The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

by Nadia Hashimi

She didn’t stop until my father slapped her across the face. She reeled backward. Our guests looked on, feeling it was well deserved. My father had redeemed himself in their eyes.

“Men can take more than just their wives, dear girl. Sometimes wives are not enough.”

excitement. “You’re not a bacha posh any longer. Tonight I’ll show you that you’re a woman, not a boy.”

this is absolutely disgustint

I didn’t want Abdullah to see me as a girl, as Abdul Khaliq’s wife, as Hashmat’s stepmother. I dropped my head into my hands and cried.

If only I’d known then what the future held, I would have done just that. I would have snuck away with her in the night. At least that would have given her a chance.

“If I’m so terrible then why don’t you send me back?”

“Yes, it looks to be true. You’re going to become a mother, Rahima-jan.”

WHAT THE HECK THATS SO DISGUSTING SHES LIKE 13/14

In some ways, I think she was the bravest of all. She, my meek and timid sister, was the one who acted in the end. She was the one who showed those around her that she’d had enough of their abuse. As Khala Shaima said, everyone needed a way to escape.

Bring your head out of the sky and understand your place in this world, Khanum Marjan had said.

Everyone has a purpose here in the palace, Ghafoor had told her.

Shekib wondered what her place in this world was. Something told her it was not her place to be a house servant. And it was not her place to be the unwanted granddaughter. Surely, being a harem guard could not be her fate either, as comfortable as it had seemed in the last couple of days. Shekib kne...

And then Shekib realized how she could change her fate. How she could stop being gifted from one stranger to another. But to do so she needed to belong to someone, to a man. And if she had sons, she would seal her fate. A mother of sons would not be passed from hand to hand like livestock.

An idea was beginning to take shape in her mind but it would require some work.

I feared I was forgetting what my mother looked like.

My son, Jahangir, was ten months old at the time, a miracle in his own right. Carrying him for nine months and pushing him out of my body had nearly ripped me apart. I had never seen so much blood. Jameela delivered him, as she had Shahnaz’s children. Abdul Khaliq did not like for his wives to go to hospitals and there were no midwives in our area. My husband’s wife cut the umbilical cord while I lay exhausted and stunned. I’d never felt so weak.

“They say she set herself on fire this morning . . .”

OH NONONI

Parwin had tried to kill herself.

“Sometimes women are pushed too far, kicked too hard, and there’s no escape for them. Maybe she thought this was her only way.

I resisted the urge to spit at her. Pretending. She was pretending that things hadn’t been that bad. Parwin hadn’t been in that much pain.

It was all a game of pretend, just as Parwin had pretended every time we’d seen her. There was no honesty in our lives.

“You people destroyed her,” she cried. “If she dies, her blood is on the hands of this family. Do you understand? This young girl’s blood will be on your hands!”

PARWIN HAD STOPPED PRETENDING. After ten agonizing days, her peace finally came. Her body was brought back and buried in the local cemetery. My father attended the burial, as did a few of my uncles and my grandfather.

this is so bad no ijm going to cry

Madar-jan, what’s become of you?

Shahla hadn’t been allowed to come. She had just delivered her second child and it wasn’t proper for her to be out of the home in her condition. I wondered how she had taken the news, alone and so far from the rest of us.

Was it Parwin’s naseeb to die that way, her skin a mess of melted flesh? Or had she missed an opportunity to change things? To realize her actual naseeb? Was it Madar-jan’s naseeb to lie dazed with opium while Rohila and Sitara fended for themselves? Dodged my father’s angry rages on their own?

It was naseeb that they should walk through here now, while I am on guard.

He looked! He nodded! He saw me!

“Shekiba-jan.

Kabul had only male doctors, which would not suit the king’s insecurities.

Fatima had taken a dramatic turn for the worse and with it, Shekib’s naseeb changed course.

She was dead. She was alive but had lost a leg. She was unscathed but three children walking by had been killed. It was the Taliban. It was a warlord. It was the Americans.

“Your offenses against our dear king are grave and reprehensible. You are both to be stoned tomorrow afternoon.”

Noooo

Maybe this is how it is meant to be. Maybe this is how I will finally be returned to my family and saved from this wretched existence. Maybe there is nothing for me in this world.

“Allahu akbar.” “You could be granted mercy if you would at least tell us who this man is.” “Allahu akbar.”

Bro is she really that loyal in the name of love??!?! The fact that she would rathee die than reveal his name is crazy

“Very well! Khanum Benafsha, your crimes have been reviewed by the scholars of our beloved Islam and according to the laws of our land, you are to be stoned for the grave offense you have committed.”

Stone after stone, scream after scream, until Benafsha went silent and still. The general raised his hand. The execution had been carried out.

“I named her Parwin,” she said quietly.

It was Amanullah that she hoped for—not a palace servant!

“Have you heard the news? He is to be engaged! Our dear prince Amanullah is to be engaged! He has finally chosen a bride!”

OMG OMG OMF

Will Amanullah come here? Is it possible I will meet him today? Is it possible that there will really be a nikkah between us?

“Your future spouse is in the room next door with the mullah. He is signing the marriage certificate.” The door opened and a third man appeared. He gave the other two a nod and they turned back to Shekiba.

NONJONONOOOOO

Shekiba. That was it. That was the name I would have chosen.

liked her praise. It had been a long time since I’d heard any.

You see that? Murwarid found her escape, I could hear Khala Shaima say. Why haven’t you found yours?

knew he must have cried for me and I hated that I wasn’t there.

I am not welcome here. I am his wife, but only half. Nothing about me is whole. Why did he do this?

Bibi Gulalai was there. Wailing louder than anyone else.

Oh my gosh i hate her shes so two faced

You never saw him, I wanted to scream. You didn’t know how sweet he was.

Once married, girls no longer belonged to the families that raised them.

Why should he look at me? I’m no one. I have no father or mother, no family name. I am a half woman with a half face. How stupid I was to believe anything else!