I didn't snap until one of the guys said,
"Where's Ahmed?"
...................
I shot back right away, "First off, where's Khalid?"
One of the guys pointed me to the room Khalid always slept in.
That's when I started running. The guys were asking me, "What's up? What's going on?" I went into the room and Khalid was asleep. I went over to him and gave him the hardest slap you could possibly give a sleeping person. He jumped out of bed, startled, and started looking around everywhere. He looked at me, then at the guys standing by the door, who were totally weirded out by what I'd done. Then he looked at me, stunned, like it was just hitting him, and said, "What are you doing here?"
I said with a laugh, "Well, hey there! My bad, woke you up by mistake!"
He glared at me and said, "Get lost!"
I couldn't hold back then. I grabbed the glass that was on the table and smashed it over his head.
I felt this rush of happiness when I saw the blood pouring from his head and his screams filling the place.
Some of the guys crowded around Khalid, and the rest grabbed me and pulled me out. They started yelling at me. I was laughing my head off, a totally hysterical laugh.
The guys started getting scared of me. They backed away and started whispering, "Man, what is this guy drinking?"
Then one of the guys came over and said, "Dude, don't just drink anything you find lying around. We're in America, man. Be careful!"
I looked at him and said, "You be careful what you say, or I'll bury you alive!"
He got scared and shut up, then pulled himself away and left. Everyone went quiet. Some of them went over to Khalid to see what happened to him.
Time passed, and then one of the guys came over and was talking to the rest of them. He said, "Hey everyone, call Mashari. Get him to come over. He's the only one who knows how to handle this crazy guy."
(He meant me.)
(Mashari is a good guy, got a pure heart. He lives with us in the apartment, and honestly, he's the only one I can vent to and tell everything that's on my mind. He listens and understands me. And whenever he sees me sad, he turns that sadness into happiness. Just seeing him is happiness.)
I felt sleepy right then and fell asleep right where I was. I woke up to Mashari's voice trying to wake me up, saying, "Faisal, get up. Faisal."
And one of the guys was telling him, "Be careful with him. You saw what he did to Khalid."
Mashari looked at me and said, "Faisal, what's up, man?"
I said, "Nothing, I'm fine!"
He said, "Okay, where's Ahmed...?"
I said, "Ask the donkey named Khalid!"
He said, "How would Khalid know? And why did you do that to him?"
I said, "He knows!"
He said, "Man, I'm asking you and you're telling me to ask Khalid, and 'he knows'!"
After Mashari trying to get me to tell him everything... I told him everything, from the start of the story until I got back to the place...
After Mashari tried to get me to tell him everything...?
I told him everything from the start of the story until I got back to the place.
...............
Mashari's face didn't exactly show he believed what I was saying, but he was trying to make me think he did. Then he said he was gonna go to sleep.
I grabbed him and said, "I just spent an hour telling you the story, and now you're gonna go to sleep?!"
He said, faking it, "Okay, so where do we look for Ahmed? You know the place?"
I went quiet and didn't answer him, I was so mad at him.
He got up and went to his room, and I just sat alone in the living room with the guys – some were asleep, some were on their beds, some were messing with their phones. Basically, everyone was in their own world.
Time passed, and my head was pounding from thinking about Ahmed's situation and how I could possibly help him, and these guys weren't even believing me.
A little while later, Khalid came out of the room. He had his head wrapped in bandages and was holding his head with his hand. He looked at me with contempt, then went to the kitchen. He came back, and before he went back into the room, I said to him, "Why are you doing all this to me...?"
He pointed to his head and said, "And why did you do this to me...?"
I said, "No, seriously... I didn't kill anyone in your family for you to take me to a place haunted by جن (jinn)!"
He said, "Honestly, Faisal, I can't stand being in the same house as you anymore. And from what I heard, that place either makes you crazy or makes you kill yourself, but honestly, it just made you crazy. And I wish you'd kill yourself, seriously, you'd be doing me a favor."
I looked at him with hate and said, "Okay, fine. The hate between us is just getting bigger and bigger, to the point you want me dead. Okay, whatever, but what's poor Ahmed got to do with it?"
He said, "Look, I like that kid, but what could I do for him? I warned him and he didn't listen. And if I'd gotten him out by force, you would have suspected something!"
I said, pissed off, "God take you! And this is you liking him?!"
He laughed, a laugh that just made me angrier. I said, "Get lost, seriously, or I'll kill you. Nobody's gonna save you from me this time!"
He said mockingly, "You? Kill me? Okay, come on, show me!"
I started getting nervous, but my tension eased up a lot when I saw Mashari, who looked shocked. Mashari said, "Khalid, is what I heard true...?"
Khalid told him, "Nah, relax, I was just messing with him, playing dumb!"
Mashari said, "You're taking me to that place right now?"
Khalid started looking at Mashari scared.
Mashari said, "Seriously, Faisal's story is true!"
Khalid said, "Dude, you believe things too easily!"
Mashari said, "No, I just got online and typed in 'story of the farm where the grandfather and his grandsons died on the same day,' and the description that Faisal gave popped up. I was just coming to ask you what happened to double-check, but okay, you just saved me the trouble and confirmed that the story is real!"
Khalid scratched his head and started looking at the ground.
Mashari was yelling at Khalid, and I wasn't even paying attention. Ever since I left that place, I've been feeling something... something around me. I even felt like I wanted to throw up. I got up, and Mashari was still yelling at Khalid. I went to the bathroom to try and throw up. I looked at myself in the mirror, but... it wasn't me...
In the mirror was someone else, an old man. His features looked a lot like Ahmed's. I turned my face away, I couldn't look anymore.
And I kept saying and repeating, "No, no, I'm just imagining things because I'm thinking about Ahmed so much." I turned to see if the mirror was still showing the man?
I turned back because I was freaked out. But what was that?
Something was written on the wall in English: "Jack and Sam." And it was written in red, looked like blood. I went crazy, lost it completely. But I wish it had stopped there. The power went out. From fear, I put my hands over my eyes so I wouldn't see, and the place was already dark!
And I leaned against the wall, remembering God. I heard someone sigh, like they were right next to me, that's how loud the sigh was.
He was whispering in my ear and saying, "Don't think." And he'd sigh and finish, "Don't ever think about going to the farm." And he kept repeating, "Don't try to go." And I still had my hands over my eyes and was remembering God. Then the power came back on, and I ran and opened the bathroom door like a maniac and bolted out until I bumped into one of the guys named Abdulaziz. He said to me, "Whoa there, what's up? What's got you in such a hurry?"
I was out of breath and said, "Did the power go out?"
He told me, "No, the power didn't go out!"
And he left me and went to the bathroom...
At that moment, I was sure that what I saw was some kind of magic that only I could see. But I found out that wasn't true when Abdulaziz called out to me and said, "Faisal, what's this written on the wall?"
Then he said, "And who are Jack and Sam...?"
I went over to him, and those two names were actually there. I looked at the mirror, and thanked God I could see myself again!
I asked Abdulaziz, "Where's Mashari?" He shocked me by saying, "He left with Khalid. He said he was going to..."
I said, "The farm..."
He told me, "Yeah, yeah, the farm!"
That's when I remembered that moment when the power went out in the bathroom and the thing that came to me in the bathroom said, "Don't try to go." He must have said that because something is going to happen.
I got angry and started yelling, "Why is all this happening to me? What did I do?"
I got pissed off and started yelling, "Why is all this happening to me?! What did I do?!"
.................
Abdulaziz and I left the house. I let Abdulaziz drive 'cause I was tired and dizzy. The whole way, Abdulaziz kept saying, "Why are we going out at this hour?"
It was 7 AM, and the sun was already up. (Man, I didn't expect to be up this late.) We were obviously heading to the farm.
I found the way online and showed it to Abdulaziz. It was gonna be a while before we got there, but the thought that it was daytime made me feel better. Even with how tired I was, I couldn't keep myself awake and fell asleep...
I woke up to Abdulaziz's voice telling me, "Get up, we're at the place you wanted to go." I got out of the car, looked around, and it was the same place I'd been before. Abdulaziz looked at me and said, "It's all trees. What do you wanna do here?"
I said, "Just follow me." I walked through the trees to get to the farm, and after a bit, we got there. It looked different than it did at night.
I yelled out, "Mashari!"
Abdulaziz said, "This is the farm Mashari and Khalid went to?!"
I said, "Yeah."
He said, "Dude, you don't have to go everywhere they go!"
I said, "Just be quiet, seriously. And besides, logically, would I wear myself out and come here just to go where they go?"
He said, "Okay, then why are you here...?"
I said, "So nothing happens to them. And more importantly, for Ahmed."
He went quiet after that, and I went to look for Mashari and Khalid. After I gave up hope of finding them, I thought to myself (Maybe they didn't even come.)
I went looking for Ahmed everywhere, and time passed until I was tired. I was heading back to Abdulaziz, who was sitting far away, looking at the place. But this time he wasn't alone. He was talking to the little girl. Yeah, the one I saw the first time I came to this place. I saw her and ran toward them and yelled, "Abdulaziz, don't let her leave!" Abdulaziz looked confused.
I got to them, and the girl stood in front of me and said, "Hahahaha, I won't try to go, but you..."
I got nervous, especially since I knew what she was. Of course, since we're Muslims, we know there's no such thing as spirits, that spirits are with God. But we do know about something called jinn! Jinn that can shapeshift, hurt people, do magic. I started reading Ayat al-Kursi out loud. I noticed the girl moving back little by little. I stopped reading just to catch my breath and keep going, but she took her chance. She ran toward me, grabbed my hands, and bit me. I screamed. She was tearing at my flesh and eating. Yeah, eating. And blood was spraying everywhere. I started screaming and crying from the pain...
..................
I screamed. She was tearing at my flesh and eating. Yeah, eating. And blood was spraying everywhere.
I started screaming and crying from the pain.
..................
I fell to my knees, and she was still eating.
Abdulaziz was standing there, stunned by what he was seeing.
He snapped out of his shock and hit her on the head with a rock. And then the girl ran off, spitting out the blood she had in her mouth. I grabbed my bleeding hand with my other hand, hoping to stop the blood, but it was pouring out between my fingers. Ah, the pain was unbearable. Abdulaziz sat down in front of me, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around my hand. He said, "I'll go get the wound disinfectant from the car right now and come back and get you, and we'll get out of here!"
I nodded my head at him, meaning (Don't go, Abdulaziz), but he got up and ran off. I just sat there fighting for my life, my blood everywhere around me. Two wounds, one on my hand and the other in my heart!
My cell phone rang. It was in my pocket. I was in pain and couldn't get it out. But wait... what's this? Seriously? There's reception in this place?
No, no way. I took it out and looked at the caller ID, and that's when I was shocked...? The name was "Your Double." No, no way. I don't remember saving this number or writing this name for anyone I know... Wait... wait... there's no number, just a name?
I forgot about the pain in my injured hand, especially since there was no reception on the phone. I threw my phone as hard as I could, hoping to break it and get rid of what I was seeing, but the screen just cracked, and it was still working and still ringing. I started screaming and calling out to Abdulaziz: "Abdulaziz! Abdulaziz!"
Wait... I hear someone calling me...? No, no, that's not Abdulaziz's voice. It was a hoarse voice, and I heard it close to me. I looked at the phone, and that's when I was surprised... The voice was actually coming from the phone. Who is this "Your Double" person?
I didn't answer the call, how was the sound coming from the phone...? He was calling me, "Faisal."
My tongue was tied, and I couldn't say a word. And then he said, "It's better if I come to you, right?"
As soon as he said that, I started looking around everywhere. From fear and moving around so much, I hit my injured hand hard against my leg, and it started bleeding again. I screamed "Aaahh!" and started crying tears of pain.
But at that moment, I felt someone behind me. I was gonna turn around and see who it was, but something was stopping me, I don't know why.
But I felt relieved when I heard Abdulaziz's voice saying to me, "Why are you crying?"
I didn't answer him because his question was beyond stupid!
And then he sat down behind me and grabbed my injured hand and said, "It's not the first time I've seen you, but it's the first time you've seen me...?"
Right away, I turned my face, and that's when I saw something I hadn't seen in all the years I'd lived, something that froze my limbs...
From fear, I got up and ran and ran and didn't look back. I was running through the trees toward the road where we parked the car, hoping to find Abdulaziz. And my injured hand was hitting the trees and bleeding, but I didn't stop. I was running and seeking refuge in God. What I saw was disgusting and terrifying. The body was Abdulaziz's body, and even the hair was Abdulaziz's hair, but the face, God protect us. Finally, I reached the road where we parked. But wait... where's the car?
No, no way. Abdulaziz wouldn't leave me. There's no way he'd do that. Khalid did it, and I let it go 'cause he hates me, but Abdulaziz... I'm sure it's a dream... You know that feeling when you live with someone you love and who loves you, and the moment you need someone, they leave you.
Anyway, I felt that feeling, and there was something else telling me, "No way, this is your friend, he wouldn't do that."
And in an instant, I heard a sound behind me. I turned around, scared, and it was that thing with the terrifying face. And as soon as I saw it, I broke down and sat on my knees, saying, "Fear God in me! You've ruined me and fried my nerves!"
It smiled at me, a smile that made its face even more hideous, and said, "I am your double, and the jinn who live on the farm asked me to get rid of you because they can't hurt you any more than this, and they can't get you away from their home. And since I am your double, I advise you to leave this place, or their strongest devils will get you and won't leave you until you're dead."
It went quiet and stared at me, and then it turned and walked away. Can you imagine... I wanted to ask it a lot of things, but, I kept telling myself (No, I've definitely gone crazy.) I won't lie and say I wasn't scared of it, but I think I'd seen worse.
And minute after minute passed, and hour after hour, and I was in the same position, scared and thinking, until I saw Abdulaziz coming, running through the trees in the opposite direction of the farm. He stopped running and looked at me, smiling. That's when I got up quickly and backed away and said, "Are you Abdulaziz?"
He looked surprised and said, "Can't you see...?"
I said, "Swear you're Abdulaziz."
He said, "I swear I'm Abdulaziz. What's wrong with you?"
He looked at me, smiling. I got up quickly and backed away and said, "Are you Abdulaziz?"
He looked surprised and said, "Can't you see...?"
I said, "Swear you're Abdulaziz."
He said, "I swear I'm Abdulaziz. What's wrong with you?"
..................
Right then, I ran to him and hugged him and said, "So you didn't leave me?"
He looked surprised and said, "Why would I leave you? Am I crazy? And besides, you idiot, why did you come here? Man, I got tired looking for you, God forgive you. And look at your hand, you jerk, the wound got way bigger than before, what did you do...?"
I said, "Forget all that talk and cussing, and answer me, where'd you take the car?"
He said, "I didn't take it anywhere. That's why I took so long, because I was looking for it. It's really weird!"
Then he gasped and said, "Man, when I went to look for you, I decided to go into the shack. I thought maybe I'd find you in there. And while I was looking in the shack, I passed by a room that was open, and there was someone sleeping in it. And that person was Ahmed. And I was about to go in and wake him up, but an old man who looked like Ahmed came up behind me and grabbed me and told me, all angry, 'Get out of this shack and don't let me see you again!' I told him, 'This is my friend,' but he kept repeating, 'This is my son, not your friend.' And I left after I lost hope, but seriously, Faisal, it was Ahmed, I'm sure of it. And besides, Faisal, you didn't tell me that the house had people in it. Man, I was so embarrassed, God forgive you...?"
I said, "Seriously...? Let's go to the shack right now!"
Abdulaziz started yelling at me and saying things like "You want us to go into someone's house?" and all that.
And in the moments he was yelling, Abdulaziz suddenly went quiet... and started looking behind me. I got scared and slowly turned my head to see what had caught his attention, and that's when I was shocked.....?
I saw my little brother? And he was pointing to the road that leads us out of this place?
Abdulaziz said, surprised, "Doesn't that look like your brother whose picture you showed us...?"
I said, "That's not just like him, it is him!"
Abdulaziz said, "So your family is living in America now, or what...?"
I screamed, "No, no!"
And I turned to see what he was doing, and he was... in the same position. Then he said in that childish voice I hadn't heard in a long time, "Faisal, this is the road that will take you out of our home!"
And he went quiet... And then he said, "We don't want anything from you!"
And then he just stared at us, silent, as if he was waiting for us to leave. Of course, there's no way I'm going back after all this, and I'm not leaving without Ahmed. Abdulaziz yelled, "Man, explain to me what's going on here! My brain is messed up, seriously! And God knows I don't want to scare you, but I have a feeling this place isn't a place for us humans...?"
I said, "You got it!"
He looked at me scared and said, "What do you mean...? What are you getting at...?"
I said, "I'll explain later!"
And I turned back to see where my brother, or my brother's double, was, but... he wasn't there. He disappeared, but I heard his laughter close to me. And I turned, and he was standing next to me, smiling at me and telling me, "I love you, Fisooli..."
That's when I went crazy. I pushed Abdulaziz, who was standing next to me, and walked away, saying defiantly, "I know you're not my brother, and I know you just want to get me out. And I'm not leaving here without Ahmed. Got it? Ahmed is my friend, and I'm not leaving him. Besides, Ahmed hasn't done anything to you. What do you want with him? May you all go to hell!"
My brother's double smiled at me and said in a childish way, "I'm your brother. Why are you yelling at me?!"
I said, "I know you're planning to take advantage of the fact that I'm an expat and I miss my family, but seriously, nothing will weaken me, nothing will stand in my way, and no one will harm me unless God wills it!"
The expression on my brother's double's face started to change from a smile to a frown and anger.
And he walked away between the trees until he disappeared from our sight. Abdulaziz looked at me, came over to me, grabbed my hand, and whispered angrily, "You're gonna tell me what's going on right now, or I'll kill you!"
I pushed him away and said with a laugh, "It's not that serious!" He said, "No, seriously, my brain is messed up!"
I said, "Okay, okay, fine. Look at my hand, it really hurts... Ow."
He said, "You're talking with your mouth, not your hand!" I ignored him and sat on the ground, holding my hand. Man, the wound is really getting bigger every moment. It looks gross. I was really disgusted by my hand. After about fifteen minutes of just staring at my hand, Abdulaziz yelled, "Dude, I'm tired!"
And he was walking back and forth on the road.
I said, "Okay, sit down."
He said angrily, "No, I don't want to. And it's up to me if I sit down or not!"
I looked at him and said, "Whoa, what's up? Why are you so mad?"
He said with the same anger, "Because I realized I was an idiot for coming with you!"
I said, "Okay, my dear Abdulaziz, go ahead and leave me alone. And hopefully nothing stops you!"
He said angrily, "I wanna call someone to pick me up from this gloomy place, but my phone was in the car, and the car disappeared or got stolen!"
I said, "Don't worry about it. Get out of this place and go to the main road and flag down a car passing by and have them take you home, just like I did. It's simple!"
He said, "Seriously, give me your phone."
I said, "My phone's at the farm."
He said, "And what's it doing at the farm, I hope?!"
I said, "Whatever, I broke it!"
Abdulaziz grabbed his head and started pacing back and forth, repeating, "Why did I come out with this crazy guy?"
And then Abdulaziz gasped and said, practically jumping with joy, "Faisal! Faisal! Look, the car is over there between the trees!"
I looked where he was pointing, and it was actually there. But I swear to God, it wasn't here before. God help me, they're messing with my head. To be honest, I wasn't happy at all because I didn't want to leave without Ahmed. As I was looking at the car and thinking, Abdulaziz pulled me by the hand, got me up, and said, "Come on, come on, let's go!"
I sighed and said, "What about Ahmed...?"
He told me, "If he gets bored, he'll go home by himself. Nobody has to bring him."
I yelled in his face, "Man, understand! Jinn! Jinn! Jinn!"
He looked at me, stunned, and stammered, "Uh... what jinn?"
I said, all angry, "This place has jinn, and they took Ahmed! You get it or not...?"
He started looking at the ground. I felt his behavior had changed, and I started thinking. And after thinking, I decided and said, "Abdulaziz, okay, let's go now. But I'm coming back, got it?!"
I was waiting for Abdulaziz to tell me "Let's go" or "Come on," but he didn't answer me, didn't pay attention to me, didn't even look at me. It was like I was talking to a wall or in a language he didn't understand.
I yelled at him, "Abdulaziz! I'm talking to you?!"
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