Chapter 11
Aya heard noises outside throughout the night, but the haze of alcohol obscured what the men in the street were shouting. At one point they pounded on Elias’s door.
“Go away!” Elias answered. “I paid!”
The men continued pounding on the door. Eventually the mob tired of its harassment. The men moved on and Aya passed out again.
In the morning she walked to the well for a splash of water against her face and a swish of it in her mouth. Elias’s alcohol was vile, but it had served its purpose by drowning out the images of the previous day. Now Aya paid for it. Her eyes were as swollen as Rinaldo’s, and her mouth tasted of bile.
She found a latrine behind the house and closed herself inside. The smell made her stomach heave. She quickly attended to her needs and bolted from the
