Reality

Chapter 1
It was what many people would call a blissful day in the middle of a summer in a country known as Afghanistan. The winds were blowing just hard enough to bring in a cool breeze within a country known to be hot as "Hell". The skies were clear, leaving the country in the eyes of a bright sunlight, which was great considering that a small driving business was giving its' first women's driving test that day. All the women participating in this event were astonished they had made it this far and leaped for joy as they were called up to the car. But for a young girl, the daughter of one of these lucky women, her day was not going to be so lucky. When her mother returned with the news that she had failed her driving test and would not be able to attend any job, they began to cry and headed home. After what seemed to be hours of walking, they saw their small and rugged shack in the distance. Her father was standing out front talking to a strange man she had never seen before.
The little girl and her mother entered the shack and decided that it was not best to get involved into a man's conversation, for it was forbidden. When her mother finished making some food, which in at this time the Taliban had control, making food rations less than usual, the little girl's father entered the door and glared at her before looking her mother in the eye and walking away. She ran up to her mother and asked her how old she would be tomorrow, and her mother replied and informed her that romorrow she would be getting married on her nineth birthday to the man she had seen with her father earlier. The little girl was so happy, not understanding what her mother's meaning was of "getting married". Excited for the big day to come,she got down in her pallet on the floor and tried to sleep.
When she saw the sun rise in the sky the next morning, she jumped up and ran outside to do her chores. She had just fed the mule when that man she had seen a day earlier, showed up. She thought he had brought her a gift, for he had brought another donkey with him this time. Looking at her mother's face, she saw an enormous sign of something to be wrong and ran towards her. The man looked at her as if she were an animal instead of a child, only making her hold onto her mother tighter. Her father, seeing his daughter's reaction pulled her away and told her to tell the man her name and her age. She told him her name was Hadiqa and that she was now nine years old. The man let out a deep breathe, handed her father a handful of money, and grabbed her arm. Astonished, she jerked away and tried to run to her mother, only to have the man grip her arm even tighter and pulling her. It was at this moment she understood what had just happened.
The trip to his home took three hours of miserable silence. When they finally arrived to his home, it seemed even worse than her old one. The roof was caving in and she knew that from then on, she would have the responsibility of keeping this new home intact as her mother had done for her home. The man pulled her off the donkey and took her inside, making her sit on a blanket he had on the floor. He sat in fron of her for what seemed to her, an eternity. He reminded her of a spider, just waiting for it's prey to start moving before it attacked. After an hour, he finally asked her if she knew how to cook. She nodded her head yes, in fear of not knowing what he would do to her if he foun out she had never cooked anything in her life. He seemed to know she was lying, for he hit her with as much strength as an ox, breaking her nose. This was just the beginning of her life, and she it.
After eduring a horrible night sleeping next to a man thirty years older than her, Hadiqa rose the next morning to find him gone. Feeling a wave of happiness through her, she got up and went outside to get some yard work done. It was a million degrees outside today. Having a a feeling of sadness and wanting her mother, she fed the donkey and went back inside. While beginning to clean a rusty pipe she had found lying on the floor, she heard somebody coming towards the shack and she rushed to a small crack in the wall to peek outside to see who it was.She heard the man with a sack of what sounded to be vegetables from the market. When he saw her, his face turned into what she thought looked like a dead body rising out of the grave to see that the world had not changed.
This expression filled her entire body with nothing less than fear. She hurredly rushed back to her pallet on the floor and pretended to sleep, hoping he hadn't noticed her. She could hear him walking, getting closer to the door with every step, each step sending her into a deeper pool of chaos. He was at the door now, opening it, his expression now changed to nothing. Hadiqa didn't know which was worse, knowing he was in a reality filled with torturing others around him, or just guessing he was. Her mind went blank as he looked her in the eye, letting it clear of the hate he felt towards her. He threw the vegatables at her, as if a pitcher at a baseball game, and ordered her to cook dinner for him, then turned and exited again. Letting out a sigh of relief, Hadiqa got a pot and put the vegetables inside then continued with crushing them, hoping this would make some time of dinner. When finished, she noticed a spider crawling across the floor, and in anger, she grabbed it only to crush it inside with the vegetables. She hoped he would'nt noticed.
That afternoon, the air cooled down as the sun started to set. Life in afghanistan was beginning to settle down for the night, for the most part, atleast it was in the city of Ghazni. Back at the shack, the man seemed to be in a better mood than he had been earlier this morning. Hadiqa spent most of her time sitting on her pallet watching him or staring at the ground, waiting for an order or a punishment. It hadn't taken too long before the man informed her that they would be moving to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Hadiqa didn't know what to think nor say. "Can I say goodbye to my mother and father first?" She asked him. He looked at her, then outside. He said nothing for atleast an hour before telling her she could, but to hurry. They would be leaving in a week, which would give her plenty of time to get things ready to go. "Thank you," she replied, then laid down on her pallet and went to sleep.
"Mother!" Hadiqa ran as fast as she could into her mother's arms, hugging her tighter than she ever had before. Both crying, her father steps out of the shack and glares at her, then looks at the man in confusion. Hadiqa didn't care what the man did at this point, even if he killed her. She was with her mother, that's all that mattered.

Chapter 2
It hadn't been but only a few minutes upon finally arriving to her mother's arms that the man had grabbed her arm and yanked her away. "It's time to go!" To him it didn't matter as to whether or not he was pulling a girl from her mother, or a kitten from it's mom.
Crying, Hadiqa left with her husband. They travelled for hours and it didn't look as if they had gone anywhere. The air seemed so thick, as if somebody had filled it with some sort of gasious water. Hadiqa could barely breathe and it seemed to get hotter and hotter with the passing time. It wasn't long before the man finally looked at her and made conversation. "You know why I bought you?" His question seemed so strange to her. The only thing she knew to do was to quickly answer him before he thought she was some pshyco. "No," was all she could say. His response was, "Your eyes and hair." Hadiqa looked at him like a cat watching swimmming fish. That was the nicest thing that man has said since he has had her. She has to say something back. BUt what? "Ahmm..." Her words weren't coming out right. " He glared at her in dismay. "Don't speak." His voice was now rough. Hadiqa just looked at the ground and day-dreamed of her home, her mother and father, the life she used to have. Where had all this gone and how has her life changed so fast in such a little time?
"Your not too far from puberty." His voice had changed, he now seemed impatient. Hadiqa just listened. At this point in her life, this is all she knew to do. After some time he turned to look at her, then turned forward again. He let a grin slip across his face before commenting, "Your not too bad looking, my children should turn out well."