The steps were heard from away, but sabih didn't bother to move. he could hear the leaves crumbling beneath a girl who would be small, serious, and determined. though he always used the word determined to describe her, for what she was determined, he didn't know.
"you 'sleep?" she asked sitting at the end of his feet.
Sabih was thrown back to 22 by her voice. it wasn't even the last time he had spoken with her, but she always reminded him that was the beginning of the end. the fall of summer.
"nah," he said, opening his eyes and moving his hands up to his head, rubbing his face.
He propped himself up on his elbows.
"how you been, kat?" he asked nonchalantly.
He looked at her as she stared into nothingness. they looked very similar, the two of them. the same sharp features--oval face, long-pointy nose. still, kat's face had a softness that his could never have. even when he left home, he always missed her. she was good, he knew that much, but looking at her now, he saw her fierce. he saw determined stronger than he had ever seen before.
"the same," she replied, still looking out to nothingness.
"nice day, eh?" sabih tried again.
"sure."
They sat in silence for what felt like minutes. sabih no longer watched her. he looked out past her. he focused at the end of the park where he could concentrate on the quiet road. only an occasional car would pass and the sleepiness of a sunday afternoon weighed down on him. he no longer felt like being there with kat. though these yearly visits always started off fine, they felt like an intrusion into his life. she was always cold, always distant, but he knew that she cared. he knew she needed her eldest brother.
"how's mom?" he finally asked.
"crazy," she replied, with the slightest upward curl of the lip.
sabih hid his own happiness. a hint of a smile that he wasn't meant to see. he'd take it.
"dad?"
"dying."
her face was grave again. it was back to dark, sharp, determined.
sabih made no sound. he knew kat was being dramatic. she aways told him that he was killing their father...that, in some ways, he had killed their father.
"faroukh?"
he watched her face become darker even, if possible, and then just as quickly ack to light and the soft kat he always pictured returned. she always had a soft spot for faroukh. the brother who stayed. the brother who took the brunt of their parents anger and frustration. the good one.
"faroukh is...faroukh," she said with a tired laugh. she stood up and wiped down her backside.
"i'm hungry," she said, not looking at her brother.
"okay, then. let's go eat."
