"Rose & Life"

She was looking at the enchanting view of the village. The entire village was beneath her feet, and she felt as though she were the owner of the land she walked on every day. No one knew that she would run away from home to see the scenery lit by the stars and the moon at night. Every time, the moon would talk to her gently. She was in love with the bright stars, the village, and the smell of the earth. "Homeland, country," she thought deeply, "I guess this is what it means." Today was her last day in this village. She had lived here since the day she was born. She was thinking about both the sweet and bitter memories. Life had brought her to a crossroads. Maybe happiness was waiting for her... But maybe not... What was happiness? What kind of feeling was it? Had she really never experienced happiness? She had been alive for 13 years, but her life had been filled with growing hatred in her home, day by day. Her life consisted of helping her mother in the barn, and being watched by her father, her mother, and her older brother. She had attended the primary school three kilometers away from their village. Since the moment she won the art competition at school, she had wanted to be an artist. However, she had never told her family about this wish, fearing they wouldn’t let her even go to school. Every time she remembered that they would never let her pursue her dreams, she could hardly breathe. Because she didn’t forget how her mother had scolded her just for going to school: -Rosee, your older brother went to school, so what? Are you going to become a scholar? Tomorrow, you’ll get married and serve your husband! Stay where you are! Otherwise, your father will break your crooked legs! -But Mom... - She couldn’t say a word, because if she complained to her father, he would kill her without hesitation with the rifle hanging on the porch. Yes, her father was that cruel a person. He would kill his daughter without batting an eye... The burdens that had weighed on her since the moment she was born were becoming unbearable, and today another one would be added. Today, she would be expected to become a woman, a wife, and eventually a mother. But did she want that?! Who was she, after all, to ask her what she wanted?! She was just a girl; she couldn’t make decisions on her own! Rose had no significant role as a girl in this family; she couldn’t tarnish the family’s or her own “honor.” "Jack’s daughter is studying in the city," "She travels around the world," "Rose is an artist" – none of this could ever be said in their society. However, at the age of 13, she could be married off to an older man she didn’t even know. She could become a "wife" and have as many children as her husband wanted. She would work in the fields day and night, give the money she earned to her husband, and take care of the baby. It wasn’t hard to realize that a tragedy was ahead. The life she would live was no different from that of a dead person, or from the life of a baby crawling and struggling to stand. Rose, however, called this day the last day of her life...