DAR, 1982
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she slowly pressed the accelerator.
“There was no other choice.” Saleem said.
“We made a choice.” Latricia said, “Life is about choices. Some we regret and some we’re proud of. Some will haunt us forever. The message is, we are what we chose to be.”
“Are you blaming me?”
Through her sight mirror, she saw someone running towards the car. She pressed the brakes.
“It’s Rayhan.”
“Lat, you sure..?”
“I’m—”
The backdoor opened and Rayhan surged in. The two puffed out profoundly as Latricia pressed the accelerator very hard.
“What took you so long?” Saleem said.
Rayhan breathed heavily.
“We could’ve left you.”
Latricia gazed at the Rear-view mirror. Rayhan was still exhaling.
“You okay?” Latricia said.
Rayhan’s hands were on his chest.
“Rayhan… say something!” Saleem snapped.
Rayhan sighed. “We killed someone today.”
“He was a traitor.” Saleem said.
“He was a father and a husband.” Rayhan said.
“We did our job.” Saleem said.
“Thanks to that job, we have left a widow with two kids.”
“Hey, he was ghastly. He’s supposed to die.”
“Who are we to decide who lives and who dies?”
“When did you become a saint?”
“You don’t need to be a saint to realize your sins.”
“Looking at you speaking like that…” Saleem said, “One cannot believe you were the one cheating earlier this morning.”
Rayhan clenched his teeth.
“What? The truth hurts?”
“Don’t let your food get cold while worrying about what’s on my plate.”
“Christos almost caught you today—”
“Enough!” Latricia snapped, hitting the brakes. “We have killed once, we won’t kill again.”
Leo chuckled. “If you do something very well once, there is a greater probability that you’ll be asked to do it again.”