Isma
Samaya Goodwin ‘23 The following story was inspired by Kamila Shamsie’s “Homefire”
Isma awakes to a pounding at the door of her enclosed apartment. Isma climbs out of bed with the crust of night still fighting with her eyes.Who is awake at this ungodly hour, Isma thinks to herself as she prepares to waddle to the door half asleep. The room that is usually filled with white light is now covered by the darkness of the night. Isma flicks the lights on, but the brightness is too inviting for eyes so she turns them off. As she gets closer to the door, Isma makes her final adjustments. Isma rubs the last remnants of sleep out of her face and throws on her turban. “Dr. Hira Shah?” Isma questions as she opens the door and throws off her turban. Dr. Hira Shah storms into the apartment kicking off her shoes, but she still hasn’t said a word. The silence makes Isma uneasy, but she chooses the silence over noise. The rain pounding on the skylight soothes the fiery anxiety building up in the pits of Isma’s stomach. “Tea?” Isma asks Dr. Hira Shah. “Please, but I’ve come here for more important things.” Dr. Hira Shah’s words come out dry. Walking over to the stove, Isma reflects on the tone the doctor used, full of an energy unknown to Isma. Isma was used to a warm and loving energy from her mentor, but something felt different. Hira Shah looked different. Her hair was untamed, her clothes were rags, and she just didn’t look like the sophisticated and put together figure that Isma had admired for so long. “Two spoons of sugar?” Isma smiled, trying to lighten up the gloomy aura that started to settle into the air. “Isma…” she heard those four letters differently. The letters sound like an unknown tune to her ears, but somehow she still knows the melody. “I don’t know how to say this but Eamon and Aneeka are dead.” Isma froze. Multiple thoughts came into Isma’s head at once. First Paravaiz died and now Aneeka has followed in his footsteps. The two kids Isma mothered into adulthood are gone and soon to be forgotten. The same invisible mourners will come for Aneeka as they did for Parvaiz. Two pieces of Isma’s heart are now gone, and it left her heart completely broken into two, but in an instant Isma’s mourning was cut short. [...]
Read the full story in PUB’s online magazine at sites.google.com/sch.org/pub 36
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