Chapter Seven:
WHAT A MOTHER LEAVES BEHIND
Miriam returned to Mary's house with a heart heavier than the one she had carried when she first entered the hospital. Her body was slowly recovering, but her mind seemed to be falling apart. She had survived her illness, yet the moment she returned home, she discovered that the two people she depended on most were gone. Her mother was dead, and Sarah had disappeared.
Mary opened the door and immediately noticed something was wrong. Miriam stood there with her small bag hanging from her hand, staring into the distance as though she had forgotten where she was.
"Miriam?"
Miriam looked at her.
"My mother is dead."
Mary's face changed.
She quickly pulled her into her arms.
Miriam broke down.
She cried against Mary's shoulder, finally allowing herself to release everything she had been carrying. She cried for the mother she had not been able to say goodbye to. She cried for the daughter she could not find. She cried for the years she had spent trying to keep her family together, only to watch everything disappear.
"I wasn't there," she sobbed. "I wasn't there when she died."
Mary held her tightly.
"You didn't know she was going to die."
"I promised her I would come back."
"You were sick, Miriam."
"I should have been there."
Mary gently rubbed her back.
"Sometimes we blame ourselves for things that were never in our hands."
Miriam slowly pulled away.
"Sarah is gone too."
Mary became quiet.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Miriam wiped her tears.
"When I came home, my mother was already dead. Sarah wasn't there. I asked everyone. Nobody knows where she went."
"Maybe she went to someone she knew."
"She has no one."
Miriam's voice broke.
"She only had me and my mother."
Mary sat beside her.
"We will keep looking."
Miriam looked at her.
"Where do I start?"
"Wherever you can."
Miriam nodded.
She knew she could not give up.
Not yet.
Sarah was somewhere.
She had to be.
For the next few days, Miriam remained at Mary's house. Mary cared for her as though she were a member of her own family. She prepared food for her, reminded her to take her medicine and encouraged her to rest.
Miriam slowly regained her strength, but her mind remained occupied by Sarah.
Sometimes she would sit quietly for hours. Sometimes she would suddenly remember something Sarah had done and begin crying. She remembered the little girl following her around the house. She remembered Sarah asking endless questions. She remembered the way Sarah used to fall asleep beside her.
Most of all, she remembered the promise she had made.
I will come back.
Miriam had returned.
But Sarah was no longer there.
That was the part she could not understand.
Meanwhile, life at Ali's home had also changed since Amina's death.
Ali had become quieter. The laughter that once filled the house had disappeared, and the workers had learned not to speak too much around him. He carried his grief differently from everyone else.
His son, Daniel, had also changed.
Daniel was still young when his mother died, but the memory had remained deeply buried inside him. He remembered the shouting. He remembered his father's anger. He remembered seeing his mother lying injured after the fall.
There was one particular moment he could never forget.
He had been there.
He had seen what happened.
But nobody knew...