CHAPTER 18

"I just told you I don't want to go to school. Who the hell are

you anyway?" I spat angrily at the 9-year-old boy.

He turned to my mother.

"If she gets to take a leave so do I. If I have to go to school so

does, she. "He announced and proceeded to climb the sofa

again.

I eyed him wearily as he jumped from the sofa again. School,

Hajera and officer Badr Al-Din's company was better I

thought.

"The authorities called me earlier and said that you cannot

take any leaves." my dad stated calmly.

"But she just suffered from a concussion. The doctor asked us

to take care and not pressure her." my mom cried out.

I flinched at her voice.

"Come on. It's just a concussion. What have you done anyway

that the authorities have banned you from taking leaves?" my

sister chimed in.

"No one asked you." I spat as she narrowed her eyes.

"Daddy, Mummy what if she is the bloody murderer?" she

gasped and got up from her chair.

"Language, Kuki." my dad warned her.

I picked up a cushion and charged at her. It hit her head.

"Manners, Fatima." mummy yelled at me.

"It's Harram." I cried out.

"Shut up. Go to your room."

"I don't want to stay here anyway." I got up and angrily

walked out.

There has been a murder. Of a student of your school. A little

girl to be precise. Her name was Saniya. You knew her. On

the day of the play. We found her dead in a classroom on the

third floor. She was stabbed in her stomach. Days after you

injured your hand. Someone stabbed it with a pocket knife.

Then we found you in an empty classroom again. Your

wound was injured again. Then today we found your friend

unconscious. She fell of the stairs and suffered from a

concussion. An hour later we found you unconscious. Your

head was bleeding. According to the reports and the doctors

you have suffered from a concussion too.

Officer Badr Al- Din's voice kept ringing in my ears. The

information that he had given me sounded so fake and

bizarre. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't remember any

of it. I even tried to visualize it but, I couldn't remember or

believe any of it. What was worse that the throbbing pain kept

coming back after every 2-3 hours. It was so painful. I wanted

to bang my head on the wall. And, the fact that I was banned

from taking a day off for rest was making me angry.

I snuggled in my blanket. And, I dozed off within minutes.

"Fatima."

"Fatima."

"Fatima."

Strange yet familiar voices kept calling me as I walked

through the dense forest. It was almost dark. I could see the

sun sinking. I wanted to stop it from sinking entirely. I didn't

want to be alone in a dark forest.

"It's Haram." I yelled and clutched my dress.

"Hey, sweetie." a girl walked past me. I didn't see her face but,

I gasped as I saw that her ear wasn't there. It was bleeding.

"Where's your ear?" I called out to her as she disappeared.

"Hi, Fatima." I saw another girl. She looked familiar. Her head

was wrapped with a white bandage. It was similar to mine.

"How's your head now?" she laughed as she walked away

laughing creepily.

"It's Haram. And, did you suffer from a concussion too?" I

yelled after her.

"Fatima." I heard a tiny voice calling out to me. I went in the

direction the voice came from.

I heard wailing sounds behind a tree. I walked to the front.

There I saw a little girl. Sobbing and bleeding. Her face was

buried in her hands.

"What happened?" I asked slowly.

"She killed me." she muttered.

I gulped.

"Who's she?"

She raised her head slowly and she looked familiar. Very

familiar. Her stomach was bleeding profusely. Her face was

pale. Eyes almost bulging out. She raised her hand and

pointed behind me. I muttered my prayers and turned around

slowly.

A girl's body turned upside down was hanging on a tree. A

roped was tied in her neck. Arms folded across her chest.

Despite the fact that she was hanging upside down she looked

content. Her eyes were small and there were dark circles

under her eyes. Dark and deep. Her skin was white, lips too.

The kind of white the skin turns into when a person is dead.

But then she smiled. Her white teeth shone in the almost dark

surroundings.

I screamed as I saw her smiling. I screamed and turned

around to run. But something tugged my foot back and I fell

on my face. I screamed as I was being pulled backwards. I

tried to grab the little girl's hand. But she moved away. She

didn't help me.

"It was us before. Now, it's your turn, Fatima." she smiled

sadly and I saw her dimples.

I woke up choking on air. My head was throbbing with pain. I

struggled to find water as I clutched my head.

"What was that?" I murmured to myself as I glanced around

the room. The curtains looked unusual. Like someone was

there behind.

"Who's there?" I asked meekly.

No reply.

"Who's there?" I got up and stood close to the door.

"Your death." a girly voice whispered. I screamed loudly and

ran outside. I found my mother in the foyer.

"There's someone in my room." I clutched her arm. Then I

saw the 9-year-old boy coming out of the room laughing

hysterically.

"She just suffered from a concussion. Have some

consideration." my mom shook her head and walked away.

It was a prank and a nightmare that I just saw but, the people

in my dream looked so familiar. Especially the first girl that I

saw. The one whose ear was cut.

"I have a question." I glanced nervously at Hajera who looked

really confused with the geometry problem.

She hummed.

"A murder was committed almost a month ago. Right?"

She nodded.

"So, uh has anything bizarre like that ever happened before?

Here? At school?" I clutched my head because as soon as I

said that the effect of pain meds dulled away.

"Nope." she shook her head.

"Are you sure?"

She put her pen down and turned to me.

"What do you want?"

"I feel like a strange incident has occurred before too. I just

can't remember it." I tapped my finger on the table just how

Officer Badr al- Din had done.

"Congrats. You are gaining your memory back. I knew my

company would do the magic."

"I never lost my memory completely, Hajera. Just a few

fragments of it perhaps."

"Actually, there's something that happened before."

I concentrated.

"A girl. Our classmate to be precise. 2 months ago. She lost

her ear."

"Girl." I yelled catching the whole class's attention and the

attention of my head ache.

"What happened?" she looked worried.

"Hajera. People lose pens, phones, memory and sometimes

heart too but, how can someone lose their ear?"

"Learn to qualify your statement." I advised her.

"Qualify your statement?"

"How exactly did this happen?" I looked around.

"It got cut off accidently."

"Accidently? Ear? How?"

"I don't know. All I know it was an accident." she shrugged.

"You were there for this."

"I don't...." my eyes automatically landed behind me. The

bench at the last. There was no one there but, I felt the strong

ache at the back of my head again.

"So, you should've said that she lost her ear in an accident.

Not just lost her ear. That sounds stupid." I clutched my head;

the pain was intensifying now.

"What's wrong?" she shook me by my shoulder.

"Nothing."

"So, what happened exactly?"

"She came running out form the washroom with her ear in her

hand. Crying hysterically. She was rushed to the hospital and

the next thing we knew was that she had taken a TC. Her

parents confirmed it as an accident. Strange and sad right?"

"Creepy." I muttered and clutched my head. The pain at its

highest peak now.

"Hajera. Can you take out the pain..." I held her hand as I got

up but, I stumbled. Darkness clouding my vision, my entire

body shaking.

"I am..." I held her hands.

"Are you losing your consciousness? Oh god. Girls. Call

ma'am. Hurry." her frantic voice was the last thing that I

heard.

"It was us before. Now. It's your turn, Fatima."

I clutched my head as I heard that innocent voice again.

"No, it's not my turn. Not yet." I mumbled as I struggled to

open my eyes. When I did the first thing that I saw was a

teddy bear?

I got up rubbing my face and looked around. It looked like a

kid's infirmary. There were images of kids on the walls. Boys

to be precise. I noticed a boy dressed like a police officer. His

uniform was exactly the same as officer Badr Al-Din's. It even

had the same badges on it. The teddy bear sat on the table in

front of me. It was red. I grimaced internally. Who even likes

teddy bears?

I felt light headed and just fine. I just wanted some cold water.

Then I heard several noises. People speaking in Arabic.

"How are you, Fatima?" my teacher walked in smiling with a

doctor.

I smiled.

"You shouldn't pressure your brain too much for some time

now." the doctor instructed me and I nodded.

"Can I leave now?" I turned to my teacher.

"Sure. Just have this medicine." the doctor handed me a pair

of pain meds and I walked out. I felt fine now. I should've

directly gone back to my classroom because as I entered the

washroom, I knew that the pain would rush back again. I

wasn't here to do the obvious business that everyone does. I

was here for some other business.

The washroom was clean and dry. The white tiles were almost

shining. There were nine stalls. I glanced around. There was

nothing else in sight except for the 9 wash basins. I was

looking for something odd. Something that could cause

accidents. Accidents like cutting off ears. Something sharp

perhaps. But there was none. I decided to walk back.

"What was the name?" I whispered to Hajera as I drew the arc

in the figure.

"Angle X."

"Angle? You mean Angel? Wait what?" I stopped.

"The angle's name. It X. Ma'am asked us to mark it as X." she

shrugged and I facepalmed myself.

"I meant the name of the girl who uh... lost her ear in an

accident."

"Sarah."

"Where did she sit?"

Hajera pointed to the back bench and I quickly averted my

gaze. I didn't want to faint again.

"Alright, class. That's it for today. I shall see you tomorrow."

the teacher gathered her stuff and walked away.

"So, did she sit all alone? Did she have any friends?" I

gathered my stuff too.

"Yeah, she did. One girl she used to sit with. Her name was

Dana."

"I know Dana." I smiled and looked around. I found her

chatting with her friends.

"Why are you so bothered about it anyway? Like this incident

happened almost 2 months ago." Hajera looked puzzled.

"I … It's nothing. Just trying to remember stuff that I don't." I

packed my bag mentally making a note to talk to Dana later.