~ These events occurred four months or so ago. ~ Fathiyaa Nasir lay flat on her back against the stone floor. Her head slightly propped against the wall. Her sweat soiled white hair was disheveled, barely tucked back in an unkempt bun. She still wore the collar placed on her during the horrid bloodletting session two weeks earlier. Her clothes were filthy and disorderly. The woman lay gazing blankly toward the cell door with her bloodshot tawny golden eyes. It stood open but she was too weak to stand let alone walk out through that door to freedom. The Songaskian woke up feeling the familiar full body chills and unforgettable crippling pains she’d felt. She deteriorated further as the day went on. She was exhausted by the evening and could do little more than lay on the ground in the corner of the cell. She started crying. She let the tears run down her cheeks clearing the dirt, sweat and blood in their path. She could do little more than that. She simply didn’t have the energy. Fathiyaa just let the tears stream down her face not bothering to blink them away. A single thought repeating over and over in her head. “I know I will be alright this time.” Fathiyaa let out a faint chuckle. She fell silent staring up at the ceiling now. The sickly woman’s chest rose in a slow unsteady rhythm. Her heartbeat slowed making sure she stayed on the ground. The white-haired woman’s thoughts drifted again as she let her heavy eyes close. She wasn’t sure what time it was nor truly what day of the week it was. “The human mind is a cruel place, I thought I found where I belong. Now I lay here again,... alone... dying.” Fathiyaa’s thoughts fell silent again as her breathing slowed even further only allowing her chest to gently rise and fall every moment or so.
