanese put him in jail. He had left his wife

and son in his home village. Thinking of the day he could re-unite them, he smiled a happy smile.

Suddenly, his thoughts were cut off by a lot of barking noises of dogs. The noises came closer and

closer. Like a machine, he hurrily went ashore. He realized that the noises were certainly from the search

party, and that he might be caught again easily. It was too late! In the distance appeared some yellow

uniforms of the Japanese soldiers. He changed his mind and decided to swim offshore.

“Freeze!” shouted one of the soldiers. The escaped prisoner did not want to stop swimming. He

did not want to be captured again. A volley of bullets sounded in the sky. He still swam and swam. This

time, a strange feeling suddenly came to him. He felt that his limbs were benumbed with something which

he did not know. Then, at that moment, he suddenly saw his lovely pictures of his life- his wife, his son, his

parents, and his beloved fishing village. All of them displayed and disappeared in a very short moment.

Then he really felt free.