CHASING MARWA

44-SPECTRE

OMNISCIENT

The voices kept getting louder with every passing second but as usual, they were too muffled to hear. A poisonous looking vantablack smoke filled the dark room, it was as if the place was full of ghosts trying to claw at her body. Even though she couldn't see their faces, she knew they were all humans.

As she raised her head from between her legs, she found the figures surrounding her, the voices were at their loudest now, she couldn't even hear her continuous screams for someone to save her life, her heartbeat got lost in the intensity of the sound. Then their faces came on display, it was like the normal nightmare she is used to having only that this time, it wasn't her father beating her mother while she silently sobbed by the side.

Rather, she was the victim now. The entire family who are her biggest enemies now tied her to a rope and continuously caned her with strong bamboo sticks, she kept screaming for them to stop, that she was hurting but no one seemed to be hearing, their hysterical laughter echoed in her ears, including her mother's which hurts the most.

And then she saw him, everyone stopped and stared at the handsome demigod whose smile contrasted with the moon on a lonely night, their hands trembled in fear, thinking that he came here to save her. But alas! They were all wrong, including her. He pulled out a silver dagger from the pocket of his blood-red trouser, the sharp object was shining under the brightness of the moon.

Only then did she realize that his smile meant anything but sympathy, that was when she recalled that the man in front of her is the most sadistic, ruthless and barbarous person to bless the face of the earth. She gave her heart and soul to a sadist who has filled it with his toxicity and now, she is full of his poison. He raised the dagger and flashed yet another malicious smirk at her before lowering it with so much force and hatred then piercing through the left side of her chest.

Blood flowed from the main source, the voices became echoes and everything blurred, the darkness faded away and was now replaced with something so bright that made her wonder what kind of world she is in. He pierced her heart and separated her soul from her body with the utmost enmity one would be able to feel. Just like that, her pieces dissipated into the cold night with her anecdote that was known by all.

"No!" She arose from the bad dream with a sweaty face only to be met with two worried faces who held her in place. Whenever she has nightmares like this, something bad always follows, the more intense the nightmare is, the more the future event breaks her heart. Now that she is the victim, she doesn't know what to make of it.

Asma Malik and Nuwairah Malik, in other words, Jamal's sisters or the two girls she met at the airport when she was going to Abuja who confessed to being her biggest fans and also exchanged numbers with her were the ones who jolted her out of her nightmare.

The Malik family showered her with so much love and respect even though they knew that she was trying so hard to show that she is apathetic, they still didn't give up. They offered for her to stay in their home but she declined, saying she prefers an apartment because she hates being a burden to anyone.

Jamal's father didn't agree though, he was the one who insisted that she choose an apartment from the ones they own and she did, it's not far from their mansion. Her room was medium-sized with a four-poster bed and two nightstands, a vanity table and a wardrobe. The apartment also has a basement, living room and kitchen along with a balcony.

In those two weeks, she discovered a new side of Jamal whenever he is with his family, there was never a boring moment with the guy, even his sisters know it. She won't be the one to destroy the image of their cute, happy family with her worries, she should heal on her own.