Page 55 - And the Mountains Echoed (novel)

sister lying by the fire, alone in the dark. Soon, the fire will die, and Masooma

will be cold. Her instinct is to go back, to cover her sister with a blanket and slip
in next to her.
Parwana makes herself wheel around and resume walking once more.
And that is when she hears something. A faraway, muffled sound, like
wailing. Parwana stops in her tracks. She tilts her head and hears it again. Her
heart begins to ram in her chest. She wonders, with dread, if it’s Masooma
calling her back, having had a change of heart. Or maybe it is nothing but a
jackal or a desert fox howling somewhere in the dark. Parwana can’t be sure.
She thinks it might be the wind.

Don’t leave me, sister. Come back.
The only way to know for sure is to go back the way she had come and
Parwana begins to do just that; she turns around and takes a few steps in
Masooma’s direction. Then she stops. Masooma was right. If she goes back now,
she will not have the courage to do it when the sun rises. She will lose heart and
end up staying. She will stay forever. This is her only chance.
Parwana shuts her eyes. The wind makes the scarf flap against her face.

No one has to know. No one would. It would be her secret, one she would
share with the mountains only. The question is whether it is a secret she can live
with, and Parwana thinks she knows the answer. She has lived with secrets all
her life.
She hears the wailing again in the distance.
Everyone loved you, Masooma.

No one me.
And why, sister? What had I done?
Parwana stands motionless in the dark for a long time.
At last, she makes her choice. She turns around, drops her head, and walks
toward a horizon she cannot see. After that, she does not look back anymore.

She knows that if she does, she will weaken. She will lose what resolve she has
because she will see an old bicycle speeding down a hill, bouncing on rocks and
gravel, the metal pounding both their rears, clouds of dust kicked up with each
sudden skid. She sits on the frame, and Masooma is the one on the saddle, she is
the one who takes the hairpin turns at full speed, dropping the bike into a deep
lean. But Parwana is not afraid. She knows that her sister will not send her flying
over the handlebars, that she will not hurt her. The world melts into a whirligig
blur of excitement, and the wind whooshes in their ears, and Parwana looks over
her shoulder at her sister and her sister looks back, and they laugh together as
stray dogs give chase.