Where Sleeping Girls Lie

by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

“They say terrible things are done in darkness, but terrible things are also done in a light too blinding for anyone else to look at directly.” —Dear Senthuran, Akwaeke Emezi

Whenever she’d watch a movie or read a book where a boy would make a huge declaration of love like that, she never found it romantic. The opposite, she found it disturbing. Almost like the girl was cornered, forced to go along with the master’s puppet show in order to not upset him.