Days Back Home by Amy Lee (12, Korea)

[Content warning: death, drowning]

   ​They know they have died, and they
          crouch down on the floor of the
                    bright golden room, their long white 
  gowns dangling behind them,

   sprawled across the wet floor. It’s been 
          six years and their bodies still float
                    through the currents, inside this wrecked 
   ship. They talk about the days back home,

---

   ​when they lay under the broken ceiling fan,
         every night all four of them,
                    with their mother and father, slouched on
  the white Chesterfield. They talk about their 

  old classroom, their seats at the back row, 
       next to the open window, where
                       they would doodle on the glass pane 
  and hide behind the curtains from the teachers. 

 They talk about Mei and Jodee, their best friends, 
       who shared the same dream of becoming 
                        kindergarten teachers and how they still 
  regret this day of boarding the Sewol ship, 

heading to Jeju Island for a school trip.
    Now, six years later they sit in the 
                            golden room, looking back at the 
 hull of the ship and their short lives. ​