Barakah

- Kinsfolk Will Avange

. . . . . . .

Barakah

     A light draw of breath, eyes fluttering awake to the warmth that is midday.

     Barakah sat up to gawking eyes. Each gaze with the certainty of one knowledge, she was violated. Her mother was on a settee looking at her like she was a toddler again.

So tender.

     Unusual, her mother's voodoo eyes were not secreted by deep brown contacts. Instead, everyone could see how devoted she was to be seen, truly seen as a mother in ruins.

     Barakah's gaze bounced straight off to Ameenah after almost landing on her twin sister. She couldn't just look at Bara'a without feeling it was her again even if it wasn't.

     "I'm sorry." She let it out. But was she? No, she wasn't. She wasn't anything. She couldn't feel anything but rejection from her own body, her mind and life entirely.

     "No, no blames. It'll only make it worse. Tell me, what do you need Amal? What do you feel? And all else, I'm proud of you." Glassy-eyed, her mother gave her tender touches, stroking her hair, rubbing her shoulders.

     "Peace, feeling and hope again, for this world. I want all that, can you can give it to me?" Her mother did not look fazed to her even if she was. But there was a suffering in the way they both choked.

Only she swallowed. Her mother drowned in tears.

     "It will come to pass Barakah. Jalal won't get away with this scot-free." So much anger burning from her twin sister.

     Barakah felt bile raise to the brim of her throat just at the mention of his name.

     "Oh he has. He has" She fell apart. "I'm ruined forever Mammy. It was force. . . And painful and I was gone. I'd rather just die."

     "Somethings, only God can forgive Amal. Your father was angry at you but now, all he wants is to know you're safe. You have a broken rib. You need lots of rest and food. When you get better inshallah, we'll get you a psychologist."

     Her mother tucked her in with grace. "Not a word of what has happened to her. None of you should even whisper about it. The walls talk." With the warning hanging like a hook, she was let be.

     Her sisters lulling her to slumber with sweet words and a promise, that her reality will be bright and breezy again.

     If only it was not at the cost of her dreams flicking over to nightmares.

. . . . . . . .

Barakah leaned more into her twin sister, both dressed in thick wool and snuggled in a cotton blanket. The weather was breezy, fresh. Light sky enhanced by the endurance of the sun.

"Who found me after everything thad happened?" She asked. Thinking no more of what difficult stitches it would undo for her. She finally wanted to know in detail, months after the incident.

Bara'a shifted in a way to question her sister. "AbdulMutalib and Yahya had come back home from wherever they were. No one really cared after realizing you weren't with them. Soon, we found out you lied to Mammy. . . . Then well, everything else was a traumatizing blur for everyone."