A flood of memories came crashing back, and I couldn’t think straight. I immediately grabbed Uma from the bed.
“M-Mom?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes groggily.
When she realized what was happening, her grip tightened on my sleeve. “Mom?”
My hands were shaking as I held her, panic creeping in. But I pushed it down, focusing on getting us out of there. I fumbled for the door, finally managing to yank it open. Then, I hurriedly carried Uma down the fire escape.
I stumbled multiple times, my knees bruising, but I barely felt the pain. My only concern was getting us both to safety.
When we finally made it outside, I was met with a crowd that had gathered around. The fire department had already arrived. The sight before me hit me like a punch to the gut , everything felt like it was happening all over again.
I leaned against a tree, weak and dizzy, holding Uma close.
“Mom, are we going to die?” Uma’s voice trembled with fear.
I snapped out of it, pulling her tighter against me. “No. We’re not going to die. Not while I’m here.”
Uma’s real mom had already died saving me. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to Uma, not on my watch.
Years ago, when I was abroad, Orion finally loosened his control over me a bit. That was when I met Sarah.
Sarah was a university counselor, and I had reached out to her when my depression had reached its lowest point. When I confessed to her about my feelings for my uncle, I thought she’d think I was crazy, maybe even dirty. That’s how everyone else had treated me. But Sarah didn’t. She didn’t judge me.
Instead, she encouraged me to move forward, to heal, and helped me process everything. She even showed me pictures of Uma when she was a newborn. Sarah had just gone through a divorce, but despite everything, she loved Uma as her own.
That time with Sarah was the closest I ever came to healing.
Then, one night, everything changed.
A fire broke out in the lab building. I was wearing earplugs, so I didn’t hear the alarm. Sarah rushed upstairs to get me, but the heat was unbearable. A ceiling light fixture fell down, and Sarah threw herself in front of me to protect me.
The fixture hit her square in the head.
Before the fire department arrived, Sarah must have known she wouldn’t make it. She held my hand and begged me to adopt Uma, to raise her as my own.
I promised her I would.
In the end, Sarah died in the fire. I took Uma, who was so young that her memories of her birth mother were already fading. From that day on, she called me mom.
But my depression only deepened. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was that moment in the lab, and it haunted me. The one person who had been kind to me abroad was gone.
The years after were a blur. I just went through the motions.
Suddenly, I realized I was sweating heavily. A car pulled up in front of me, and the door opened. Orion stepped out.
He didn’t bother closing the door. He rushed straight to me. “Are you hurt?” His voice was frantic. “I heard there was a fire. Let me take you to the hospital.”
Without thinking, he grabbed my wrist, but I pulled it away with force. “Mr. John, I’m fine. Don’t make a scene.”
But his reaction was explosive. “Yara! What the hell is wrong with you? I found out about your medical records from abroad. You’ve been to the psychiatric department three times just last December! You have depression! Why didn’t you tell me?”
His words hit me like a slap. And the irony wasn’t lost on me. The last person who should be criticizing me was Orion.
He kept going, not stopping. “And you didn’t even register for marriage! Yara, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?”
I could feel Uma shrinking behind me, her small body trembling with fear, tears running down her cheeks.
I took a deep breath and slapped Orion hard across the face. His words died in his throat, unable to escape.
He touched his cheek in stunned silence, his eyes wide.
“Orion,” I said, my voice eerily calm, “What do you want me to say? That I’m depressed and wished I were dead? That I almost died in a shooting abroad? That I lived in constant fear every single day? Would you have cared? And let’s not forget one thing.”
I paused, looking him dead in the eye. “You never let me contact you in the first place.”
Orion fell silent, the weight of my words settling in.
After a few seconds, he took a step forward, opening his mouth. “I, ”
I shook my head, stepping back with no energy left to argue. “Let’s just leave it, Orion.”
Five years had been enough to make everything clear. I had no desire to see him again, no need for more of his drama in my life.
I picked up Uma, turning my back on him. That was it. No more contact. Not now, not ever again.
