by Emma Easter
Throughout the trip, she stared out the window, deliberately playing a game in her mind where she tried to spot how many changes she could see in the landscape, all the while trying to keep her mind from dwelling on her predicament. However, she did not succeed in distracting herself from her problems. She could hardly focus, as her mind continually revolved around Faizan and the wedding. She wanted to sob loudly, right there on the bus, but she held herself together.
After hours of wrestling with her emotions, she finally fell asleep.
When she woke up again, her stomach twisted in dread as she noticed that they had already passed Kazi. The bus was now speeding toward Nira. She had not even known when the bus stopped at Kazi. That meant she had been sleeping for hours, dead to the world around her. But she wasn’t surprised. She’d hardly slept at all the night before, and she hadn’t slept during the flight to Bamako, either.
The closer they got to Nira, the more frightened she became. Who knew what exactly she would encounter when she got to her hometown? She’d come to realize that her father was an unpredictable and very cruel man. She had always somehow excused him in her mind during her years in exile at the women’s camp. He had chased her out of her community and away from her family because he didn’t know better, she had told herself. But now that she understood the depths of his wickedness, she wondered how he could ever be her father.
She began to pray earnestly as the bus drove into the bus station in Nira. Getting off the bus, she walked out of the station and quickly made her way down the road so she could avoid being seen by anyone in the market opposite the station. Even though her father’s house was not far from the station, she found a taxi that was empty and got in, telling the man to take her to Karim Keita’s house.
The taxi stopped in front of her father’s house and Zainah took a deep breath. She let out her breath slowly, trying to let go of her nervousness. Paying the driver, she sat in the taxi for a few seconds, and then got out slowly with her traveling bag. Not wanting anyone around to see her, she went straight to the gate and tried to push it open. It was locked.
She moaned and then knocked on the door. Seconds later, the doors opened and Khadija peered out at her. Her eyes grew as big as saucers and an expression of shock took over her face. She came out of the house, pulled Zainah into a tight hug, and then said, “Oh Zainah, you shouldn’t have come!”
Zainah rubbed Khadija’s back and said to her, “I had no choice. I had to come. Leila is being held captive by Papa. And Malik also, I think.”
Khadija began to weep silently and took Zainah’s hand in hers. She looked into Zainah’s eyes.
Zainah frowned. “What is the matter, Khadija? Did Papa hurt you in any way?”
“I did a very bad thing,” Khadija said. “I betrayed Leila. She and I had become friends, but I sold her out because I was afraid of what Papa would do to me.” Khadija shook her head and began to cry harder.
Zainah opened her mouth to ask her what really happened, but their father suddenly appeared at the door. She glared at him, loathing him. The man had made the lives of everyone around him miserable. How could he be her father?
“Zainah, you are here!” her father said, grinning at her.
Khadija quickly left, and Zainah narrowed her eyes at him. “You wicked man! How can you be so heartless?”
He opened the doors wide and said, “Enter, my daughter. I’ve been waiting for you. You will soon find out that everything I do, I do for your own good.”
Zainah shook her head. “No, everything you do, you do for yourself, only for your own selfish reasons.” She entered the house, climbed up the stairs, and walked into the living room. Her father entered after her and shut the door behind him.
“Where is Mama?” she asked her father. She couldn’t believe that her mother had stood by and watched him do everything he’d done to her, to Khadija. What kind of woman let anyone treat her children that way?
Her father was staring intently at her. He finally said, “Your mother is traveling. Sit down, Zainah, and let’s talk about why I asked you to come here.”
She sat on the sofa facing him and leaned forward to look him in the eye. Her heart was beating with fear, but she would not give him the pleasure of knowing that she was afraid. She wanted to give an impression that she was confident and would not be bullied by him. She said, “Yes, about that, the earlier that farce of a marriage can be dissolved, the earlier I can leave this place and go back to the love of my life. But first, where is Leila? I’m here now, so release her right away.”
He laughed and shook his head at her. “I don’t know why you think that you are here to bargain with me. A marriage cannot be dissolved unless both parties want it dissolved. Your husband . . .”
She cut him off. “I don’t have a husband!” She stared at him and said firmly, “I have a fiancé, and he isn’t here. He is in America.”
Her father narrowed his eyes and went on as if she had not spoken. “Your husband does not want your marriage dissolved. In spite of everything that happened, he still wants to remain married to you. You should count yourself lucky, Zainah. He is a very wealthy man. You and Leila will be given to your husbands tomorrow.”
Zainah’s mouth fell open, and for a brief moment, she could not speak. She finally found her voice and said, “I knew you could not be trusted.” She decided to lie to him. “Listen, my husband-to-be has friends in the government. They were the ones who rescued us the last time and they are here in Nira now. I told them to step in and get us if Leila and I are not out of here by tomorrow.”
Papa chuckled. “Zainah, you have never been a good liar. My men are all over this town looking out for any strangers and strange activity. They saw you when you came into Nira. They would have informed me a long time ago if any of those armed men you are talking about were in Nira now. Besides, I told you not to bring anyone with you. I know you would not risk the life of your friend and brother and defy me.”
Zainah sighed. “Okay, but I want to see Leila right now. You promised to let her go if I came back here. And you also promised to free Malik. So wherever you have him tied and locked up, please let him go.”
“I’m not going to let Leila or your brother go,” her father said. “I have to make sure you do as you say and go back to your husband’s house without any problems tomorrow.”
Zainah’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head. “I never agreed to go back to my so-called husband. Besides, I have a fiancé that I love very much and I am going to marry him as soon as I get back to America. Why would I promise such a thing?”
“Why can’t you get it in your head that you are already married and that your husband isn’t going to ever dissolve the marriage? You are going to your husband’s house tomorrow and that’s that.”
She glowered at him and said, “How can you be so wicked?”
He looked at her and chuckled, “Wicked? I am doing all this for you.”
She yelled, “No, you are not! You are doing this for yourself!”
His mouth turned up in a crooked smile. “I guess you are right, Zainah. Your marriage to Jibril, and your friend’s to Dauda, will ensure that my business continues to thrive.”
Her loathing for her father increased as she stared at him. She suddenly couldn’t see or think straight and lunged at him. Immediately, two of her father’s bodyguards appeared from nowhere, grabbed her, and moved her far away from him.
Her father’s smile melted from his face. He stared at her as though he had never seen her before. Turning to his bodyguards, he said, “Take her and lock her up in the shack.”
They began to drag her away and she yelled, “You are an evil man! May God repay you for all the evil you have done.”
They dragged her out of the house and carried her kicking and screaming until they came to the shack. They unlocked it, pushed her in, and locked it up again. She turned around. The shack was dark and she could see nothing. She began to feel the wall for the light switch and
then swung around as she heard Leila’s voice say, “Is that you, Zainah?”
Zainah found the switch and immediately switched the light on. The room flooded with light and she gasped. Leila was huddled in a corner of the shack, disheveled. Immediately, Zainah went to her and they fell into each other’s arms.
“Why are you in the dark, Leila?” Zainah cried. “What has my father done to you?”
“I’m so sorry, Zainah,” Leila said, tears streaming down her face. “It’s all my fault.”
Zainah rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. “Stop apologizing, Leila. It’s not your fault.”
Leila sniffed and said, “If I had not given your father your phone number, if I did not even come here in the first place, all this would not have happened.”
“Stop it!” Zainah sighed. “Stop blaming yourself. It’s my fault. If I had not brought you here in the first place, we would not be where we are today.”
They clung to each other and wept in each other’s arms until they were exhausted. They both sat on the bare floor and clung to each other.
At last, Leila said, “We are in deep trouble, Zainah. What are we going to do? Is there any chance that your Faizan’s friends will save us again this time?”
Zainah shook her head. “I don’t think so. Faizan called the man who sent those men to rescue us the last time to see if he could help again, but he said he can’t. Nobody is coming to save us this time, Leila. We are on our own now.”
Leila began to weep again. “Your father told me that we were going to be put in purdah. He said those men are planning to move to Saudi Arabia where we will remain forever in bondage.” She cried louder. “I will never get to see Malik again.”
Zainah thought about what Leila had said and then about Faizan. Suddenly, the full reality of her situation came crashing down on her, and a terrible feeling of utter hopelessness enveloped her. She lay on the ground and prayed that God would take her life, because she could not imagine being married to someone other than Faizan. She couldn’t imagine living without him. She would virtually be a slave. Even worse than that, a sex slave. She and Leila both would.
Leila lay down next to her and looked her in the eyes. “I tried to take my life.” She looked away. “With a shard of glass I found right there.”
Zainah’s jaw dropped, and she sat up. She looked down at Leila and said, “Tell me you did not. You are only joking, right?”
“I did. Death looked better than the future for me.”
Zainah shuddered. What would she have done if she’d come in here and found her best friend lying on the floor dead? There had to be a way out of here. She said to Leila, “Let’s pray and ask the Lord to work a miracle for us. ‘Cause he’s our only hope.”
Leila shut her eyes and leaned back on the wall. She shook her head and said, “I can’t pray anymore. I’ve been praying since they brought me here, Zainah. I’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, and still, there is no deliverance. Now you’re here, suffering with me.”
Zainah leaned back against the wall beside Leila and dashed at the tears in her eyes. “We have to keep praying, Leila. We have no other hope or choice. We need to pray that the Lord will work a miracle and rescue us somehow.”
She took Leila’s hand and began to pray. She prayed and cried at the same time. She cried out to God from her heart, but somehow her prayer seemed like it held very little hope and faith. But it was all she had in her—tiny faith, and even less hope.
After she had prayed, she hugged Leila again. “We need to trust that the Lord will work a miracle for us, and quickly too.”
Leila said nothing and Zainah added, “My father said we will be given away to those men tomorrow. That cannot happen. Somehow, the Lord will deliver us before then.”
She stood up, unable to remain seated anymore. Pacing the shack, she started to pray again. Faizan’s face stayed on her mind as she prayed. Tears flowed freely down her face as she wept and asked the Lord to save them so she would see Faizan again.
For what seemed like hours, she paced the floor, weeping and praying. When she finally got tired, she went to sit down near Leila and found that her friend was asleep.
Zainah’s heart grew heavy as she looked at Leila. If only I had not returned here with her months ago. We are both in this awful situation because of me.
She leaned her back against the wall, feeling exhausted, and then lay beside Leila to try to sleep. But she couldn’t. Her father’s words kept echoing in her mind. Tomorrow, you’ll be given away to your husbands, he had said. The thought of that happening made her sick to her stomach.
She stayed awake throughout the night into the next day. And even though she felt exhausted and sleepy, she stood up once again and began to pray earnestly. Amongst all she prayed about, she asked that the Lord would quickly send a miracle for them, or take her life now, because death would be better than the fate that awaited her and Leila.
Chapter Fourteen
Faizan tossed and turned on his bed, but he could not sleep. He stood up finally and switched on the lights. What am I doing here? he asked himself. The woman he loved was thousands of miles away and he didn’t know what was going on with her even now. For all he knew, she could have been misled by her father. Maybe the man had insisted that she could not dissolve her marriage and would stay married to one of those men that he had forced her to marry the last time. I have to go to her.
He couldn’t stay here doing nothing. But Jake’s warning rang in his mind over and over again. If he left the United States and was caught, he would spend the rest of his life in jail. More than that, even if he succeeded in evading being caught, he would not be able to return to the United States again. He would not get to see his sisters again. He was between the devil and the deep blue sea.
He ran his fingers through his hair, his emotions in disarray. “Lord, please give me wisdom,” he prayed. “Show me what to do.”
But in his heart, he already knew what he wanted to do. He couldn’t let Zainah handle her problems all alone in Mali. He had to go get her. He would risk everything for her, including spending the rest of his life in jail. He knew once he left the United States, the likelihood of coming back would be nil. He would miss his sisters terribly. After spending a lifetime without a real family, finally finding them and being a part of their family had been everything to him. But, Zainah was his life now. Even if it meant not ever seeing his sisters again, he would give it all up to be with her.
He stood and began to pace the room. Already, his mind was made up. He would find a way to sneak out of the country and go to Mali to find Zainah. If she was in trouble, he would help her, even without Jake’s help. If there was a way to leave the country without being seen, he had to find that way.
He glanced at the clock on the wall and his heart twisted. It was one a.m. Today was supposed to be his and Zainah’s wedding day. Now it would not be held because of her wicked father.
He went out of the room and walked to Ken and Audrey’s room. He felt hesitant to wake them up in the middle of the night, but there was nothing he could do. He knocked on their bedroom door and waited. When no one answered, he knocked once more.
Ken opened the door and stared at him. “What is it, Faizan?”
“I need to speak to you, Ken.” Audrey appeared at the door and stood behind Ken. She stared curiously and asked, “What’s the problem, Faizan?” She hit her forehead and then she shook her head. “I’m sorry for asking. Zainah has just left the country and might be in a dangerous situation, and I’m asking what’s wrong. You are worried about her, aren’t you?”
Ken shook his head at Audrey. “He’s distraught, Audrey. You shouldn’t have just spelled everything out like that.”
“It’s okay,” Faizan said, smiling sadly at his sister. “I am terribly worried about Zainah.” He turned to look at Ken again and said once more, “I need to speak to you,” He faced Audrey and added, “And you too, Audrey.”
Audrey held up a finger and sa
id to him, “Give me a second. Let me put on my robe.”
He nodded and went to the living room with Ken. He sat on the sofa near the door while Ken sat on the couch facing him. Audrey came out a minute later and sat beside Ken. They both looked quizzically at him.
Faizan looked at Audrey and Ken and then cleared his throat. He began, “I can’t do this. I can’t sit here and do nothing. I have to go find Zainah. I don’t trust her father. Who knows what is happening to her right now?”
Ken leaned forward and his eyes searched Faizan’s face. “I know how hard this is, but you know what will happen if you try to leave the United States. The government has eyes everywhere. They will find you. You will never be able to successfully leave this country without being seen.”
Faizan nodded and then said, “I need your help, Ken. As Jake’s friend, you can help . . .”
Ken shook his head. “You and I called Jake together and he told both of us that he would not be able to help this time.”
“We need to try again.”
“No, Faizan. You’re asking way too much of me. Jake said that if he tried to help one more time, he would be in trouble with the powers that be. He is my friend, but I can’t ask him to put his job on the line in order to do me a favor.”
“Please, Ken,” Faizan said, leaning forward in his seat. “You know very well that I am right about Zainah’s father. Zainah might be in trouble right now. You know the story of how he tried to force her to convert to Islam and get married to a stranger. Come on, Ken. Please help me. Zainah is part of this family. I know you care for her as well. You don’t want her to get hurt, do you?”
Faizan ran his fingers through his hair and said, “Besides, I’m not asking you to ask Jake to do the same thing he did last time. He doesn’t have to send any men to the area to rescue Zainah again. I just need his help to get out of the country without being caught. After all, when I left on that covert mission, he was completely in charge of getting me out of the country.”