Chap­ter 12: In this chap­ter, Par­vana finds her­self seek­ing a brief escape from her demand­ing and harsh real­i­ty. After the unset­tling events at the sta­di­um, she feels emo­tion­al­ly drained and looks for com­fort with­in the walls of her home. Par­vana express­es her need for a break, over­whelmed by the con­stant ten­sion sur­round­ing her. The atmos­phere at home is thick with anx­i­ety, espe­cial­ly when her moth­er and Mrs. Weera dis­cuss the increas­ing vio­lence and oppres­sive events hap­pen­ing at the sta­di­um, a sym­bol of the cru­el­ty that has infil­trat­ed their lives. The weight of these ongo­ing strug­gles hangs heav­i­ly on them, under­scor­ing the bleak exis­tence they are forced to nav­i­gate each day. Despite these chal­lenges, Par­vana yearns for some peace and nor­mal­cy amidst the chaos.

At home, Par­vana finds solace in small, nur­tur­ing tasks that help her recon­nect with her fam­i­ly and her own sense of pur­pose. She teach­es her younger sis­ter, Maryam, to count, and learns basic mend­ing skills from her old­er sis­ter, Noo­ria. These sim­ple, domes­tic activ­i­ties pro­vide a brief reprieve from the out­side world, offer­ing Par­vana a chance to focus on her family’s imme­di­ate needs. How­ev­er, as time pass­es, she finds her­self miss­ing the sto­ries her father used to tell, which had once brought com­fort and a sense of con­nec­tion to the world beyond their strug­gles. In the midst of this yearn­ing, Par­vana also finds a sem­blance of excite­ment in the sto­ries Mrs. Weera shares, par­tic­u­lar­ly those about sports, which pro­vide a glimpse into a world of nor­mal­cy and enjoy­ment amidst the harsh­ness of their lives. But as sup­plies run low, Par­vana knows that she must return to the mar­ket to pro­vide for her fam­i­ly, and her sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty dri­ves her to con­tin­ue work­ing.

Return­ing to the mar­ket, Par­vana has a chance encounter with her friend Shauzia, who reveals her plan to escape their cir­cum­stances. Shauzia shares her deter­mi­na­tion to save enough mon­ey to flee to France, hop­ing for a life of free­dom far removed from the oppres­sive atmos­phere of Kab­ul. She con­fides in Par­vana about her deci­sion to con­tin­ue dress­ing as a boy for the time being, fear­ing that if she grows too much, she will be forced to return to her female iden­ti­ty, which would con­fine her to the domes­tic life she is des­per­ate to escape. This con­ver­sa­tion opens a win­dow into the dreams of both girls, filled with desires for free­dom and a life out­side the walls of Kab­ul. Shauzia’s vision of France as a land of oppor­tu­ni­ty is a sharp con­trast to the harsh envi­ron­ment they cur­rent­ly endure. Par­vana lis­tens care­ful­ly, grap­pling with her own con­flict­ing feel­ings about leav­ing her fam­i­ly behind. While she under­stands the risks of such a jour­ney, she is also drawn to the idea of escap­ing the suf­fo­cat­ing real­i­ty of war and return­ing to a life of nor­mal­cy. This inner con­flict speaks to Parvana’s deep desire for a bet­ter life, one that is free from the con­stant vio­lence and fear they face.

As the girls con­tin­ue their work in the mar­ket, Parvana’s dis­sat­is­fac­tion with life in Kab­ul becomes increas­ing­ly evi­dent. She observes the strug­gles of the peo­ple around her, feel­ing a grow­ing fatigue from the con­stant hard­ships that seem end­less. Yet, amid the bleak­ness, there are small moments of joy that offer brief relief, such as the arrival of sum­mer fruit in the mar­ket, which brings a sense of fresh­ness and life to the oth­er­wise grim sur­round­ings. These moments, though fleet­ing, remind Par­vana of the world out­side the war, where things could be dif­fer­ent. She also feels a sense of accom­plish­ment when Noo­ria begins teach­ing a secret school for girls, a small act of rebel­lion against the Taliban’s restric­tions. This act of defi­ance high­lights the resilience of the com­mu­ni­ty and Parvana’s hope that change, no mat­ter how small, is pos­si­ble. Despite these glimpses of hope, the ongo­ing strug­gles they face remain at the fore­front of Parvana’s mind. The chap­ter con­cludes with the unex­pect­ed news of Nooria’s impend­ing mar­riage, a devel­op­ment that adds anoth­er lay­er of com­plex­i­ty to Parvana’s already com­pli­cat­ed emo­tions. The mar­riage, while offer­ing Noo­ria a chance at a dif­fer­ent life, also rep­re­sents the sac­ri­fices that Par­vana and her fam­i­ly must make in their search for sur­vival.