Page 186 - A Woman Is No Man

Sarah eyed her in silence.
“What?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, shaking her head. “So, what happened after

that?”
“I don’t know.” Deya slumped in the chair. “I’ve tried to remember so
many times, but I can’t. For all I know, I could’ve made it up. Maybe I’ve
even made everything up. That would explain why nothing makes sense.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said after a moment.
“I don’t get it. You said you would help me understand the past, but you
can’t even explain why my mother wrote that letter. What if something

happened to her after you left? How would you know? You weren’t with
her.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said again, looking down at the floor. “I think about
it every day. I wish I’d never left her.”
Now that Deya had started to unleash the words she’d held at bay these
weeks, she couldn’t stop them. “Did you even try to help her? If you knew

Baba beat her, why didn’t you do something? I thought she was your
friend.”
“She was my friend, my sister.”
“Then why didn’t you take her with you? Why did you leave her? Why
did you leave all of us?”
“She wouldn’t come with me.” Sarah’s eyes were filled with tears. “I
begged her to come, but she wouldn’t leave. Maybe I should’ve tried

harder. It’s something I have to live with. But I’m here to help you now.”
She wiped tears from her face. “Please, Deya. For her sake. She’d want me
to help you.”
“Then help me! Tell me what to do.”
“I can’t tell you what to do. If you don’t decide for yourself, then what’s
the point? It won’t matter what you do if it’s not your own choice. It has to

come from inside you. That’s the only way I can help. What do you want to
do?”
“I don’t know. It’s not that simple.”
“But it is. You’re letting fear cloud your thoughts. Dig deep inside
yourself. What do you want?”
“I want to make my own decisions. I want to have a choice.”
“Then do it! Starting now.”