The call of the hunter that A'ilo was making to her interrupted the train of thoughts that had unknowingly drawn her. She stood up calmly and walked out of the courtyard, preparing to speak when A'ilo interrupted her again.
“God has almost separated the thief from the child, because if you go to bed every day, you will have to deal with the door being slammed. I have a right to be a prostitute, by God, our rights are being violated. Walid's father came in a while ago, go and close the door for us. When your husband comes back, hold his hand and lead him to the room. By God, if that big drunkard comes to my room again, we will destroy him.”
She did not feel the pain of A'ilo's words at all, because almost all her words were in the way. So she could not utter a single word, she ended up in the dark attic, lit up the room with her small phone and closed the door. She then lit up her children who were lying in the doorway, made their beds and went back inside. Because of the heat, she made them lie down outside, just as the rest of the women in the house each made their children lie down at the door of the room. When the night fell and the light faded a little, each of them returned her children to their rooms.
She slowly sat down, turned off the light on her phone and dialed her husband Kabir's number. However, upon first waking up, she was convinced that her phone was off. She looked back at the clock on her phone, which showed her it was eleven thirty at night.
She was too tired to sit up, so she leaned against the edge of the bed. To prevent her from falling asleep, Kabir came and banged on the door loudly, cursing her in front of the women of the house. While she was still asleep, he abducted her.
“Oh my God, my leg! My leg is bitten by your penis.”
Fatima's scream interrupted her deep sleep, and she, in shock, walked out of the house and into the kitchen, illuminated by the light of her phone's flashlight. Fatima's shadow filled the house, due to the pain of the scorpion stinging her.
“What's wrong, Fatima? What happened to your leg?”
Fauziya started asking her questions, looking at her leg. She saw nothing, except that the place where Fatima was holding her had turned red. She pulled her aside with her hand, and then she came across a huge black scorpion that was about to descend to where Na'ima was lying. She quickly grabbed a shoe next to her and kicked it, and the scorpion died instantly. Fauziya sighed, but she had forgotten the emergency aid that is given when a scorpion stings a person. Seeing Fatima, who was crying as if she was about to faint, shocked her. She took off her hijab, picked up Fatima, who was about three years old, and carried her. She felt a kind of weight, because of her old body and the support Fatima had given her. She started looking in the mirror because she was saving money there, but she herself was not sure that she would earn much money.
She came across two hundred naira, quickly picked it up and left the courtyard, ending up at Lawisa's room door, saying goodbye.
“Peace be upon you. Lawisa! Lawisa.”
