Part 1: The Unravelling The house in F-7/2 had always been too large for three people, its marble corridors echoing with the ghosts of conversations that never quite filled the space. After Engr. Farooq Ahmed's funeral, it became cavernous, a mausoleum of polished brass and unspoken grief.

Part 1: The Desert Heat The radiator gave one last death-rattle hiss before the hood filled with steam. Elena killed the engine and slumped against the steering wheel, forty years old and suddenly ancient. Her sundress clung to her thighs like wet paper; sweat traced the hollow of her spine.