AAHIL
I don’t know what I was expecting at home; perhaps the usual quietness, the big walls closing in on me, the white house being so, so dark. What I didn’t expect was . . . this.
Even Amal halts next to me. One of the helpers, who carries our suitcases inside wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Kashif,” I put authority in my voice. “What is going on? Where is everybody?”
He scratches his head with a wince. “Bhai . . . I don’t know what happened,”
I step close to him, gripping him by the collar. “Tell me what you know. Now.”
Amal tries to shake my hand off of him but I don’t twitch a muscle. “Aahil, leave him. Bhai, please tell us.”
He offers a short nod to Amal, stuttering, “The—the police, they came yesterday. They asked for Aahil Bhai but of course, you weren’t here. So, they took your par
