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    Historical Fiction

    There Are Rivers in the Sky

    by

    Zaleekhah awak­ens to an unex­pect­ed ear­ly morn­ing vis­it from her Uncle Malek in 2018, find­ing him stand­ing at the door of her house­boat by the Riv­er Thames. His usu­al pris­tine appear­ance is now disheveled, with his blood­shot eyes and stub­ble hint­ing at sleep­less nights, which imme­di­ate­ly rais­es Zaleekhah’s con­cerns for his well-being. Despite his appear­ance, Uncle Malek attempts to car­ry on as usu­al, mask­ing his true feel­ings with a flip­pant atti­tude, as he brush­es off any inquiries about his health. As they talk, he shows curios­i­ty about her uncon­ven­tion­al lifestyle and sparse liv­ing arrange­ments, find­ing humor in her min­i­mal­ist décor, which leads to a brief but telling exchange. The casu­al­ness of the con­ver­sa­tion con­trasts sharply with the emo­tion­al weight that seems to hang between them, sig­nal­ing an unspo­ken ten­sion.

    As the con­ver­sa­tion shifts, Uncle Malek address­es a sub­ject clos­er to Zaleekhah’s heart—her mar­riage to Bri­an, which has now become strained after he filed for divorce. He gen­tly sug­gests that there may still be a chance for rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, despite every­thing that has tran­spired. Zaleekhah, how­ev­er, quick­ly dis­miss­es this notion, explain­ing that she is far from being in any emo­tion­al state to con­sid­er rec­on­cil­ing. Her unre­lent­ing focus on mov­ing for­ward con­trasts sharply with Uncle Malek’s desire to cling to the hope of mend­ing fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships. Uncle Malek, not dis­cour­aged by her dis­missal, tries to change the sub­ject by propos­ing that they go out for a meal togeth­er. How­ev­er, their con­ver­sa­tion is sud­den­ly inter­rupt­ed by the unmis­tak­able sound of a flush­ing toi­let, sig­nal­ing that there is more to the sit­u­a­tion than ini­tial­ly thought.

    The unex­pect­ed arrival of Nen in her paja­mas fur­ther height­ens the ten­sion in the room. The sur­prise vis­i­tor, a qui­et pres­ence in con­trast to the grow­ing dis­com­fort, leaves Uncle Malek vis­i­bly shak­en, shift­ing between sur­prise, irri­ta­tion, and con­fu­sion. As the atmos­phere thick­ens, Nen, sens­ing the unease, offers to leave to ease the ten­sion, but Zaleekhah, in a moment of defi­ance, insists that she stay. The dynam­ic shifts as Uncle Malek voic­es his dis­ap­proval, strug­gling to under­stand the changes in Zaleekhah’s life, par­tic­u­lar­ly her con­nec­tion with Nen. He is not used to see­ing her break from the path that was once so care­ful­ly laid out for her, a path root­ed in tra­di­tion and expec­ta­tions. The nar­ra­tive takes a deep­er turn as Uncle Malek reveals his vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, speak­ing of the fam­i­ly bond they once shared, now strained by time, dis­tance, and the com­plex turns life has tak­en.

    In an emo­tion­al­ly charged moment, Zaleekhah con­fronts her uncle’s assump­tions about her life choic­es, chal­leng­ing his out­dat­ed views on tra­di­tion and the roles she is sup­posed to ful­fill. As Uncle Malek reflects on the past, he reveals his own strug­gles with the chang­ing dynam­ics of the fam­i­ly and his deep desire to pro­tect them. His admis­sion catch­es Zaleekhah off guard, show­ing a side of her uncle that had pre­vi­ous­ly been masked by his rigid exte­ri­or. His plea for her to return to the fam­i­ly fold is not one of con­trol but of con­cern, a desire to shield her from the pain that has plagued their fam­i­ly for gen­er­a­tions. His words, filled with a rare vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, stir some­thing in Zaleekhah, mak­ing her recon­sid­er the emo­tion­al land­scape of her rela­tion­ships. As the con­ver­sa­tion draws to a close, Uncle Malek extends an invi­ta­tion for din­ner, ask­ing Zaleekhah to bring Nen with her and promis­ing to keep mat­ters of the fam­i­ly pri­vate. His final com­ment, hint­ing that appear­ances can be deceiv­ing, lingers in Zaleekhah’s mind, sug­gest­ing that the com­plex­i­ties of fam­i­ly dynam­ics are far from sim­ple. The lay­ers of ten­sion, love, and con­fu­sion that mark their rela­tion­ship are as intri­cate and nuanced as the path Zaleekhah must nav­i­gate in her own life.

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