Better version

An Iranian woman's husband has an accident at home... and she just watches him die.

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A woman named Afareen Arezoo is doing laundry, her husband Josh abbAs and her are arguing about schooling for their daughter Azar, he's advocating for her to go to school but she isn't and is on the opposite side, they live in America, no one takes the man from Iran's side. It is in Persian, not English.

Afareen Arezoo: "آینده او در مدرسه نیست ، آن مکان به زنان چیزی نمی آموزد!"

Translation to English is in captions: "Her future is not in school, that place teaches women nothing!"

Her husband Josh abbAs is visibly concerned, he's not happy about her opposing a wise decision.

Josh abbAs: "او به مدرسه احتیاج دارد ، همه زنان در آمریکا ازدواج نمی کنند و اگر همسرش فوت کند چه اتفاقی می افتد؟ او به پول خودش احتیاج دارد!"

Translation to English is in captions: "She needs school, not all women in America get married, and what happens if her husband dies? She needs her own money!"

Afareen Arezoo: "شوهرش باید مراقب باشد دیگر اهمیتی برای مراقبت از خانه نیست؟ او چگونه از مدرسه می آموزد؟"

Translation to English is in captions: "Her husband must be careful. Doesn't home care matter anymore? How does she learn from school?"

Josh abbAs: "من دخترم را در مدرسه می خوام ، من شوهر هستم ، شما باید مرا دنبال کنید!"

Translation to English is in captions: "I want my daughter in school, I'm the husband, you have to obey me!"

Afareen Arezoo didn't care much for male chauvinism but chose to end the arguing by complying.

Afareen Arezoo: "باشه عزیزم"

Translation to English is in captions: "Okay, my dear one"

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A week later, they talk to each other casually and be kind to each other, but it's in Persian.

Afareen Arezoo: "آیا قصد دارید در مورد آذر صحبت کنید؟ کودک ما سه ساله است و ما به دخترمان نگفتیم که چگونه از توالت استفاده کند."

Translation to English is in captions: "Are you going to talk about Azar? Our baby is three years old and we didn't tell our daughter how to use the toilet."

Josh abbAs: "باشه ، من آذر را آموزش خواهم داد."

Translation to English is in captions: "Okay, I'll teach Azar."

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Afareen Arezoo's taking care of the baby, she's doing the house work, and Josh abbAs is sitting down playing a video game, Afareen Arezoo's talking to him about how cool it is and how she would like to play to, and he agrees to let her play in Persian, subtitles are provided.

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One day, Josh abbAs is playing with his oldest 8-year-old daughter, "Let's play hide and seek!" Josh abbAs says, Josh abbAs hides and his daughter goes to count, and when he hears a child's screams he runs to help her, then he lets the child out of the hole, and then he goes home, one day, he falls into a hole, not just any hole, an empty well, his wife tries to help him, but he's fat and heavy, he falls down after she tells him to hold on and let him go carefully to keep him in grip but he falls in her view as she tries to get help.

She was just looking back at him. Devastated.

Bystanders watching ran off in anger and left to tell the police.

She explains in Persian whats happens in an interrogation room.

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Then on the news, the story breaks out that the woman, her, lets a man die.

She has 1 son and four daughters.

Afareen Arezoo and her children, her nine year old son Darius, 5 year old daughter Habibeh, Golshan the eight year old, and GordiA a six year old is sitting in a cafe and the news comes on, Afareen Arezoo is crying, she knows English, then a white woman and black woman starts talking to each other.

White Woman 1: "As soon as I heard they were Iranian, I knew exactly why she let him die." says the white woman.

Afareen Arezoo is still being investigated, she told the Iranian police officer what happened but in Iranian in a flashback, no subtitles provided.

"The entire time I'm like 'Thank God he's dead! Thank God he is dead!'" the black woman (1) says in English,

White Woman 1: "Where's my cigarette?"

Black woman 1: "Where's my arm salve?"

"Where's my barbell with like 8 billion lbs on it? I think he deserved to die." the white lady (White Woman 1) giggles with Black woman 1 as she mocks Afareen Arezoo husband for, in her ideas, being abusive.

"She had every right to let him die like that, the men in Iran are no joke!" the black woman (1) says, her daughters know the news report and her mother does to, Afareen Arezoo was on it.

They cry in silence because the whole family can hear the two and know what they're talking about.

GordiA the brave six year old got the courage to stand up to them and ask "Why don't you mind your own business?!"

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"He deserves it!" a man (1) says in a store one day,

"He was a pain in the behind. I wonder if my sister's husband would be interested in visiting a well..." his wife (2) tells him.

The people got to see footage of them in the house, them arguing and them talking casually, the couple kept cameras to see if the kids were just blaming each other for their own crimes.

"Why though? He didn't seem abusive. You never know.." a little girl (1) says to an adult woman (1), "These men are horrible." the adult woman (1) says to her.

"Hmm gotta love how when they mostly show ethnic people, they're usually wife beaters and...or delinquents." a man (2) says in rage.

Afareen Arezoo is getting tired of this and ran out of the store, Afareen Arezoo isn't with the kids and they're with her mom who knew her husband and then An Iranian man (1) says "You all, what's with the double standards, as if we wouldn't be up in arms against him if he let her die at the well? I see people cheering around here and the hypocrisy is unreal. This is messed up." She looks at him in shock that he said that, he said it just as she and he was about to leave the store, he's the only person besides the child who said something in her husband's defense in front of her and possibly even meant to for her sake, maybe.

"You are nothing but a wife beater!" a white woman (2) says in rage.

Afareen Arezoo tells in rage "Shut up!"

She leaves.

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Gordia goes to her mom and asks "Mommy- ?" but Afareen Arezoo says "Don't talk to me, right now!"

Afareen Arezoo goes to the bathroom and slams the door behind her, Afareen Arezoo grabs a knife from the cabinet and pulls it up to her wrists and then stops just before it touches her arm.

Afareen Arezoo is shocked at her own actions and puts the knife back and goes out of the bathroom to tell Gordia "Hey, I'm sorry."

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Later, she and her four children are In the park...

"I like how smart she is, she went in showing the children she was shocked, so the kids would remember her being surprised," a black woman (2) says.

"Mommy, did you really kill dad?" her son Darius says,

"What?! Of course not! They are lying!" Afareen Arezoo replies in shock that'd he asked her that, but he only did it because of what others said.

"You let him die!" her 6 year old little girl Gordia says and runs away. Afareen Arezoo stayed in her seat, paralyzed.

"Helping someone with chores is not a big deal to let them die.... Then there is no difference between you or them... no place for morals and humanity.... You can't blame a person as being bad if you yourself has no morals." one man (3) says in anger,

"How could they say that about my husband?" Afareen Arezoo says in English, she was not thinking of them, her thoughts raced, this was the hardest time of her life and they were accusing her, bashing her, blaming her, insulting the one she loved the most.

"What ever story those woman give I cannot believe they enjoy bein' treated like dirt. The choice she made was probably pure desperation and in the process she has saved her daughter as well." a woman (4) says to another (Woman 5).

"Treated like dirt?" her daughter Habibeh the 5 year old said, "Mommy, how was daddy towards you?" she asks.

Her mother looks at her in shock, anger, rage, the youngest daughter says "He was wonderful!" she is 3.

Afareen Arezoo was happy that Azar was in favor of her husband. This was the complement she needed right now, no one was in favor of her or him in her eyes and it really made her sad, depressed, suicidal.

The only thing that kept her going? Her daughters and sons who were as she felt turning against her.

Afareen Arezoo: "You really know so?!" she says in desperation.

The son Darius says "My daddy loved you and you let him die!!" then he ran off into the bushes. She ran after him in an attempt to not lose him saying "It was an accident!"

Afareen Arezoo was broken to hear him think she was the killer, "It was an accident, a real accident! I didn't mean to!"

Darius stopped running and Gordia had returned to see her lying on the ground in emotional pain and tears.

Darius forgave her because he loved her even though there was nothing that needed to be forgiven, so did Gordia who went in first to hug her mom and then Darius last.

"Dang he took long to die." a black woman (3) says, "A real shame that this couldn't happen to a few million Muslims...." a man (5) says.

"But she can never be at peace..her conscience will not let her..he might be the worst husband but as a human she couldn't let him die..her saving him might have changed his attitude, he could have turned into a loving husband..anyone can change" a man (6) says in a proud way.

Her children escorted her and the kids to the car and Darius who knew how to drive drove them home.

He was a spectacle to the kids on the playground, seeing a kid driving.

Some of them pointed and others stared.

His mom was too sad to drive and Darius feared she'd be too sad to focus on driving and the road.

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At home, Darius helped his mother and sisters into the house.

Afareen Arezoo: "I have to go to work at the airport again in the morning."

She wipes her eyebrows then sighs saying "I'm not able to look after you two right now, please call your grandmother and tell her to pick you kids up before I kill all of you!" The scream she screamed was a killer, Darius jumps in shock.

Afareen Arezoo really thought she needed time to cool off from work.

She called in sick today and chose not to go.

Afareen Arezoo: "Hello? Boss? I'm really sick, very bad. Please let me stay home?" she fakes a cough.

Her boss (female): "Okay, I heard the news, I'm so sorry for your loss, I hope you can get better and be healthy again soon."

Afareen Arezoo (happy and grateful and cheery, but also tearful and crying): "You are one of the only women that actually did not degrade me or my husband."

Afareen Arezoo looked at her son and said "I'm gonna need your grandmother to-"

Darius says "I already called. I'm-"

Afareen Arezoo: "Be quiet."

Boss: "Let me tell the others, goodbye." then the boss hangs up.

Afareen Arezoo goes to her room, locks the door.

Gordia feels extremely guilty about what she did to her mom.

Darius to Gordia: "How-" he was angry but remembered he did the same.

Darius: "I'm sorry."

Darius hugged her and told the others to "Go to your rooms so I can get you guys ready for Grandma!"

Azar ran to her room like a toddler would, then Golshan says "You shouldn't have said that to mom, I'll get myself ready."

Darius: "I didn't accuse dad of abusing her!"

Habibeh: "I was trying to see what happened!"

Darius: "It's your fault as well she's mad!"

Golshan punched him in the face, this scared Gordia to bits.

Habibeh felt even more guilty. Habibeh ran off crying to her room and locked the door. She was not leaving.

Darius and his sister besides Azar ran to her room and tried to open the door but it was locked.

Habibeh is crying.

Afareen Arezoo heard the loudest slam she'd ever heard from others and because of that, she got out of bed and went to see in an awe that was never seen before, when she saw the kids trying to console Habibeh and open the door, she groans and says "How did this happen?"

Darius looks at her in shame and said "We-"

Habibeh: "It's my fault!"

Darius was quickly shoved by his mom and told to "Go to your room so I can deal with you, Darius! Why are you acting-"

Gordia: "I told him- I mean, he told us that we were mean to you so he was mad and he was mad at me and Golshan was mad at him too."

Afareen Arezoo decided "it was best to take time off of everything and get on the plane to California but she didn't have the energy to fulfill it!"

Darius didn't know how to react but sob.

Afareen Arezoo didn't think to look at him, instead she ignored his cries and went straight to Habibeh.

When she saw Habibeh, she groaned and told her to "Stop whining, what did I do to deserve a child like this!"

Habibeh stopped whining and told her "I'm sorry for being mean to daddy-"

Afareen Arezoo couldn't control her anger and punched her there.

Afareen Arezoo: "I think that's enough!"

Habibeh was shocked by her mother's seemingly coldness but her mom was so devastated she was going crazy and losing control of her anger.

Habibeh asked her "Why did you-"

Darius pulled Habibeh out of the room in a haze of worry and terror, he knew child abuse when he saw it and was terrified of his mother.

Afareen Arezoo: "I'm sorry, Habibeh. Okay? I'm tired! I couldn't get sleep all night and because of that thing in the living room!"

Flashback:

Darius is watching Blues clues with Azar, when it's over, he takes Azar to her room and he sleeps on her bed with her.

The T.V. was left on and Darius heard it but wouldn't turn it off and instead chose to go with the cloest option: Closing Azar's bedroom door.

The T.v. shows another news report stating the opinions of random strangers on their father's death, when Afareen Arezoo got out of bed to shut it up, she heard these three words "I don't care." from a man (8) on the talk show part of the news.

She looks at the T.V. to see a black man laughing and saying "Abuse is disgusting and honestly-" she pulls the plug from the T.V. and burns it, then she realizes what happens when you burn a plug and ends up seeing sparks and calls 911 saying "Hello, I think my house is going to burn down!" she got all of her five kids out of the house and ran outside.

Darius came outside last and she hugged him saying "Keep up!"

The fire department lived close and they put the fire out and discarded the cord.

Afareen Arezoo felt so stupid and dumb.

Afareen Arezoo: "I'm an IDIOT!"

Present day, she goes to the T.V. and breaks it to pieces smashing it with a chair in rage.

Darius takes his siblings to his bedroom in fear.

He locks the door behind.

Because to him, "First, it's an object, then maybe, it's you." he thinks.

She runs to his room, he's on the bed with his sister and then she smashes his room door in with the t.v.'s remains.

He tells his sisters to "Hide under the bed now!"

They do so.

She grabs him and beats him harshly.

She sounds likes she's punching and kicking him, we don't see it, we see the sisters under the bed sobbing in total shock and horror. He's sobbing as his fears come true.

Afareen Arezoo stops after 11 minutes of hitting him, she stares into his cold pained eyes and says "Oh my gosh, Darius?!" she calls 911 and he is taken on a stretcher living, but in a coma.

She was enraged at herself for nearly killing him.

Her mother scolded her harshly and told her as they were in the waiting room with her sobbing daughter at the ER

"How dare you?! Your own son? He's a boy, he's been lied -!"

Afareen Arezoo: "I didn't mean for this to happen, I was just so angry at him for any reason!"

Her mother named Syrus sits next to her and says "Listen, I'm sorry. Okay? I understand, when your father died-"

Afareen Arezoo: "You were a great mother, when I was so angry and evil to you I was still cared for!"

Syrus: "I know but I wasn't always great to the sister of mine, Tyrus? She hates me for what I've said to her over the years-"

Afareen Arezoo: "Words? Please, I put Darius in a coma!"

Afareen Arezoo cries in her mother's bosom.

Her mother stares at her in shock and pain.

A week of comatose for Darius later and prayers for him, Darius woke up.

Darius was paralyzed from the head down.

When Afareen Arezoo heard the doctor say "He's paralyzed from the head down, he's awake-"

She cut him off with "Paralyzed?!" she ran off to see him and told him "Are you-"

Darius was crying.

HenSaid he was "Sorry! I'm so sorry!" she made him black out, he was thinking it was the same moment that happened so when he woke up he was in terror, then he calmed down, he looked around then became shocked at where he was.

"Mommy?" Darius spoke in awe.

Afareen Arezoo: "I'm sorry! It's okay!" he was terrified at what she was going to do to him but she hugged him instead of hurting him.

The sisters came in joyous he was awake and told him "I love you, Darius!"

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5 months later, she went back to her airport job...

She regretted this, and she started to pick up bags and put them on the luggage cart, unaware of the hell she'd go through.

"I'm kinda of sick of people believing the husband was evil with no clues to suggest that. Honestly I think she tried to save her husband but realized immediately that she couldn't save him. But if she would have stayed and tried to save him knowing that she would likely not be able to help him she would receive a huge backlash from his family and relatives, blaming her for his death. Knowing what she feared is very real, I'm amazed by her decision even though she loved her husband most likely. " a man (7) says in response to the hate on T.V.

Afareen Arezoo: "Oh my gosh." She said that because the statement "They think I let him die because I was fearing backlash for saving him and failing that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"I'm wondering if she suspected him of cheating? He may have been pretty distant to her and the baby in the morning." a black woman (5) says.

"I'm not a murderer!" Afareen Arezoo yells, they were watching the T.v. in an airport.

"She had the right to let him die while he killed all of her emotions." a woman (6) says to her husband (1).

Afareen Arezoo: "Stop it, just stop it!"

Afareen Arezoo cries as she runs away from the airport and goes to her home and locks the doors.

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"I'm not going outside again!" she says to her five children.

Darius is quiet. Sitting on a chair. He got better with physical therapy, Thank God.

Her daughters worry for him.

Will she hurt him?

Darius: "I hope they-"

Afareen Arezoo: "Shut up, Darius!"

Darius: "My...grandma says God was the helper who helped me, today. I can sit up, mom."

Afareen Arezoo doesn't kinda seem to mind him saying those things and turns to see him sitting up to her amazement and says "You...can sit up?!"

She hugs him tightly then loosens her grip and says "Oh my gosh, my boy! You can sit up!" in happy tears.

An hour later...

Darius is sitting up on the floor while his siblings are playing and drawing and talking to each other.

Her son Darius yells "My daddy is better than your (bleep) ideas about him!"

"No, we do not curse!" his mom Afareen Arezoo says.

"You need to ask God for forgiveness!" His mom spoke in worrisome anger.

Darius: "I'm sorry, God, I won't curse again. In Jesus name, amen."

"Brutal treatment of women in Islam countries is horrible. If this were to happen, she could comfort herself that is was just Allah's will for him to die." a talk show host on t.v. says. They got a new one.

Afareen Arezoo: "I'm a practicing Christian." she says in sheer groans and anger.

"There are still real men in these countries who do genuinely love and are very protective of their wives against the society and government they know would harm her given the chance. They treat their wives as first in all considerations and even privately at home as their equal and better half." a talk show host on t.v. says.

"He's a good man!" her daughter Golshan the 8 year old says,

"I hate you!" the five year old Habibeh screams at the T.v. and then the three year old girl named Azar cries, her son Darius is nine years old.

"He appeared to be normal, average, not unkind, not an abusive Muslim husband. She had a job and earnings after all. More to do with being forced to marry your cousin because a pair of inbred brothers promised their own children would marry each other while they were still babies, or she was forced to marry a stranger she had never met till her wedding night. She wanted her own life, not the one that was forced upon her. She wanted to be free." A stranger on the T.V. said.

She grunts and hopes for it to end, she turns off the T.v. and sighs. She takes the "Advise from therapist is to hit the wall." She punched a hole in the wall as she said that, then she said "Now, I am being stupid again."

"I'm sorry, Darius." Afareen Arezoo says to her nine year old son Darius, then her eight year old daughter Golshan says "Why do people hate my dad?!"

This was a gut wrenching thing for Afareen Arezoo to hear.

"Golshan, he's an Iranian man." Habibeh the five year old says,

"Wait, what?!" her mother Afareen Arezoo says.

"GordiA, I want you to go get me a Popsicle." her son Darius says.

"People will think you're a jerk for doing that cuz you're Iranian." the five year old Habibeh says.

"Habibeh, why do you keep saying things like that?!" Habibeh's mom says to Habibeh as Habibeh plays with her toys,

Habibeh: "Because daddy was nice and they think he's mean." Her mother sits next to her but what Habibeh does next is horrifying to her.

Habibeh gets out a book and sits at the table with it.

It's a coloring book, she starts to draw on a clear page in the book a picture of her daddy,

she's coloring a picture of mean people putting dirt on her daddy.

"Habibeh...no, that's not what-" her mother Afareen Arezoo says in sadness and shock.

"Why did they think that, mommy?" Habibeh asks, worried

"People don't care if your happy or unhappy to wives as an Iranian man, they don't like you." Habibeh says in tears.

"I will tell them but in English what happened in their relationship, okay." her daughter, GordiA says.

Afareen Arezoo went to the bathroom and literally cut her arm with the scissors on the bathroom counter.

Afareen Arezoo lost her mind for a week after that and it never got better as the week went by.

During the week, Afareen Arezoo was alone, had sent the kids to grandma's.

Afareen Arezoo had no one to console her so she consoled herself.

Afareen Arezoo is in the kitchen, she tells herself "It wasn't your fault, you tried....you tried to save your husband but you were weak. That's not your fault at all, you...you just had not the strength!" she took a kitchen knife and put it to her leg.

Afareen Arezoo had no idea what she was doing, she didn't know why either.

She stopped immediately in terror.

Afareen Arezoo: "Stop this, stop this! I'm not going to do it! He's not here, accept that, not here!"

Afareen Arezoo attempts suicide by cutting her throat, her mother hears a voice from God (Jesus Christ) saying "Go to your daughter's house now!" in an urgent manner.

Her mother called 911 as she was a christian, and said "My daughter is in danger! Please help! She lives on 6543 Hapal street in Houston, Texas --!"

as she was driving to Afareen Arezoo.

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The next scene we see is her alive on a stretcher in the ambulance truck.

Her mom is praying "Jesus, please, not my daughter, not her!" in tears as she sits near her daughter crying.

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A month later, it is Darius' 10th birthday, Afareen Arezoo is seen hugging him and seeing him walking on his own is happy to her.

He walks to the table and brings his cake to the birthday table separate from the one his cake was on before.

Azar hugs her mom as her mom carries her, Habibeh is hugging her sister Gordia and Golshan hugs Afareen Arezoo's mom as well.

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6 weeks later...

In a school, in front of a news camera.

Her mother Afareen Arezoo tells Gordia in Persian with subtitles that read "I'll tell them for you, if they think he's a mean man to me, they'll believe me over you, my daughter."

In the classroom with a news reporter and some camera men filming Afareen Arezoo as the teacher and students watch...

Afareen Arezoo: "I'm Afareen Arezoo, I'm the lonely, disheartened, angry wife of my husband, Josh abbAs, my husband who,"

(Narration, Afareen Arezoo) (subtitles provided to the arguing in the background) "when we were arguing was telling me to let our child go to school, because we were in America and there was equal opportunities for us as men and women. That is why we were arguing that day. I was against it, not for it, but he was and they all ended up in school. I willingly agreed due to his persistence."

(Iranians are watching Afareen Arezoo at home on the T.V. and as they do it they clap for her.)

Afareen Arezoo: "In the next scene, you see us talking while he plays video games? He was saying I could come when I was finished, I willingly did the house work. It doesn't mean he should die if I wasn't and he just wasn't willing, I loved him and i wanted to do it."

Afareen Arezoo: (she's crying, now) "...And i will never forget what he did for our daughter, he lifted her up out of a hole, she was playing hide and seek with him and he ran after her, he picked her up and he got her home safely."

Afareen Arezoo: "He was kind to me and he was no monster, I was trying to save him, I needed to- I needed to go get help, he is heavy and he- he couldn't- I couldn't get him out of the well and I needed to pull him out, but I couldn't, I was weak, I tried to find help so I carefully placed his hands back on the well's surface, so as not to accidentally throw him into it but he fell regardless, I saw him, I looked back and he was gone..."

Afareen Arezoo: "I gave him everything and he returned the favor with love!" (she says that in hate and anger)

(in the classroom, no more her narrating the scene, now, she's talking to the camera and people all over the world to tell them that)

"YOU DON'T KNOW MY LOVING HUSBAND!!!" Afareen Arezoo says, bawling.

"the perfect murder" a white woman says watching the mother and bawling wife Afareen Arezoo on the television, and her husband screams "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

On the T.V. Afareen Arezoo screams, "My gosh!"

Flashback...

Afareen Arezoo's narration: "He wasn't my cousin!"

is heard as the story shows a happily married couple, her and her late husband at a happy wedding,

Narration, Afareen Arezoo: "We chose to marry, I proposed, he said yes!"

Is heard as it shows her proposing standing up awkwardly as he awkwardly seems to reply yes in a weird but kind stance with a funny look of happiness in his eyes and face.

Subtitles are provided with every flashback in the narration of his wife.