I couldn't sleep with her next to me. Her body was cold, hard like marble, but also soft -- like frozen meat. That's all she was now: meat. The light was gone, and I could not sleep curled up next to my dead sister.

I needed to sleep. It would be at least another day before we made it to the border, maybe even two before we hit the safe house. Sonia would start to stink by then. And I would lose my mind if I didn't sleep.

Still, her body next to mine reminded me that it was only days ago that I had a family, a life, a place in the world, a place I would never see again. A sister who would now decompose inches from my face. I could not move, or I would become soft marble, too.

I could not sleep. Maybe I never would again.