The noise in the palace is unbearable. It’s still dark. I glance at the clock and realize it’s three in the morning. I hear my father’s voice clearly. I sit up, my heart beats like crazy. Yasmin sits up too and looks frightened. We both struggle to breathe. She knows something bad happened, otherwise our families would never show up in the middle of the night.
I hear Hadi’s cries and Amir is shouting too. He is calling me. The first thing that occurs to me is that there’s something wrong with my mother. I jump out of bed and tell my wife to stay put. My relatives will not enter our bedroom because they know she is there.
I walk out stiffly and meet them. My father swallows hard, Amir is stomping like a bull. I don’t see Hadi anywhere but Hakim is walking up the stairs in tears.
I look a
