Honor

Shadows danced across her face as she quickly made her way through the steamy city. The city lights flickered on and off of her young features. She glanced ahead, she was almost home. She looked back down at the weathered sidewalk and smiled to herself.

In a flash, two strong hands grabbed her feeble arms and pushed her against a stained wall. “You shouldn’t be out so late all alone,” he grunted in her ear.

She screamed.

***

Vomit filled the toilet and she leaned back against the tiled wall catching her breath. She held her stomach and groaned. The pain was worsening every day. Her mother stood beside her trying to keep a strong face despite the fact that inside she was breaking.

The girl coughed and leaned over the toilet again.

***

He sat in a sparsely lit room murmuring a prayer. There was no question on what he had to do. It was necessary. It was his daughter and he needed to save her. He tried not to think about it, but he couldn’t stop looking at the weapon. He swallowed and muttered out another prayer. He looked into a flame of a candle “onur, honor.”

***

The cleaned laundry danced with the wind, as she hung up freshly cleaned sheets. It was a calm day, one in which the scent of spring seemed to promise one rebirth. She looked down at her stomach and a tiny smile manage to escape from her lips. She hung up another sheet and noticed in the corner of her eye, a shadow. But then it disappeared and she shrugged it off. Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. She spun around when she heard an ever-so-quiet footstep. Her heart raced, but soothed when she saw who it was.

“Father.”

His eyes were wide and his hands were shaking—and in his hands—

She looked back at him pleadingly.

“onur , honor,” he whispered and pulled the trigger.