Sameena K. Mughal of Smyrna, Georgia was the only US-based writer to win a prize this year. Read on to learn more about her and check out the short story that secured third place.
About Sameena K. Mughal
Sameena K. Mughal is an author and copywriter who lives in Smyrna, GA. She is a former teacher who retired early to pursue her passion for writing. She has published two books, Shaherazade’s Daughters and The Siddiqui Brothers in Cairo. For her, writing and the craft of storytelling enable her to enlighten others while putting a smile on their faces.
SameenaKMughal.com
“Alina on the Ground”
Alina’s hands shook as she tied her shoelaces. At the same time, she noticed the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when something was off. The door slammed, and he was gone.
But she was still shaking.
What the fuck just happened? She thought.
When she finished tying her laces, she stayed on the floor. She took a deep breath. The 20 minutes before she wound up on her ass flashed across her mind.
She was sitting on the bed about to put her sneakers on so she could go for a run.
He canceled major plans at the last minute for the second time in a month. He acted like he hadn’t already made the decision by asking her what she thought. She told him it was his choice but couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice.
“Stop making everything about you. Don’t dismiss me,” he said.
By that time, she had the second sneaker on and started tying it. Before she realized it, he had pushed her to the ground.
“Did you just push me?” she said.
“I’m just playing. You know I love you,” he said, as he walked out the room.
You know I love you. That’s what an abuser says after he slaps his girlfriend. She thought. The door slammed. She took another breath. She didn’t see this coming. Nothing prepared her for this. She looked around for her phone not knowing who she wanted to call. She paused. Did you really not see this coming, Alina?
She immediately remembered several random instances that didn’t quite seem right. Like she did with everyone she cared about, she explained them away.
There was that time when he mocked her because she said, “Huh?” when she couldn’t hear him. When she asked if he had a problem with her saying the word huh, he said he was trying to figure out why she couldn’t hear him. Why is that something that needs to be figured out?
After the first time he canceled major plans, all she said was, “Oh, that’s too bad, I was looking forward to getting away for the weekend.” He accused her of being catty. Then, he accused her of being dismissive when she doesn’t get her way. Eventually, he realized she wasn’t being dismissive, and he cooled off.
As she thought about it, they had at least three conversations where he thought she was being dismissive when she was attentively listening. Her saying, “sure’ after one of his statements was rude in his mind. The last conversation about that triggered her on a deep level because she couldn’t figure out how someone she respected could keep thinking that she didn’t. She started to cry.
Instead of apologizing for hurting her feelings, he backtracked. Said he was just asking a question and maybe the random “yes’s” and “sures” were just a tick of hers like she had Tourette’s or something.
Over time, she realized a lot of people do that when they talk. That it was actually a normal occurrence in conversation. She noticed her friends doing it. Interviewers and interviewees doing it during an interview. It was how a lot of people actively listened.
He generally showed disdain for people if they didn’t talk how he thought they should. When they were out and about, he would snicker at people under his breath if their accents had more twang than he liked or if people said ‘like’ as a conversation filler.
As Alina thought about it more, she realized he took subtle digs at her on occasion. It was infrequent enough that she didn’t notice. Again, she didn’t pick up on it in the moment because she gives anyone she cares about a pass.
She put her chin on her hands.
How could you not see this coming, Alina?
Then, she went back 20 years. When one of her brothers hurt her feelings, her mother would say,” Oh, you know they love you.” All the times they called her fat, when today, she would fit in with the Kardashians. Told she was too sensitive because she didn’t want to be picked at for the 30th time that day.
Unfair power structures where people take jabs at you, and you just take it because it’s expected of you. Sounds about right. She didn’t see it coming because she spent most of her life living it one way or another.
At least, nobody put their hands on her. At least, she wasn’t accustomed to that.
She got away from the emotional bullshit. She refused to go back to it. Somehow, she swept it under the rug, just like her family did.
She relived the thing she ran away the farthest from.
Apparently, I need to be hit on the head. Or in this case, my arm. Get up, Alina.
She found her phone and Googled, “Locksmiths near me.”
That motherfucker doesn’t get to come back in this house.
That was when she decided to get off the ground in her life.