Zaleekhah steps out into the ear­ly morn­ing calm of her house­boat on the Riv­er Thames, the serene waters gen­tly caress­ing the shore beneath a dark, satin-like sky. Bun­dled in a fleece jack­et and ten­nis shoes, she takes in the tran­quil­i­ty of the riv­er, an envi­ron­ment that has always been her haven. Her runs, an inte­gral part of her life, have long been seen by her hus­band as a way for her to escape unre­solved emo­tions from her past. The rhythm of her move­ments, while famil­iar, also brings a sense of dis­tance from her per­son­al strug­gles, allow­ing her to momen­tar­i­ly dis­con­nect from the com­pli­ca­tions that linger in her life.

As she begins her run, the cold morn­ing air makes the ini­tial breaths feel sharp and uncom­fort­able, yet as she con­tin­ues, her body adapts, mov­ing flu­id­ly along the Chelsea Embank­ment. She pass­es a mix of ear­ly ris­ers head­ing to work and oth­ers return­ing from their late-night activ­i­ties, their paths cross­ing under the dim light of dawn. As she runs, Zaleekhah reflects on her envi­ron­men­tal work, par­tic­u­lar­ly the neg­a­tive impact of pol­lu­tion on the Riv­er Thames’ ecosys­tem. Her research has uncov­ered dis­turb­ing find­ings, like the harm­ful plas­tics found in the stom­achs of mit­ten crabs, under­scor­ing the long-last­ing dam­age human activ­i­ty has inflict­ed on the envi­ron­ment.

The Thames, once thought to be life­less, now teems with aquat­ic life, yet it still suf­fers from the same urban waste that has plagued it for years. Zaleekhah’s work has tak­en her to var­i­ous regions, observ­ing the broad­er con­se­quences of cli­mate change and the pol­lu­tion of nat­ur­al resources. This knowl­edge brings her clos­er to under­stand­ing the intri­cate rela­tion­ship between water and envi­ron­men­tal health. Despite humanity’s heavy reliance on water, she is deeply trou­bled by society’s dis­re­gard for this essen­tial resource, which, in its own way, defines the flow of time and life. The real­iza­tion that water—an irre­place­able resource—is still under­val­ued and abused weighs heav­i­ly on her, push­ing her for­ward in her work.

While run­ning, her mind drifts to mem­o­ries of her child­hood in Turkey. She recalls hik­ing with her par­ents through the coun­try­side, feel­ing safe in their pres­ence and the con­nec­tion to the nat­ur­al world around her. How­ev­er, those nos­tal­gic thoughts quick­ly shift into anx­i­ety as she recalls the trau­ma that has since shaped her life, caus­ing an emo­tion­al ache that com­pels her to keep run­ning, lest she be over­whelmed by the painful past she’s tried to leave behind.

By the time Zaleekhah reach­es her Uncle Malek’s grand home for din­ner, she feels a sense of dis­com­fort set­tle in. Despite the lux­u­ri­ous sur­round­ings and the com­fort they afford, there is a sense of estrange­ment, a dis­con­nect between her life choic­es and the expec­ta­tions placed on her. Uncle Malek, a suc­cess­ful immi­grant, rep­re­sents the very ideals Zaleekhah often feels alien­at­ed from, embody­ing suc­cess yet car­ry­ing his own inner tur­moil about belong­ing. Their con­ver­sa­tion, heavy with fam­i­ly expec­ta­tions, per­son­al dis­ap­point­ments, and cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences, expos­es the ten­sion between them. As they talk, she becomes aware of the under­ly­ing fears and unre­solved issues about her mar­riage and iden­ti­ty, which linger unspo­ken, ampli­fy­ing her sense of dis­place­ment.

Though she is sur­round­ed by com­fort and famil­iar­i­ty at Uncle Malek’s, Zaleekhah feels like an out­sider, caught between the expec­ta­tions of those around her and her own unre­solved ques­tions about who she is. Her thoughts return to her child­hood mem­o­ries and her fam­i­ly dynam­ics, both of which feel like dis­tant parts of a life she no longer ful­ly inhab­its. As she nav­i­gates the com­plex­i­ties of famil­ial love, sac­ri­fice, and duty, Zaleekhah is forced to rec­on­cile her past with her present, find­ing her com­mit­ment to the envi­ron­ment and her per­son­al con­vic­tions act­ing as both her anchor and her escape.