Qandi Gul comments that God willed the war in Afghanistan as punishment for the Afghan people’s sins. However, the people fled because they didn’t feel that their children deserved to die.

Margaret Hoffman recalls that on the morning of August 30, she stepped outside and saw the Sharaf family loading their car with bags. The mother, Maryam Sharaf, exchanged waves with Margaret. Half an hour later, when Margaret stepped out again, the Sharaf family had already left.

Ustad Khairyar recalls that Rahmat Sharaf, Maryam, and their eldest son, Omer Sharaf, arrived in Arlington, Virginia, as refugees around 1997. The Afghan American community in the area welcomed them, knowing that the transition to their new surroundings would be difficult to process alone.

Aziza Popal recalls that their community of Afghan American peers worked together to bring dinner to the Sharaf household. Rahmat was stunned, while Maryam was moved to tears.

Asma Sarwary describes the first Sharaf residence as a one-bedroom apartment filled with suitcases and little furniture. After the welcome dinner, the community donated their spare belongings to the Sharaf family, as well as money for several weeks of groceries.

Kalyani Nageshvara recalls that early on August 30, she was stocking shelves when the two youngest Sharaf children ran into the store screaming with joy. They were soon followed by their older siblings, Omer and Zorah, who helped them pick snacks. Later, Kalyani would share a copy of their receipt with the police.

Kalyani has been anxious ever since the police came to ask her questions. When she confessed this to her employer, Mr. Carboni, she experienced a mental-health crisis. Carboni reassured her that nothing bad would happen because the police had already reviewed the store’s security footage. This made Kalyani feel thankful to God, who she believes is always watching.

Saif Anwari recalls that Rahmat was too stubborn to take his new friends’ advice to work as a taxi driver. Though the group tried to convince Rahmat that there were few career options he could avail himself of, Rahmat, whose father had been a bricklayer, refused to listen. Saif dismissed Rahmat’s optimism, indicating that many new immigrants felt the same way upon arriving in the United States.

According to Ustad, Rahmat’s stubborn attitude disappointed many of his new friends. Ustad, however, understood that Rahmat was sincere about his intention to find work that would properly support his family. He describes Rahmat as having a simple and open heart. He believes that Rahmat’s real flaw was his sense of entitlement.

Jay Chapman Jr. explains that his diner is a popular stop among motorists on I-86. In the mid-afternoon of August 30, the Sharaf family entered the diner. Jay served them himself. He appreciated that none of the children were distracted by their cellphones during the meal. After the Sharaf family left, Jay saw that the youngest child, Laylee, had left behind a stuffed dinosaur toy. Jay rushed out to return the toy before they left, which prompted Maryam to thank him. Jay observed that the family came from Virginia because of their license plate.

Aziza suspects that Maryam came from a higher-class family than Rahmat. In contrast to his wife, Rahmat was boorish and tactless. Aziza explains that when Russia invaded Afghanistan, families rushed to marry their daughters off, no longer bothering to match them to sons from well-off families. Despite their class differences, Rahmat and Maryam were very respectful toward each other.

Torpekey Rasul recalls that Zorah was born the year after the family arrived in the US. While Omer was considered a beautiful child, Zorah was ugly. She also demonstrated difficult behavior with her mother, though both children were generally well-behaved. Omer was protective of Zorah.

Carol Edmonton remembers Omer and Zorah as pleasant students, though Zorah was generally more energetic and extroverted than Omer. Carol admires Maryam and Rahmat for being very involved in school activities.

Sara Bashar describes Maryam as feeling more like a sister than a cousin. On August 31, Maryam informed Sara that she and her family were at Niagara Falls, the result of a last-minute decision to take the children somewhere for the summer. Maryam promised that she would take Sara’s family with them to Niagara in the future.

Ustad explains that, unlike most of the Afghan Americans in their area, who went on to settle in Fairfax and Woodbridge, the Sharaf family remained in their first apartment for several years, unable to afford a new home.

Rahmat started working the night shift at a café and studied English to qualify for a day-shift role. After several failed business attempts, he opened a pizza shop with a partner named Shireen Sultani, but this shop eventually failed due to competition. Rahmat accused Shireen of locking him out of the shop’s profits. Shireen’s sons threatened Rahmat in return. Despite these bad outcomes, Rahmat never blamed himself for any of his business failures.

Rahmat used to complain that Afghan immigrants weren’t as ambitious as Chinese and Indian immigrants. This drew ridicule from his peers, who mockingly called him “Professor.”

Rahmat had a habit of calculating the costs of everything everyone owned on a pocket calculator. This deepened his peers’ frustration with him.

Maryam’s peers observed that when she gave birth to her third child, Hamza, Rahmat could only afford to feed their family potatoes. It is implied that this embarrassed Maryam, who refused to let her peers into her kitchen. Still, Maryam defended Rahmat and his business sense. Maryam’s peers pitied her.

Fiona Dressler recalls that on the morning of August 31, she saw several messages from Zorah asking if they could talk. Fiona hadn’t answered because she was out late the night before for a going-away party. She returned a message to tell Zorah she could call.

Dr. Atiq Sakhizada explains that Rahmat sought his advice on his children’s education. Every time he visited, Rahmat generously provided Sakhizada with mangoes and told him that his children aspired to pursue medicine and law. Rahmat opened up about his own lack of education, which he had to give up in order to support his family after his father died. As a teenager, Rahmat sold slippers, which helped him develop his entrepreneurial skills. By his twenties, he became successful enough to rent a new home for his mother and sisters.

Rahmat wanted to give his children a better life than the one he experienced. Sakhizada was later surprised to learn that Rahmat’s children were still small, not teenagers as he had been made to assume. Sakhizada referred him to extracurricular programs to boost the children’s academic performance.

Noorya Siddiqi explains that Rahmat waited to marry off his sisters into reputable families before he got married himself. He also hired someone to help his mother with household chores and bought her many luxury goods. Before she died, Rahmat’s mother prayed that he would always enjoy prosperity.

Derrell Foster narrates the security footage at the conservatory, which shows Zorah splitting off from the family to use her phone. The footage catches a moment where the Sharaf girls delight in butterflies settling on them. However, Rahmat then tries to shoo them away.

At one point, Rahmat asked Ustad for a loan of $20,000, offering to involve him as an investment partner. Ustad declined because he didn’t have the money. Rahmat then started asking their other peers for the loan, breaking it down into smaller amounts. This convinced Ustad to lend him $5,000 out of charity, not expecting to see it back. When Ustad’s wife became upset with him, Ustad was forced to ask for the money back. Rahmat obliged but stopped seeing Ustad, indicating that he had become very busy.

Mohsin recalls that one night, his wife observed that Maryam was wearing new gold jewelry instead of her usual costume jewelry.

Nader Khan comments that providence has no bias.

Tim Ashburn explains that in 2003, Rahmat started a door-to-door cleaning business. Rahmat’s sense of industry drove the company’s growth, eventually expanding its service offerings and size. He reinvested the profits to expand into heavy vehicle cleaning. In 2011, Rahmat pivoted into real estate, buying shopping centers and strip malls. In 2012, he expanded into consumer product imports and exports.

When Zorah finally called Fiona back, she informed Fiona that she wouldn’t make it to their scheduled hangout because their family had gone on a surprise trip to Niagara Falls. This frustrated Fiona since it wasn’t the first time that Zorah had backed out of social plans. Zorah tried to apologize throughout the rest of the day. Fiona eventually blocked her number.

Joan Reimann remembers that when she took on Rahmat as a real-estate client, his only request was a home in the exclusive suburb of Riverside. Joan struggled to meet Rahmat’s demand and nearly gave up on him, but then a surprise opportunity allowed Joan to cater to Rahmat’s desire to live in Riverside. Rahmat and Joan worked aggressively to close the deal, settling at nearly $3 million.

Galen Porter was hired to tutor Zorah. The last time they saw each other was the Thursday before the Sharaf family left for Niagara Falls; Galen assigned Zorah to read part of The Magic Mountain while she was away. Zorah agreed on the condition that Galen text her friend Maddie, whom she was trying to set him up with.

On August 31, Galen texted Zorah to ask how Niagara Falls was. She compared it to a toilet.

Rahmat’s prosperity caused people to see him differently, turning their ridicule into respect. Rahmat himself didn’t change drastically after becoming rich.

Noorya suggests that Rahmat and Maryam cared more about their family than they did about their wealth. Rahmat and Maryam took every opportunity to take their children around the country but also made an effort to make their house feel fun. Noorya says that this made their family life feel enviable.

On the evening of August 31, Jessie Walsh saw a gray Audi SUV and a black Mercedes-Benz pull up to the gas station where he worked. Rahmat drove the SUV, and Omer drove his siblings in the Mercedes. Zorah took her younger siblings into the store to buy snacks. Afterward, Omer came to pay for everything. When Jessie commented on the Mercedes, Omer revealed that he resold cars for work. Before they left, Zorah teased that she would drive the Mercedes. She stopped when Rahmat yelled at them from the SUV.

Sara describes Omer as reliable and respectful. Zorah, meanwhile, was a practical joker who brought life to the household. Sara observed that despite their sibling rivalry, there was an authentic closeness between them.

Sara admits that the Sharaf family, like all others, had its share of struggles. Omer, for instance, had no ambition for academic achievement, so he chose to start working as a businessman immediately after finishing high school. Though Omer became successful, Rahmat and Maryam stayed upset with him, holding on to their hope that Omer would become a doctor. Several years later, Zorah lost interest in school as well, which upset her parents further.

Late in the evening of August 31, the Sharaf family arrived at Cedar Lake Inn, hoping to get a room; it had started to rain, and Maryam reported that she was feeling unwell. Since a party had canceled their booking, Gene Thurlow managed to offer them two suites in the inn’s carriage house. Once Gene and his partner, Ellie, finished checking the family in, they turned the front desk over to their night employee, Craig, and clocked out at 10:42 pm. Before going to sleep near midnight, Gene saw that there was a light on in the carriage house. He can no longer remember which room it was.

Ashburn outlines the Sharaf family’s known activities on the night of August 31.

At 10 o’clock, Omer and Rahmat made calls to the phone company and a business associate, respectively. Rahmat finished his business calls at midnight.

At 11 o’clock, Maryam exchanged several texts with a cousin in Melbourne, Australia.

From 10 o’clock onward, Zorah used her phone to access her social-media accounts. She initially changed her profile picture to a solo photo of herself standing under cherry-blossom trees. Half past midnight, she changed her picture again, selecting a photo of her complete family with the caption, “To the moon and back…” (83).

Sara remembers warning Maryam that she was straining herself too much with housework and that she had failed to enjoy the comfort that her wealth could afford her. Maryam was stubborn about working for the sake of her children, but after she was diagnosed with an ulcer, she started taking Sara’s advice more seriously. Sara reveals that Rahmat and Maryam began planning to take their children to Europe.

Steven Garneau explains an incident that occurred when he was taking his niece Cody out on a boat ride on September 1. One of the marina gates stalled, forcing the gate operator, Vince, to investigate what was blocking it. Vince saw that it was a car. While waiting for the police to bring a dive team over, another boat owner decided to dive down and inspect the car himself. When he resurfaced, he revealed that there was someone inside.