CHAPTER 4

"Fatima, is there something wrong? You've been having

nightmares for the past 3 days now. Is there something that's

bothering you?" my mom asked me calmly.

"Nothing's bothering me, mommy. And, even if something

bothers me, I am stronger than you think, I will handle it. Besides

they are called afternoon wares."

"There's no such term called afternoon ware, dummy." my sister

interjected.

"No one's talking to you."

"Mommy do you think I can skip school tomorrow?" I smiled.

"No, don't even think about it."

'Fine.' I muttered annoyed.

"So, do you want to listen to a story?", mummy asked us while

chopping the onions.

"Please." we begged her

"A horror story." My brother yelled.

"Just go to sleep." My sister muttered annoyed by us.

So, this happened with your uncle when he was a teenager. There

is this college in Hyderabad that is known to be haunted, Mumtaz

college. So, one day he was returning home and he happened to

pass that college in his way. It was around midnight and he

actually saw a witch. She was tall with long nails, long hair, feet

backwards. She was after him. He ran and came back home.

When we found him the next morning, he was literally burning,

he had a high fever.

"I know this already. "I groaned.

"What? No that's not true. He probably pranked you guys." my

sister said mockingly.

"Well, I asked him once about this and he said it was true." I

smiled remembering the good old days with my uncle.

"Ahh, the good old days with him." I sighed dejectedly.

"Alright, off to bed three of you." my mother announced and we

obeyed.

I was peacefully sleeping on my bench before the bell rang. I saw a

dream. Someone pulled my chair and I fell down. I got up and

looked around.

"Fatima, I am here." Hajera laughed.

I looked around. I was on the floor.

So, this was not a dream? I thought.

"What's wrong with you?" I got up, she just laughed and settled

beside me.

I saw her enter the class with the same stoic expression. I looked

down and reminded myself to stay away.

"Oh, look who came early today." One of the Arab girls, Salma

hooted.

"You are late every day, why did you come early today, Aqsa?" she

yelled again.

I took a close look at her and she didn't look bothered by any of it.

I turned my attention back to my work. Soon afterwards we

headed towards the canteen for our lunch break.

"AHHH, my head."

We heard a loud thud and someone's scream; we turned around

and spotted Salma on the ground, she was clutching her head and

crying hysterically. The headmistress helped her get up and took

her to the infirmary. Apparently, Salma fell down the stairs and

injured her elbow and head. I looked around and see her sitting

on the swing in the play area reserved for the children in the

kindergarten, she was looking at her hands and mumbling

something. To me it seemed as if she was talking to herself. "None

of this should bother you Fatima" I reminded myself and walked

away.

"I can't find any of my pens Hajera. Please help me find it. All the

evil in this world has to come to me" I groaned and bent down to

search them.

"Of course, all the evil in this world has come to the devil himself."

she laughed at my misery; I smacked her leg under the table.

"You mean herself? I am a female, remember?" I asked her

"Oh, so you admit of being the devil." she mockingly asks me.

"Khalas! Help me Hajera."

"Look. Salma came back."

I lifted my head and bumped it on the table. I rubbed the spot and

looked up. A very tired looking Salma walked inside and sat down

on her seat. Her forehead was bruised and her eyes were swollen.

"How do we find the direction of magnetic field students?" the

teacher questioned us.

"We use Maxwell's Right Hand Thumb Rule." we all replied in

unison.

It was the second last period of the day and we had one more to go

before the day ends, I reminded myself. The bell rang and the

teacher literally ran outside. I laughed; this was the only one

teacher that would leave quickly as soon as the bell rang, once she

even fell in her haste to leave quickly.

It was the last period and surprisingly the teacher who was to

attend this class was absent. The class was engrossed in its usual

chaos. Some were singing together in a chorus, some were

chatting loudly, there were nerds too who were busy studying and

I was busy pranking someone with Hajera, we were putting all of

our stationery items in someone's hoodie so that when she wears

it, she would be blessed with a rain of stationery items but

unfortunately our prank got backfired. We were laughing at

something that I said and the bell rang.

"Woohoo, finally I can hit the hay." I danced.

Tired from the day I sat comfortably, resting my head against the

seat of the bus, when I heard someone wince. I turned around and

saw Salma wincing in pain. I didn't like Salma due to her arrogant

behavior but I couldn't help myself from asking.

"Are you okay?"

"What does it look like?" she spat angrily.

"Don't show me that attitude! You should have been careful while

descending the stairs."

"I didn't fell Fatima, someone pushed me."

"Well, no one does it on purpose, it must have been an accident." I

shrugged

"Did you see who did it?"

'No.' she replied back in a stoic tone.

I turned my attention back to the window and soon afterwards we

arrived at my home.

I took a relaxing shower and lied down to take a nap. I decided not

to think about anything from school to avoid the afternoon wares.

It was 5am in the morning. A cold winter morning and I was

strolling in the garden located across from our school. I saw her

sitting on one of those swings at the garden. She was looking at

her hands. I could see her lips moving, she was mumbling

something to herself. I looked away reminding myself for the

umpteenth time to stay away.

"Do you know who did it?" I heard her talking to me, even though

she was a little far from me I could hear her as if she was speaking

right beside my ear.

"Did what?" I asked her, not looking in her direction.

"It was me, Fatima. It was me." I heard her.

"Did what Aqsa?" I asked her again.

When she didn't reply, I turned to look in her direction only to

find no one there.

I woke up with a start and looked at the time. It was 4 pm. It

wasn't something scary I thought to myself.