Nikkah

10

Delhi, India
They stood before the India gate, and Ahil clicked selfies of them.

"Do send it to me through WhatsApp." Zoya politely told him.

"We don't have each other's numbers," he happily responded, because he had been dying to ask for it but couldn't.

"Don't worry. I'll give it to you before I leave."

"You're leaving tomorrow. Know that we will miss you, Zoya, and I'm glad we met. InshaAllah, this won't be our last meeting." Sanam sadly shared.

"If only Uncle didn't inform Aunt about the snake bite, then I would have been leaving on Monday."

•••••

They returned home.

"Should we play truth or dare?" While Aryaan went in, Ahil suggested.

"No! I have a long journey tomorrow. I'm also exhausted, but let's pray we'll meet again soon." She replied, having mixed feelings because, on one hand, she didn't want to leave them, and on the other, she misses her aunt dearly.

•••••

She stood beside a man who was bedecked in a sherwani before three other women in bridal lehengas came and pushed her away.

"What are you doing? He's my husband." She tried to reach him while one of them stepped in between and angrily snarled,

"He's not only your husband. He's our husband, so learn how to share."

"I'd rather die than share!" she too exclaimed, her eyes peeking at the blurred faces of the women whose lips she was only able to see that carried evil smirks.

"Then die because we won't leave him," they said.

"I won't die. You will." She spewed, and they laughed while she pulled him back to her side and informed them.

"I'll be the only wife of my husband. It's either he becomes mine alone or he dies rather than I let him take another woman in as his wife."

"You're destined to share Zoya. Your husband is the husband of three other women. If you can't live a polygamous life with us, so be it, but we won't sacrifice our happiness for you," they uttered, drawing him back to them.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" Her loud scream gathered everyone in the house to her room. Her body was trembling in fear as she kept repeated, "I won't share him. I'd rather die than share him."

"Wake her up. She must be having a terrible dream." Aryaan's father told his wife, and she gently moved near her and tapped on her.

"Wake up, dear."

Her eyes flashed open, and without realising where she was or the people before her, she charged at her aunt and squeezed her hands around her neck, ignoring her coughs and the people that huddled, trying to sperate them.

"Zoya, stop it or you'll kill her. Are you mad?" Aryaan yelled, but his words were ineffective because she couldn't hear him. They at last pushed her back on the bed, and she hit her head hard against the frame, which made her fully conscious of her surroundings. The first thing she did after was bury her face in between her knees, where she burst into tears because of the terrible dream because she didn't want it to ever come true. She glanced to check if it was morning, and when she confirmed it was, she cried harder as morning dreams always came true.

"Father, don't you think Zoya is possessed? First, she tried to strangle Mother to death, and now she is crying without any reason. I really think she is possessed by an evil spirit." She heard Ahil muttering.

He agreed, "You're right. Her scream brought us to her. Zoya, in her right senses, will never do that. Summon the sage. We have to get rid of the spirit before we send her home."

Zoya was least bothered by them; however, she was deeply concerned about the dream she had.

"Unless you want me to become a murderer, don't ever introduce a woman into my future husband's life because I will never accept staying under the same roof with her. And I don't care if she's friendly or not, never." her mind threatened.

"Let's leave her alone. We'll return when the sage arrives." She heard his father telling them before the sound of the door closed. After she was certain there was no one else in the room because it went quiet, she sat upright and wiped her tears, ready to start packing since she was leaving. But, just as she was about to leave the bed, the door was shoved open, and a weird-looking man appeared while holding a censer that was smouldering black seeds.

She became startled and waited in one place, but above all, after she inhaled the awful smell of black seeds as he was walking into the room, she felt her lungs joining with one another, and it made her unable to breathe anymore. The smell was very unbearable, so she covered her nose with her duppatta while coughing miserably.

Aryaan went in while wearing a nose mask to give the sage his bag.

"Stand at the door. I'll start my work," he dismissed him and took her hand while she flinched in extreme fear as he removed her duppatta, propelling her face to move closer to the censer to inhale more of the smoke that immediately started to make her feel dizzy even after she held her breath.

"This is the first indication that there is a spirit in her body. They hate black seeds. They're not letting her breathe in it because it will cause them harm, but they can't withhold for long."

Aryaan watched them silently. On the other hand, she fought for her life to breathe. The sage proceeded and tied her hands and feet with a scarf so tight that she couldn't untangle them while she let him because she was too weak to speak up.

He sat down on the floor and took out the holy book, where he began reciting it, glancing at her second after second, who had been quiet all along, just watching him.

"The spirit is a Muslim. They know the Qur'an. She may not be reacting to the recitation, but she'll certainly react to this." He proclaimed and brought out a little container from his bag.

"Pass me the jug of water and a cup."

Aryaan quickly went in and gave them to him, and then he went back to the door. They watched what the sage was preparing, which was a mixture of two spoons of black seeds inside a half cup of water. After he finished, he roused and moved near her, where he told her,

"Open up!"

She eyed him and shook her head because there was no way she was going to drink the mixture when she hated even its smell. Drinking it was impossible.

He forced the cup into her lips while she struggled to untie herself because she would die if she didn't take it since she was suffocating and unable to breath, but at the same time, she was ready to rather die than drink it.

Using all her strength, she squeezed her eyes shut and broke the knot that bound her legs, pushing the man and the cup away. The cup tumbled out of his hand and fell, with the mixture rolling out.

"From God we are, and to Him we shall return. The spirit that possessed her is extremely powerful," the sage reacted as he saw her freed feet.

She spewed out the other mixture in her mouth and sighed loudly.

"But you're not powerful in front of me," he said.