Folio Two, Page Six (svegra mos pirh)
Having left my younger self in a very impossible situation, it is my task to prove that she can escape. Anything I tell you will seem fantastical, and we will have passed into the realm of the ancient epics;—except we both know that my story does not end the way an epic should. We could talk of snakes in the crib or shadows of wings on the walls; either would seem just as fantastical. “Nishet deserves much better than that!” is my one thought as I search for ways to prevent the inevitable.
Join me, Nishet. I am only a child, and I crouch in terror from the tranquilizer guns or bullets. I cannot move. Feel my frantic thoughts—see me, injured past recovery performing the final rites and falling across my mother's body, the life bleeding from the wounds— as I think my way out of this impossible situation. My mind has created the sound of drums in the distance. Slowly, I lick my lips. I roll the round coins in my hand like they are magical talismans. The adrenaline has made me nauseous, and I am beginning to feel the weakness of a morning without food. It comes like a flash across my body, followed by a second. My face is hot. I do not know how much longer I can last.
If there is a god listening now, I thought, please have her appear, and may she deliver me. I promise that I will be a better child, that I will always endeavor to do good, and that I will not hit Getsret every times he walks into physical eduation, even if he does look at me strangely ...
Nothing happened. Pebbles skidded down the bank. I peered through the branches and imagined that I saw two bodies standing here, both poised and ready for my emergence. The tranquilizer gun lay beside one officer's feet. Each now held a large black gun. They meant something serious. The distant rumbling sounded louder. Perhaps it was the train on the tracks. Had it already left? Would I be stranded in Kobsarka for another half hour? Would it condemn me to a life in the shadows?
“Come out!” one yelled. “If you do, we won't hurt you.”
That was the worst lie my young ears had ever heard. I burrowed deeper behind the stack of branches. A fern prickled my nose. I dared not sneeze.
“Did you think that you could get away with breaking and entering while a family's at a funeral? Do you have no shame?”
Looking back at that time, I must smile. One would think that an alarm triggered from inside a locked cabinet would have received a more sympathetic police response, even if I had run. Perhaps they hadn't understood why someone would have remained in the house during a funeral. Even the servants had gone. Anumë thought them more important. If the police arrested me today, would my family come to claim me? Would I be declared homeless, doomed to one of the state orphanages?
My face felt hot. Tears blurred my vision. The entire world shimmered and shook. The rocks on the stream bottom danced, sending beautiful wave patterns across the water. I heard the cry of an animal and a deep thunder in my chest, calm and steady. Above, an officer cried out. I raised my eyes.
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