The Pearl that Broke Its Shell

by Nadia Hashimi

The thought sent a chill down my spine. I realized what my mother knew as well. Men could do what they wanted with women.

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

“That’s how it is for girls. A daughter doesn’t really belong to her parents. A daughter belongs to others,”

When you don’t agree with powerful people, be prepared to lose everything.

This life is difficult. We lose fathers, brothers, mothers, songbirds and pieces of ourselves. Whips strike the innocent, honors go to the guilty, and there is too much loneliness. I would be a fool to pray for my children to escape all of that. Ask for too much and it might actually turn out worse. But I can pray for small things, like fertile fields, a mother’s love, a child’s smile—a life that’s less bitter than sweet.

They listened, unsurprised. I was only confirming what they’d already suspected, that I was one of those stories. My story was not unheard of. I was broken and battered

Ultimately, I wrote this story to share the experience of Afghan women in a fictional work that is made up of a thousand truths.