I picked up Peter. He was light in my arms, his small body trembling.
"Where are they?" I asked, already moving toward the door.
"In the courtyard," Peter said, his voice muffled against my shoulder.
"Can you tell me what happened?" I said as we ran to the courtyard. My heart was pounding. My mind was racing. Why would Roma beat up Yena? What was going on?
"Yena asked him why he was discriminating against Thomas, and he got angry," Peter said, crying.
"And that's why he started beating her?" I asked. My voice was sharper than I intended.
"Yes," Peter said.
"It's okay," I comforted him, even though I wasn't sure it was true. I held him tighter and ran faster.
The closer we got to the courtyard, the louder I could hear Yena and Roma's voices. They were shouting over each other, words overlapping, anger bleeding through every syllable.
