Fatma left the house when she was sixteen, pregnant and unmarried, she walked the man-made meadows of Liwa while her conventional bedouin family swore to never see her again, never speak of her again, never communicate with her again. After all, she shamed the family, the society, and herself by getting divorced from her abusive husband. Maryam however, was named after Virgin Mary. She had a particular, somehow different story. She was raped repeatedly by her stepfather, which left her torn apart and alone. At the age of fifteen, she had faced chronic depression that even a cocktail of pills could not fix. This is how the Dubai police officer described the victims of a double suicide scene in the Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, or, as I would describe, a double homicide.

 

Fictional Short Story for ZUSSC