7 - The Encounter

At the health unit, standing like a black ghost in the darkness, I met him... He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater. I don't particularly enjoy spending the night with this bald bat, but I have no choice... Two pairs of eyes are—undoubtedly—better than one, even if both of us are looking at the world through thick glasses...

"Here I am!"

I called out to him, and he jumped in place, startled, muttering prayers and curses... What a fool! We hadn't even started yet... As soon as he recognized me, he shone the flashlight in my face and began laughing hysterically, repeating:

"I thought you were her!"

"That's exactly what we want..."

"I'm so glad you're not her...!"

"Dr. Asem..."

"Yes, colleague...?"

"The fact that I'm not her doesn't give you the right to blind me with that flashlight!"

He apologized and turned off the flashlight, looking embarrassed. We began walking in silence along the dirt road leading to my brother's house... He had described it to me in detail that morning, and I pretended not to know it. After a few minutes, our heavy breathing grew louder—neither of us was in great shape...

I don't particularly like this suspicious silence...

From a distance, my brother's house came into view... a sad, black silhouette... I looked at him and whispered, pointing westward:

"You go into those crops and wait there..."

"And you...?"

"If something suspicious happens, make the sound of an owl... If the danger is imminent, don't hesitate... scream..."

"And you?"

"I'll go into the northern cornfield...!"

\---

The northern cornfield is where I heard that voice calling my brother... I pushed through the cornstalks, which towered over me... The sound of dry leaves rustling and sharp things scratching my face... It would be difficult to see anything from this place, even if it were inches from my face...

I kept pushing through until I reached a clearing in the field and stopped, my heart racing with excitement... I looked up at the sky and saw the stars, clear and distinct as I'd always seen them... From a distance, I could see my brother's house, lonely and shrouded in darkness...

There was no moon... and I preferred it that way, because complete darkness doesn't scare me... What terrifies is dim light and shadows, as they stir the imagination. I remembered the story of \The Red Room\ by H.G. Wells... where the hero had to spend a dark night in a haunted room. He lit many candles to ease his loneliness, but they only increased his terror until he nearly went mad, facing the shadows cast by each extinguished candle...

Yes... I definitely prefer complete darkness... uniform, flat darkness... Lighting a candle, a dim lamp, or even the pale moonlight would be enough to make me die of fright...

The minutes passed...

I sat cross-legged on the ground... And now here's my fundamental flaw, which I've never overcome and which never crossed my mind... boredom... Damn this lazy Nadaha... What did I do to deserve spending my night waiting for the moment when that cursed creature would take pity on me and come from her hellish world to terrify me?! If she doesn't do it now, she might as well never do it...

Two hours passed...

\---

The problem with these terrifying monsters is that they never come when you want them to...

Now Rifaat sleeps in his bed, oblivious to everything, and Najat sleeps beside him, thinking about her fate after his departure... The whole village is asleep, unaware of the lunatics who decided to spend the night in the fields for no reason...

I lit a cigarette and began humming...

I don't know why I remembered this sad tune at this very moment:

"Where is the boy, O mother?"

"They said he went to sleep, his family..."

The tune suited the situation, but it came out of my mouth rough and hoarse, like an omen, and it sent a shiver through my own veins... What made me remember it?!

And then...

A strange feeling came over me that I wasn't alone... In my field of vision, I noticed something... I slowly turned my head toward it... and saw what looked like a tall girl draped in a long black robe, walking slowly about five meters away from me, gliding as if she were floating rather than walking... There was no movement under her robe to suggest the motion of feet...

"She left the village when the ghoul called him..."

When she turned her face toward me, it was as if she didn't see me... In this darkness, I wouldn't have been able to see her even if she had looked at me... I felt my spine freeze and my heart nearly leap out of my throat... She was looking... toward Rifaat's house...

"Where is the boy, O children?"

"They said the boy is enchanted..."

What made me realize this wasn't an illusion was the strange green glow surrounding her... as if she were radiating it from within... from under her robe... What I was seeing now was something mysterious by all standards... something I couldn't comprehend, but I didn't dare leave the place without understanding what was happening...

"He traveled to her lands, and the years keep turning..."

Now the girl stopped, her posture straight, her chest rising and falling... Then she raised her voice in a call, looking up like a wolf howling at the moon...

"Rifaaaaat... Rifaaaaat!"

It was the same long, wailing voice—like a lament—echoing as if it came from the depths of hell... the same drawn-out syllables... the same rasp I'd heard that night when I returned from Cairo...

"Rifaaaaat... Rifaaaaat...!"

Now it was time to end this farce... I stood up and, with calm and caution, began moving toward her, her back turned to me... Her mysterious green glow enveloped her figure and fell on my clothes... When I was right behind her, I cleared my throat to speak... but the words stuck in my throat...

"Where is the boy, O mother?"

I said, trembling:

"They said he went to sleep, his family..."

"What are you doing here, girl..."

And then she turned to me...

"She left the village when the ghoul called him..."

Who said the Nadaha was stunningly beautiful?! I've never seen or imagined a face as grotesque as this one... a face pale as death... deep-set eyes with blood-red pupils... cracked lips... I can't deny there was a kind of beauty, like the beauty of evil witches, but it was a harsh, terrifying beauty... Her hair was jet black, neatly arranged, and her neck was long and proud... and... a large blue mole on her left cheek...

There wasn't enough time for my nerves to process everything... because I screamed and screamed as I'd never screamed before... I forgot everything about the gun in my pocket... All I wanted was to get out of this situation and go somewhere I wouldn't see this face...

"Where is the boy, O children?"

"They said the boy is enchanted..."

I began running and stumbling... getting up... then running again... The cornstalks slapped my face, my heart pounded... and all my thoughts dissolved except for the ominous song and two snakes, each swallowing the other's tail—I don't know how they crept into my subconscious...

From a distance, her voice echoed again with insistence:

"Rifaaaaat... Rifaaaaat...!"

In the darkness, I collided with a human body, and I flinched, throwing clumsy punches at what I thought was her... Then I heard a familiar voice muttering prayers and calling out to me:

"Dr. Rifaat... it's me... Asem!"

"Asem who?!" Now I remembered... Dr. Asem, with whom I'd started this adventure... He turned on the flashlight and began calming me down as I trembled and quickly recounted what had happened...

"So she's there?"

"Of course, you fool..."

"Then let's go... this is our last chance..."

We ran to the spot where I'd seen her... and there—under the light of our flashlights—there was nothing but eerie silence and the sound of a frog croaking to attract a mate...

Where had that girl gone?!

"Are you sure of what you saw?"

"Of course..."

"Then why didn't you catch her?!"

My face turned red—something he couldn't see in the dark—and I said with a mix of shame and anger:

"If you'd been in my place, you'd understand... There was no chance for anything..."

"Was the scene that terrifying...?"

"Horrific..."

"And where do you think she went?"

"Back to where she came from, of course..."

He thought for a moment, then yawned and said:

"At any rate, it's nearly impossible to find anyone in a growing cornfield... It seems tonight's show is over... Let's go back to the unit and discuss..."

"You need a cup of tea..."

"Yes, undoubtedly..."

"Now let's recap what happened..."

His wife, Awatif, was making tea on the kerosene stove while Asem and I sat trembling on the bed... I couldn't believe that just ten minutes ago, I'd faced the Nadaha... the Nadaha herself...

I began retelling the story, while Awatif gasped and pursed her lips... When I reached the part about the confrontation, she screamed in her husky voice:

"Oh my God... stop! You're giving me goosebumps!"

Dr. Asem laughed with delight... Men love to frighten women... and only clever women know how to exploit this... It's as if women's eternal fear of mice is just a way to flatter male pride...

I said humbly as I sipped my tea:

"You were scared just by the words... but I lived the moment face-to-face, and it will haunt me until I die..."

Dr. Asem said with interest:

"Describe her to me..."

I scratched my chin hesitantly... I knew exactly what she looked like, but I couldn't describe it... Then an idea struck me, so I took a piece of paper and a pen and began sketching something...

"Ah... you're drawing her?"

"Of course... I'm a decent artist..."

On the paper, the face began to take shape... the wide eyes... the cracked lips... the soft black hair falling over the forehead... then the long, white neck... It was a decent drawing, but it didn't look much like her... It was only useful for someone who'd never seen the Nadaha before...

I handed the paper to Asem, and he examined it while Awatif craned her long neck curiously to see what was there... Asem stared at the drawing for a long time, then handed it back to me, silent... I looked at the drawing again... There was a mistake I'd made... I'd forgotten to shade the eyes to make them red like the Nadaha's, and I hadn't drawn the blue mole on her left cheek... That's why the drawing looked more human than that devilish creature I'd seen... just another beautiful girl...

I folded the paper and put it in my pocket, then stood up to leave... Neither of them tried to stop me... Asem said absently:

"So... will we continue what we started early tomorrow?"

"Of course... We haven't gotten anywhere... and it's only 11 PM..."

"If I were you, I'd be cautious..."

"Why?"

He looked at me with a strange, tender look through his thick glasses... and whispered:

"You disrupted her plans tonight... and the Nadaha never lets anyone who stands in her way go unpunished... Now have another cup of tea before you leave..."