CHAPTER 3

Salma 

I could only read hatred in his eyes. There was no other emotion towards me in them. I stumbled out of the room in a daze and drove back home. 

Perhaps it was because my vision was blurry from the tears but I did not notice that my family's hunda was parked right outside. I walked to my room like a zombie but when I pushed the door, I saw my parents in the middle of the room with only an expression of fury marked on their faces.

I knew what it was they were angry about already. Their faces echoed their reason loudly—they had discovered the pregnancy test strips. They knew I was pregnant. 

I did not get the chance to open my lips to explain. My father's large hands reverberated across my face with a loud thud. 

“You fucking cunt!” he thundered, “how dare you?” 

The slap made me stagger backwards and immediately made me feel dizzy. I wanted to faint and I needed to throw up. But my father was not done. He took a step towards me and raised his hands to hit me again, only this time, I lurched forward and threw up all over his well-pressed Armani suit. 

“Damn you!” he shouted, storming out of my room in pure rage. My vision swam and my chest was tight with hurt. It felt like someone was literally squeezing the life out of me. 

“Rhonda!” my mother shouted for our in-house maid. 

“Clean this up,” my mom instructed, “and her.” I could barely see anything, but I could see my stepmother's eyes, looking at me with disgust and disapproval. But I was hurt by neither, it was Brandon's rejection that still had my heart in a knot. 

**** 

My eyes fluttered open slowly. I was on my bed, the same one Brandon had made love to me several times after our first tryst on my parents' couch. 

I could hear voices in the next room. I sat up at once, suspecting that they were talking about me. 

“We are leaving tonight,” I heard my stepsister, Ariel, say. I was going to lie back because it did not seem like the conversation was about my pregnancy after all, but the words that followed kept me up, “I still cannot believe she would do this,” my father's voice was clear. 

“I have told you multiple times, love,” my stepmother said, her tone patronising, “she's a whore. You will not believe the amount of condoms I have found in her waste bin when I visit this house.”

I rolled my eyes because that was a blatant lie. She never visited me here in Texas. She and my father spent all their time in Oklahoma and had never come to see me while I was in college even once. I had been the only one practically living here. The only reason they were in Texas now was because it would look good on my father if he were spending time with me before I finally went to John Hopkins, my dream internship. 

“Do we know the father?” my father asked. 

“Please,” I could imagine Ariel rolling her eyes, “she is known as a slut on campus. It is said that she participated in several freak-offs.” 

I scoffed. 

I had been a virgin until Brandon. And it was Ariel who had multiple boyfriends and was known as a slut. There were sex positions on campus named after her. 

“How come you never told me this?” my father's voice sounded mortified. 

“You wouldn't believe me,” Ariel whined, “she's always been your perfect little girl.” 

I could not believe my ears. 

“If word gets out that my daughter is pregnant and is some sort of sex freak, it would destroy my campaign!” my father yelled.

“Oh, honey! I know how hard you've worked to be a congressman. I'm not going to allow this unfortunate incident destroy your public image. I have spoken to Dr Kingsley and he has agreed to help us,” my stepmother had a way of appealing to my father. 

“So we leave tonight to avoid anyone seeing us. She must have that abortion. I cannot imagine the news and… they would eat me alive before I can even make it to the primaries.” 

“Let's hope she doesn't get any ideas like keeping the baby,” said Ariel. 

I  touched my stomach. There was no bump yet but I could feel that I carried someone within me. Someone was growing inside me who was desperate for a chance at life. 

“She's got that internship at John Hopkins. I'm sure she's smart enough to know that she will be throwing it all away if she keeps the baby!” my stepmother said. 

“She has no choice,” my father's voice was made of steel, “she's getting that abortion whether she likes it or not. Wake her up in an hour and tell her we're all traveling to LA for a charity gala.” 

They moved on to talk about something else but my mind was full of terror. They wanted me to give up my baby. I would be damned if I let that happen to me. 

As quietly as I could, I packed a small bag of essentials and stuffed a thousand dollars in cash in my wallet. I locked my door, hoping it would buy me some time to escape. Then I unbolted my window and looked down. The ground was not so far away but tonight it looked dangerous. I held my stomach with my hand and tried to picture what my baby would look like. 

I wanted to hold this baby someday and I was not going to let my parents take that away from me. I pushed the window open and slid down the sled, landing on my side with a soft thud and twisting my ankle in the process. 

“Ouch!” I winced as I tried to stand up. 

I took my bike and left without looking back. 

I had made the mistake of sleeping with Brandon but this child was innocent. 

I pedalled to the train station and paid for the last ticket going to Arizona. I fell asleep on the train and was woken up by a light tap on my shoulder. I looked up and saw a female cop staring down at me, “Are you Salma?” 

My heart beat faster than ever. 

I swallowed. The way I told the next lie could determine the trajectory of my life. 

“Who's that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and feigning cluelessness. 

The cop smiled. “Sorry to bother you. You do look a lot like her,” she told me. 

I looked around the train and noticed I was the only one left to leave. I wished the officer good luck on her search and bolted from the train. 

The first thing I noticed was that there were cops everywhere. It felt like they were all waiting for me. I pulled my cap lower to cover my face and walked as fast as I could from the train station. 

My heart was heavy as I walked quickly. Tears stung my eyes as I recalled how awfully Brandon had treated me. He had discarded me so fast and without any reasonable explanation. My parents, too, had been horrible. I had never felt this alone in my entire life. But I was going to make them pay. I was going to make them grovel at my feet and wish they were in hell instead of alive.