Torn Asunder

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1

“Do you think it’s all right to lie?” Hannah kicked the empty hammock and watched it swing lazily back and forth.

Simon bent down to pluck a stray weed near the base of a blood-red rose bush. “I guess it depends on why you’re asking.”

Hannah ran the tip of her tongue across her dry lip. “I was thinking about the Sterns’ instructions. When we get back home, we’re supposed to make up answers if anyone questions us. Is that really what God would want us to do?”

Simon’s shoulder was almost close enough to touch hers, and she could sense the rise and fall of his chest without having to look. “Wrong or right, times may come when we have to stretch the truth. You know that, don’t you?”

She stared at her hands. “But it’s wrong.”

He made a sound that was a blend between a chuckle and a sigh. “With everything ahead of us, you’re worried about your conscience?” She couldn’t tell if he meant to compliment her or not. After a pause, he turned until his face was so close she could smell the garlic and vinegar on his breath and the faint scent of American soap lingering on his skin. “If we want to survive, we need to be wise like serpents, just like Jesus said. As soon as we cross that river tomorrow, everything will change. We have to be prepared. If not ... well, then the Sterns might have wasted their time training us.”

Hannah’s arm brushed against his shirt. “But you wouldn’t lie about your faith, would you?”

“Lie about being a Christian? I hope not.”

“You hope not? What about that missionary Mrs. Stern mentioned who recanted to avoid the prison camps?”

Simon’s features softened. “Mr. Stern told me something last week. He told me, ‘Never judge someone who fails a test you yourself have yet to pass.’”

As Hannah thought of the hundreds of kilometers and sleepless nights ahead of her, she wondered what tests they would have to endure once they left the Secret Seminary.

Simon exhaled as he stretched his arms. “I wish we didn’t have to say good-bye.” His voice was distant. They had already discussed it before. There was nothing more to say. The Sterns insisted it was far too dangerous for the graduates to return to North Korea together.

Hannah stared at the moon. She would never sit here beside him again in this garden. “There are no good-byes in the kingdom of heaven,” she whispered, hoping her words carried the conviction her soul lacked.

***

Juliette Stern stared out the window. She had been up in the den cleaning all afternoon. Everything needed to look perfect for the graduation ceremony tomorrow. The students had worked so hard. They had already sacrificed so much. They deserved a proper sending-off celebration. Heaven knew when they would have opportunity to rejoice together with other believers once they left Yanji.

She wiped the window with a paper towel, and her heart squeezed inside her chest just a little bit when she saw Hannah and Simon below in the garden. He leaned toward her so expectantly, so hopefully. A serene smile spread across her face. Did either of them know what was about to happen — what freedoms they would give up when they crossed the Tumen River and returned to the land of persecution and starvation? Juliette admired them, admired the courage it took to accept the call to sneak back to North Korea, but she wondered if sending them out really was the right thing. Especially with Hannah. She was so young. Juliette and her husband tried to talk to her about staying behind. Out of all the North Korean refugees who went through their Secret Seminary, Hannah was the most passionate about returning home. Nothing the Sterns could say would change her mind.

Juliette looked around to inventory all the work still left to be done for the graduation. She knew this den might be the last glimpse of refuge, the last taste of home, some of the students would ever experience.