Serenity

Plan

'Every single woman in this tribe has tried this halwa and it has worked wonders'

Sakina rubbed her aching back 'Well how fortunate then that I'm not one of the woman of this tribe'

Zalmai's mother was adamant that she would try it 'My grandchild is from this tribe'

Shaista watched the exchange quietly, in a month Sakina would have a child and she would also have complete favor and power in this household. Shaista would be completely shunned and forgotten. She pushed aside the conscience that questioned why an innocent child would be the price. She had to do this, the child wasn't really her relative anyway, it belonged to a woman who had made her life miserable and a brother who favored his wife over her.

Shaista held out the bowl of halwa to her brother 'Mother said this is for Sakina but she doesn't want it, maybe you could convince her to have it'

She turned to leave but stopped 'Zalmai don't eat it'

He raised an enquiring brow 'Why not?'

'Because .... Its for woman in that condition'

'Oh I understand, thank mother for me'

'I am not eating it'

'Mother spent great effort making it, have a bite'

She eyed the dish suspiciously 'Your mother hates me, she would never do anything for me but alright just a bite'

He fed the lethal bite to her himself unaware of the damage it would cause.

*****

Shaista's heart leapt and danced in her chest when her mothers worried voice called out 'Shaista come quickly something is wrong with Sakina'

'What is it mother?'

Her mother didn't answer and rushed to do what the healer had asked her, the woman strived and refused to rest as the hours of the night went by but by dawn she dropped her tools 'The child is dead'

Shaista was certain she would never hear such a terrible sound, it shook even her own heart and for a moment she regretted what she had done. She had never thought Sakina would make such a sound, would act in such a way. The Mongolian girl had never understood what it was like to be almost a mother and to have it snatched from her so cruelly.

She watched in a daze as the healer handed the lifeless child to Zalmai, as Sakina tried to convince him it was alive. The way she screamed and clawed as her mother tried to restrain her, begged to see her child.

Shaista drew the covers over her head and tried to drown out the heart trembling screams. She trembled uncontrollably as she recalled the infants pale skin stark against the crimson blood that covered it, its lifeless blind eyes and indigo limbs. Zalmai frozen in a trance as it lay in his arms, his eyes wide with shock. She had done a most terrible thing and even she admitted to it.