I woke up the next morning and Badr wasn't in the room. I walked to the bathroom and washed up a bit before entering the living room. The old lady, Arooj, sat on the couch with a smile. "He is out by his car, waiting for you. They got fuel." She explained.

I walked over and hugged her. "Thank you so much."

"Come visit when you can!" She told me.

"I will!" I gave her a smile.

"And remember, take care of each other." She offered some advice. "That boy... he needs help. Be there for him."

"I will be, I promised him that." I gave her my salam and left. I walked back to the car, where Badr was talking to Zain, the old man.

"Okay, well, come see us next time you are in town." The man smiled. "And remember my advice."

Badr nodded, "Asalam Walaikum, Sal." He got in the car.

I waved to the old man with a smile before I got into the car. "What were you guys talking about?" I asked, buckling my seatbelt.

"Oh, nothing. He just gave some advice on marriage." Badr shrugged and started the car.

"Oh," I hummed. "Okay." I stared out the window for most of the ride, thinking about everything that Badr had told me about his family. "Hey, Badr?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"How come you've never filed a case for domestic abuse against your parents?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" I seemed to have struck a nerve.

"I don't mean to offend you, but... what they did, do to you is domestic abuse." I spoke quietly. "And your sisters shouldn't have to live in that place with those people."

"Those people are still my parents." He responded, no emotion in his voice. "I may not like them, I may freaking hate them, but they are still my parents. I'm not going to send them to jail."

"You'd rather your sisters live through the same hell you did?" I crossed my arms. "You say you care about them so much. That you want to protect them, but you're going to let them live in that hell hole?"

"You don't know anything." He seethed. "I'm not going to put them through a case that will last years! It's going to take forever!"

"So?" If he was going to shout, then my voice was going to get stronger. "You want them to live through hell and back, instead of going through a court case? Are you serious, right now?"

"Even if I did pursue this, all I'd be doing is sending my own parents to jail. My sisters would have no one to take care of them. And, the only witnesses were my grandparents. Which are dead!"

"You're unbelievable." I scoffed. "You could find solutions to those problems, but you are choosing not to!"

"Because I don't want to send my own freaking family to jail!" He retorted. "Say your dad hit you, would you decide to file for domestic abuse? Send him to jail?"

"Did you actually just say that?" I wanted to slap him. "You've been abused, not just slapped! This has gone on your whole life and you have the power to do something about it! You can stop it from happening to your sisters!"

"Just- stay out of it! My family life is none of your business!" I had pushed him to the edge. He pulled up to the bus station and stopped the car. He didn't say anything to me as I grabbed my bag and left.

I slammed the door shut, my anger having bubbled up. I watched as he drove away and the guilt began to set in.