Chapter 6: The Story
VAZAR
“I have been in prison for a long time now,” My voice broke with regret.
She noticed the crack of emotions and her features softened. “Fine. Fine! Explain then. What’s going on?” She shook her head in disbelief.
I took a deep breath, “I’m Vazar. What do they call you?”
“They call me Hannah,” she smirked.
“They will soon call you crazy, Miss!” The little boy who had broken her day-dream earlier made an appearance and stood staring at her with an amused expression.
Hannah glared at him. I willed him to disappear. He must have picked up my vibe as he scampered away back to his parents.
“Hannah,” the name rolled of my tongue with ease. Even her name was beautiful. “Can you see me?”
“Obviously not,” she hissed skirting a glance around. She didn’t want anyone else to think she was talking to herself.
“Okay, I’ll work on that.” I promised, feeling relieved that we had started talking.
“What’s going on?” she pressed for answers.
Where to begin? I didn’t want to scare her but if I wasn’t straight now then she would leave. If she left, then life wouldn’t be worth living.
“This is going to sound weird…you can’t see me because your mind isn’t open yet. Once you believe in me, then you will see me.”
“Really? How can I believe in something I cannot see?”
“You can hear me though, can’t you?” I hoped my logic would make sense. “Just like you breathe in the air that you can’t see. If you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
Her narrow brows furrowed as she absorbed my words. “So, what are you? A ghost?”
I let out a laugh. This was always the case when I first introduced myself to mankind, they think I’m a ghost. A dead human, who has come back to haunt them.
“No. I’m not a ghost. I’m a Jinn. Do you know what that is?”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Her lips trembled and she stepped back. Yes it seemed she had heard of the Jinn before.
“You’re evil…” her velvet voice held an element of fear.
“NO!” My words came out harsher than I would have liked. “No, I promise you, I am not evil. That is a misconception. Are all humans evil?”
“No. We’re all different.”
“Well then. So are we.”
“How are you speaking to me?” her voice was low.
“We have the ability to interact with other species. Some of us choose to obey the rules of the Jinn and some of us choose to break those rules. I’m breaking a rule here.”
“Why me? Why break rules for me?”
“I don’t know. When you walked in here, I could sense you. I felt you. I simply had to talk to you. I feel… I feel… I don’t know what I feel!” I pushed a hand through my hair in frustration. I couldn’t reveal what an impact she had on me so soon into our first meeting. I didn’t want her to think I was some kind of stalker either.
“This is insane! I must be dreaming. I have to go…” Hannah began backing away from me.
“Please, please, I’m begging you. Don’t go,” I pleaded for her to give me a few more minutes. “I cannot leave this room. Once you go, then I won’t be able to see you again.”
Hannah stopped retreating. She was now a mere three meters from the door. “Stay, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”
She was silent for a moment, lost in thought. Then she walked over to the side of the door where a couple of empty benches were and sank down onto the hard wooden seat.
“Start from the beginning,” she instructed. “How did you get here?”
I took my place next to her and began my story. My mind drifted back. The years ticked away and I found myself back in 1820 when I was a young boy in my home country of Iraq. The war was raging, my kind were being forced into hiding and many, many of us captured and killed. My kind were not human. We don’t belong in this world anymore. My kind was Jinn, crafted from fire. We were one of the entities created to stand alongside man, who were made of clay and angels, who were made of light.
“Wait. You said humans are made from clay, and you from fire?” It was obvious she thought I was making this up.
“It says so in the Quran. I’m guessing from your hijab that you are Muslim, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t remember learning about this at the mosque,” She frowned thinking hard.
“They won’t teach you anything about us. Let me continue, and you will see why,” I said.
She nodded and my story moved forward.
We learnt about the war at school. It had been a long drawn-out affair that came and went as the seasons did. Each war lasted a few months and then peace was restored until a new generation of humans emerged and started the vicious cycle again. Jinn kind were almost immortal. We aged slowly with an average life span of 5,000 years. That was one of the reasons why humans hated us.
“5000 years?” Hannah’s mouth fell open. “How old are you?”
“Me? I’m around 200 years old. What about you?”
“18.” Her answer was blunt but it went unnoticed by me. Her age didn’t matter. What was a few years difference when we were not even the same species?
Our history teacher told us, that ever since the start of time, we shared worlds with the humans. Free to come and go using portals that existed in particular natural geographical sites. The location of these portals was learned from each aging generation and interaction between all three species was amicable.
“There’s a portal?” her excitement began to show, “Where?”
“There’s a few around. The closest one would be in Dorset. Do you know where that is?”
She shook her head, “Somewhere down south maybe?”
"Good guess. Yes, its on the southern coast towards France. There’s a rock formation shaped like an arch…”
“Oh wait! I think I’ve heard of it. It’s called Durdle Door or something.”
“Yes. Durdle Door. That’s where the portal is.”
“Why hasn’t anyone found it yet?” I could tell Hannah was a smart woman.
“Because you can’t just see it. It’s not like a door that you open and go through. There is a particular way to access it.”
“What’s the way? How do you open it?” Her eagerness was contagious, and I found myself caught in the moment. How I would love to take her there and show her a whole new world.
“I’ll tell you about that another time. Who knows? Maybe I would be lucky enough to show you myself.”
Her face beamed as she imagined the possibilities before her. I could tell she loved a good adventure. If only, we had both known then what adventures awaited us we would have been better prepared.