Chapter 21

As I walk into Mum’s flat I swear I can see the silver branches along her walls, the yellow flowers that sprout anew each time I unlock another memory. I can see a mound of sand where her coffee table usually stands; palm trees hang down instead of her lamp and television. And at the very centre of the room are Rawan and Aminah, exactly as they were in the last memory.

But then I blink and they’re gone. The living room is back to normal.

I think back to the house, and the memories, and try to figure out what I need to do next. I thought I was supposed to collect the objects that unlocked the memories. The bracelet and the cat kind of worked in that way. But the third memory was unlocked by a tap. And I can’t exactly collect the tap from Mum’s old house, can I?

That’s how I know I’ve been looking at it wrong. It’s not about the objects that unlock the memories; it’s about what’s in the memories. That’s how cutscenes in games work. They give you clues, but you need to watch the cutscenes carefully to know what your mission is about.

In the first memory Zaina stole Aminah’s bracelet and that’s why they were arguing.

In the second memory Rawan challenged Aminah to pet one of the cats, and that’s how they became friends.

So what happened in the third memory? Rawan asked Aminah to join the play. But what object could be linked to it? What do I need to find to unlock the next memory?

I know the right answer will come to me, but I don’t have it just yet, so I decide to search Mum’s flat in the hope that something will jump out at me.

I start at the front door and work my way through Mum’s flat methodically. I look in every drawer searching for something. Except I don’t know what that is just yet. I move from the living room to the kitchen and back again. I try fridge magnets, cutlery, the medicine box, old magazines. I even look in all the plant pots and under the sofa.

Next I try Mum’s bedroom. I start in her wardrobe, hoping to find some old box with trinkets in it. Secret items Mum didn’t want anyone else to see. It feels wrong, like I’m invading her privacy, but I keep telling myself that I’m doing this to save her. And there’s this other part of me that wants to find out more, like the memories have woken up something inside me.