When We Were Sisters: A Novel

by Fatimah Asghar

reasons why people go— Their train comes. They’re sleepy. The bell rings. There’s not enough food at home. They go to work. They needed money. They wanted to get a toy. They had to use the bathroom. There’s someone else they love more. They get pneumonia. They promised someone they would meet them. They hate you. You hate them. They’re tired. They ran out of salt. They died. They fell in love with the moon. The birds shit too much. The phone rang. We put them in the ground. You forgot about them. They forgot about you. The bus is outside. Someone else is waiting for them. They disappeared. They work for the government. They don’t work for the government. They got fired. They got hired. The British left. The military came. The country collapsed. The country stopped being a country. The land stopped being land. There was food somewhere else. The house got too loud. No one cleaned. We ran out of toilet paper. They got sick. The grass was greener. The grass died. All the plants are dead. No one came. Someone came when they weren’t supposed to. They wanted to. They left. They’re not coming back.