Chapter 16. The Threat

Later that day, Bushra went back home after checking up on Madina’s mother and baby Adila. She hopped out of the car and opened her trunk to get Yasmin’s stuff. She was coming home the next day to stay for forty days as any new mother did in their culture. Bushra was excited that she got to spend more than a month together with her sister and her niece. She took everything inside and came back to fetch her phone.

As she closed the car door, she looked up – a low, waning gibbous moon hovered tenuously in the twilight firmament, bestowing a very dim light upon the land. She smiled, strolling toward the house entrance. The night air was crisp and cool.

The living room was silent, which meant her father wasn’t home yet, and her mother was in her room. She calmly headed toward her mother’s room.

Strolling into the room, Bushra called her out. “Mom, I’m home.” She slumped down on the bed tiredly.

“Why are you just coming back by this time, Bushra? What if your fath