The Wandering Mother (TW//War)
I was hiking in Quang Nam’s woodland when far away in the lush forest, I heard a desperate scream of an old woman. After inquiring about the incident to locals, they relayed an unbelievable story about the woman:
On one fateful night in October 1969, The United States bombarded fiercely as a response after the counterattack by Northern Vietnam’s army against Southern Vietnam, the United States, and their allies, known as Tet Offensive 1968, especially in the upstream region of Thu Bon’s river, where the revolution began. In the small village of Quang Nam province, everything was chaotic and brutal. The rain of bullets and bombs harmonizing with the sound of frantic wails devised such a tragic scene. Many people laid down and died for this nonsensical war, while others hid from the madness like miserable prey desperately avoiding their vicious predators. At that time, Northern Vietnam’s soldiers guided two hundred people from the village to hide in a nearby cave day by day.
One night, the moon shone through the incense night, with raging rains and thunder ripping apart the sky, into the cave where hundreds of infelicitous civilians prayed that the moonlight will save them from this ghastly, hopeless reality. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t smiling upon them, they were leaving behind with this hellish truth. No one dared to make a noise in fear of alerting the enemy of their location. They held their breath as if they were holding their fragile survival chances in their quivering hands. The surrounding tensions were suffocating, ready to explode at any given moment like a timebomb ticking away, counting down to their death. Suddenly, the crying sound of a baby broke the dead silence inside the cave. Hundreds of eyes turned to look at Trang’s child, clearly fearing the piercing screeches to be their downfall. The crying got louder and louder as the trampling sound outside got closer and closer, shattering everyone’s last hope. Some people wept, some people were ready to fight for their homeland, some people already closed their eyes, waiting for their time to come. Continual efforts to shush the screaming child proved futile. Thinking that everyone would perished in that night, Trang sobbed:
“I don’t want you to die, but...but because of the villagers, you…you have to”.
Trang hugged the baby and crawled out of the cave, scooping the dirt to bury the child alive. Under the light of thunder, Trang still saw the dirt tremble. Her tears welled up as she knew that her child was still alive, but Trang had to suppress her overwhelming sorrow to return to the cave before the enemy’s arrival.
After that aghast night, Trang’s life was completely devastated. She tried to overcome the painful sin that she committed, but it seems destiny didn’t want to give up on her. After the war ended in 1975, her husband came back from military service and was really upset about Trang. He couldn’t accept that his wife killed his child so he left the village, leaving everything behind and never came back. Every day, Trang soullessly wanders around the forest and screams her child’s name until her voice is hoarse, waiting for a miracle to happen. Forty-seven years later, she is still waiting for the miracle to happen, the once young mother has become a psychotic old woman, always having nightmares about the unfortunate child.
Even when peace returned to the village, it did not return to Trang, she will forever be stuck in those tormented traumas as the cost of saving the villagers.
—based on a true story—