A memory called Zahra

Chapter 4-Shadows without faces.

The night was still.
No wind, no sounds — only the hum of the ceiling fan above my bed and the soft rhythm of my own breathing.

I turned on my side, staring at the dim outline of my curtains. Sleep had been slow to come lately. Too many thoughts, too many memories that weren’t memories. Or maybe they were — I just didn’t know anymore.

When I finally drifted off, it wasn’t into peace.

I found myself standing in an open courtyard bathed in golden light. The kind that comes right before sunset. Laughter filled the air — warm, familiar. I turned toward the sound, smiling without knowing why.

There were people everywhere.
A woman humming softly as she arranged flowers.
A man standing at a distance, his hands in his pockets, watching her with quiet fondness.
A little boy chasing a ball across the sand.

My heart swelled — full, aching, alive.

I opened my mouth to call out, but no sound came.
And then I saw it — none of them had faces.

Their features were gone, blurred into emptiness.
The laughter turned distant. Fading. The golden light dimmed into gray.

I tried to move closer, to reach them, to remember — but the harder i tried, the faster they vanished. One by one.

Until all that was left was silence.

And then i heard it — a voice, faint but clear, like it came from deep inside my chest.
“Zahra…”

My eyes flew open.

The ceiling fan buzzed above me. Morning light leaked through the curtains, soft and pale. My breath came fast, uneven.

For a long time, I just lay there, clutching my bedsheet, trying to calm the wild beat of my heart.

I told myself it was only a dream.
Just a dream.

But the name echoed still — heavy, strange, almost familiar.

When I finally sat up, my head felt foggy. My hands trembled as i reached for the cup of water on my bedside table. I tried to steady myself, to think about the lesson plans i'd written last night, about school, the children, anything normal.

But my chest hurt.
I didn’t know why.

For the first time since I’d moved to this city, I didn’t leave the house.

I sat by my window, watching the sky shift from pale blue to white. The street outside buzzed with life — the sound of motorbikes, vendors calling, children laughing — but i couldn’t bring myself to move.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw them again.
The courtyard. The laughter. The faceless man watching the woman.
And that voice — calling a name I didn’t know but somehow felt familiar.

As evening crept in, I rested my head against the window frame and whispered to myself, “Who are you, Zahra?”

The silence didn’t answer.
It never did.

********†***********
Heyy.

Chap 4...see ya 💕