HWJN (English 2nd Edition) (11 page)

(16)

Takkaw’s
Devils!

D
r. Abdulraheem Said was a man of logic and science, religious and well mannered—all the characteristics needed to avoid charlatanry. His only flaw was that he was a Human! I hope my honesty does not offend you, but that is the truth: Humans have one main dangerous weakness. Ever since your father Adam came down to Earth, you have been in an eternal battle with Lucifer, who completely understands your weakness and can play it like a guitar. The Holy Quran teaches us the essence of our connection to Allah and our dependence on him, and warns us of polytheism. You consider those warnings a mere tale of extinct nations, and believe you would never make those same mistakes. But reality, unfortunately, proves the opposite.

It is foolish to think polytheism is only prostration to a stone or a cow. Indeed it is a seed in the heart that makes one believe in something other than Allah. That is why our prophet has taught us to pray to Allah that we never face such a trial. It does not come with a sign; it comes hidden and wrapped in religious garb. A polytheist is convinced he is getting closer to Allah by following that idol; he sanctifies and follows the idol blindly, thinking he is a super person who controls people’s fates or livelihoods, or cures their ills, or even controls their
consciences and religion. Dr. Abdulraheem fell onto this dangerous slide; his material needs made him greedy, and he fell for the promises of Mussa Takkaw, the sorcerer who claimed to be a religious man. Thus the doctor’s situation worsened, and he found himself with the choice of sacrificing his daughter’s life and doing what the sorcerer asked.

Jumara’s
screaming had put me on edge. If I moved as fast as I could to Sawsan’s house, I would need at least ten minutes to get there—by then the devil might have claimed this round. The doctor might have slaughter the goat, and then I would have nothing to do for Sawsan other than pray. The house would turn into a colony of devils. I had to get there fast, and Eyad had to follow me. This meant I might have to face the sorcerer alone, but there was no way Eyad could make it there in less than an hour in his car.

I materialized for a moment to open the door, and told Eyad as I was racing off, “Follow me to
Sawsan’s house—fast!”

“I don’t know where her house is!”

I had no time to answer him. I was sure he would find a way. He could call one of her friends to get the address.

In a few moments, I was jumping over the house’s fence and saw a horrible sight! At the doorstep Abu Attiyah stood holding a large envelope, and in front of him the huge African
Mussa Takkaw sat on his knees, sleeves rolled all the way up while holding the goat and pointing his head in the direction opposite to Makkah as he uttered. Next to him was Dr. Abdulraheem holding a knife, and a Marid was there to witness the event

The doctor repeated what the sorcerer was saying.
“In your name, Manan.” This was one of Allah’s ninety-nine names; it meant beneficent. He was using it to make his words sound religious while he mixed in sorcery.

“
Manan, Manan… Nan Nan… By the right of King Haran… Let him send away the haunters of the place, oh Nan, Nan.”

His hands shook, and his eyes were closed. Just as he prepared to pass the knife over the goat’s neck, the villa’s door opened and Sawsan appeared! She stood right in front of her father. Dr. Abdulraheem gasped in fear as she gazed at him.

“Dad,” she said. “This is forbidden!”

I was paralyzed. I didn’t know what to do! If I intervened to stop the doctor by force, the Marid witness would testify that the doctor was willing to give the sacrifice and I had intervened and stopped him.

Abu Attiyah yelled to end this moment of silence: “Sawsan is in the hospital! This is the devil of this place.”

At that same moment the sorcerer picked the knife from the doctor’s hand and attacked
Sawsan—or, more accurately, Jumara, who had taken Sawsan’s form to stop Dr. Abdulraheem. Now I could intervene. Now I had to intervene! I don’t know if you know this, but a soul leaves its body at death in any dimension, even during sleep, so if you dream you’re killed and your soul is convinced this is true, it will not return to your body. This applies to us as well; in fact when we materialize in your world we are much weaker and more prone to injury and death. That’s why I needed Eyad in that moment—to use his body without materializing and losing my powers.

I pushed myself toward the sorcerer, who had pointed the knife at Jumara, but I had only a fraction of a second. How would I save her? How would she return to our world? My movement did not affect Mussa, and Jumara screamed as the knife struck her neck. Then, suddenly, the giant tumbled. Dr. Abdulraheem had pushed him with force, as he could not bear the thought of seeing his daughter slaughtered in front of him—even he was convinced that she was a devil in disguise. Jumara disappeared, and her clothes fell to the ground, as did the knife.

At that point I went mad. I left them and carried Jumara in my arms.

“The wound is not deep, Hawjan,” she said. “Go. Stop them before he slaughters the goat!”

“You are more important,” I responded gently.

“Really?”

She said it as if my words had healed her wound much more than the medicines I gave her and the bandages I expertly wrapped around it. She watched me with a smile of love. Could a passing word do this to her? A moment ago she had been about to get killed because of me, and now she showered me with the love coming from her eyes just because I had made her feel how important she was to me.

“Forgive me, Jumara. I need to go to them. This is my only chance to catch the sorcerer.”

“You don’t need to ask for forgiveness. I am yours, Hawjan!”

I went out of the house only to find the dust trail of Abu
Attiyah’s car rising up into the air. In the distance I recognized Eyad’s car approaching, so I raced to him. I materialized and tried to open the car’s door, but it would not open. I hit the window, making Eyad unlock the door, then opened the door while the car was racing off. Others on the road honked, probably thinking the door opened by malfunction.

“Eyad, are you ready?”

“I haven’t slept in the past twenty-four hours, and I haven’t eaten anything, I’ve been possessed by a Jinni twice, and I’ve swallowed four tramadol, four Tegretol, and three Red Bulls. I think I am pretty much ready.”

He closed his eyes without releasing the steering
wheel, and this time I was able to possess him in an instant. I raced to catch up with Abu Attiyah’s car. I didn’t care about speed limits, traffic lights, or even road directions. I slowed down when I glimpsed his car at the horizon so I could follow him without raising any suspicion, but his’ were raised anyway when he noticed I had been following him for a long time, especially when he went through the mazes of streets in questionable parts of town. Abu Attiyah suddenly took a turn, and when I turned behind him I found myself in a dead-end alley. His car was parked at the end, and the sorcerer was entering a building next to it.

Abu Attiyah tried reversing out of the ally through the narrow space between
Eyad’s car and the wall. I didn’t know how to go backward, so I moved forward to try to make it harder for him to get out. His car scratched Eyad’s and the wall, but he was able to get away. I didn’t waste my time with him, as the sorcerer was more important.

I got out of the car and raced to the building. Just before I got to it, two giants came out, one of which greeted me with a punch in the gut so hard I felt it in my spine. I would have to depend on
Eyad’s athletic body and my visual speed to fight them. I took a defensive stand as the other giant tried to attack me with a second punch. I swiveled to avoid it, and he lost balance for a moment. I focused all my power into my—I mean Eyad’s fist and threw it at the giant’s jaw. I heard the discomforting sound of its bones shattering and saw a bunch of teeth flying out of his torn lips. I looked at Eyad’s fist and found it bleeding, and felt an enormous pain in my hand. I would have to be careful not to destroy Eyad’s body, and not to kill anyone and land him in jail.

The punch struck fear in the other giant, who retreated slowly, but then picked up a steel rod off the ground and waved it around before attacking me. I had no idea what the limits of a Human body were, but I was able to jump over two meters, avoiding the rod. As I came down, I swung my leg, kicking the giant in the face, leaving him deformed like his friend.

I moved into the building and kicked down doors, looking for Mussa Takkaw. I found him sitting and uttering. Around him were a bunch of Marids. The moment they saw me they attacked, and I left Eyad’s body, which fell like a rock. I returned to my world to deal with the Marids.

One of them yelled, “You’ve crossed the line, Human dog!”

There were five or six of them, and they piled up on me. Their leader held me by the throat while the others battered me from every direction. The sorcerer attacked Eyad, choking him while Eyad was barely conscious. At that moment I remembered what King Hayaf had told me about my scream. I remembered my father, Grandfather, Mother’s tears, Sawsan’s pain, and Jumara’s blood, and I screamed from the deepest part of my soul! Then I blacked out. When I woke up, I found the Marids’ bodies scattered around me, and fire everywhere. Eyad was coughing badly, and Mussa Takkaw was making his way out of the fire, his most valuable belongings clutched in his arms.

I shouted at Eyad, “You must focus. I must possess you, otherwise you will suffocate here!”

He was unable to talk, but he nodded. I possessed him in an instant. Though a second ago his body couldn’t move, now it was vibrant. I felt pain in every part of my body from his injuries.

I almost suffocated as I jumped through the fire and smoke to catch Mussa by the back of his neck. As we both fell down a set of stairs, he mumbled, thinking his Marids were still around to help him. I punched him, knocking out some of his teeth; I didn’t see them fly out, but I could clearly see they were missing. He must have swallowed them. He blacked out, and I stuffed him and his things into
Eyad’s car, and grabbed the envelope Abu Attiyah had given him. I then drove him to the last place such a sorcerer would want to see: the nearest office of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice! I dragged him out of the car as the workers there watched in surprise as I dragged this criminal in. I threw him at the front desk and sprinkled his talismans over his head as I said:

“I have overcome a sorcerer warlock by
Gods mercy!”

My statement was all they needed to deal with his likes.

I drove Eyad’s car back to Sawsan’s house. I couldn’t leave Eyad’s body while he was in this critical condition, but I needed to make sure Jumara was okay. I picked up his phone and called Dr. E Z. Jumara answered the call in Arabic just in case I was Eyad or anyone else.

“Jumara?”
Although it was not my voice, she realized I was in Eyad’s body:

“My love, I was so worried about you!”

“Come. I’m outside. I can’t come in while I’m possessing Eyad.”

She came out, and I opened the car door for her. We drove back to
Eyad’s palace, I went in with confidence. The maid opened the door and was shocked when she saw his body covered in blood:

“Mr. Eyad! What happened? I will call doctor for you!”

“No, it’s okay. I’m good. Just make me some dinner.”

I went to
Eyad’s room, set his body on his bed, and left him next to Jumara. He coughed and moaned with pain.

“
Aaah, my head. My hands, my legs. What have you done to me, Hawjan?”

The maid came in with the dinner tray and set it on his desk.

“Just bring it over here,” he said. “I can’t even move!"

The maid set the food tray next o his bed and left the room, and Eyad shouted, “
Haaawwwwjjjaaannn, are you here? Speak!”

“Sure, I’m here,” I replied, “and I have Jumara with me.”

“Hi, Jumara. Can you see what your husband has done to me?”

Jumara smiled as she felt her own wound. “What he’s done to both of us. I too got injured today.”

“That’s okay. As long as the car is okay.”

“
Mmmm. About the car… I think it was injured as well.”

“Really?
No! Nooo! Not my Lamborghini!”

“Eyad, thank you for your chivalry.
No one would do all of this for someone he has no relationship with!”

“Of course I would do this and more for Sawsan.
My future bride!”

(17)

Would You Marry Me?

A
scorpion will only strike you if you get close to it and it feels endangered, but this is not the case with a Human scorpion. He will come close to you and sting you if he feels safe, to gain personal interests at the cost of your life! Abu Attiyah was a Human scorpion that lived amongst you; he coated his poison with sweet words before he emptied his stinger and then fled to look for his next victim.

While Eyad surrendered to deep sleep, Jumara and I thought about the best way to get Dr.
Abdulraheem’s money back. I opened the envelope I had taken from Mussa and found seven hundred and fifty thousand Saudi riyals inside—half the amount the doctor was supposed to hand over. Abu Attiyah must have been fooling the doctor, as he had taken half the amount for himself. In any case I still could not figure out how I would give the doctor his money back. I could easily put it on his bed, but that would confirm what Abu Attiyah had been telling him—that the house was haunted—and throw him under the mercy of a second imposter. Should I send it with Eyad? No, no. I did not want the doctor to know Eyad had anything to do with this Jinn business.

We left Eyad asleep and returned to our home. From there I noticed the living room lights in the
house were on, and I was afraid Abu Attiyah had returned to the doctor. I went closer and heard the doctor; he was praying, asking Allah for forgiveness and to help his daughter. Truly Allah had saved him from the catastrophe of polytheism. Thank Allah that Jumara had been there and been able to stop him.

I did not talk much about Sawsan out of respect for
Jumara’s feelings. But I failed to hold my tears when I saw her enter her house for the first time after waking from her coma. Even Jumara was a little choked up. Sawsan could barely walk; she leaned on her father and mother. When she entered her room, which they had cleaned for her, the first thing she saw was her tablet. She looked the other way and said to Hattan while pointing at it, “Please take my tablet with you. Let me rest. I’m so tired and need to rest.”

Everyone left her room. I pulled Jumara by her shoulders, and we went out the window. I watched Sawsan come toward it with clumsy steps and slam it shut instead of singing to her flowers, which had paled in her absence.

“Hawjan, we must find a cure for Sawsan’s illness,” Jumara said. I was too sad to answer her, so she went on. “What do you think of negotiating with King Hayaf to send the Marids of Morocco? They might help her.”

“God is more merciful to her than we are, and He
is the one who can cure, her not King Hayaf.”

Eyad’s
phone rang. It seemed he was getting better, and he asked me to come. Jumara refused to leave my side for an instant after all that had happened, so we went to him together.

Eyad had left the door open as usual, and I found him on the phone.

“Yes, sir, the address is clear. Thanks a million, sir. Throw me in jail if I turn out to be a liar. Yes, I am prepared! Thank you very much.”

He ended the call and wrote down an address.

“Eyad, who was that?” My voice did not startle him, as he had been expecting me.

“Come. Let me explain what I plan to do to this scum Abu Attiyah!”

Eyad was one of the few who did not acknowledge the impossible. He had gone through all of his contacts until he’d found an investigation officer; Eyad had told him about Abu Attiyah and asked for his help to find his address from his phone number—after promising to hand over evidence to incriminate him.

“Hawjan, we must make sure Dr. Abdulraheem is totally out of the picture,” he went on. “All we need to do is pay a nice visit to Abu Attiyah, take the rest of the money, and pick a piece of evidence that incriminates him so the police can throw him in jail.”

“How nice. It’s that easy? And how do you propose we do all of that?”

“Very easy.
You possess him!”

Eyad’s
plan was truly brilliant. The address didn’t give the exact house where Abu Attiyah was staying, but we got to the street near his home. Eyad turned off his car’s headlights.

“His house is supposed to be somewhere here,” he said.
“Go on, Hawjan. Do your thing.”

I searched for Abu
Attiyah’s car, but it was not among those parked on the street. I searched in the parking lots of the buildings and found it; I could make it out easily from the scratches on both sides. I also found out his apartment number from where it was parked. I went back to Eyad’s car.

“That building, the one with two palms in front of it,” I said.

Luckily the kitchen window was open, and we went through it. We found Abu Attiyah in his living room, sitting on the couch watching a stupid show and smoking a hookah. Jumara formed, as we had agreed, right behind him, and calmly whispered into his ear.

“You want to kill me? How dare you?”

Clearly frightened, he turned his head and saw her face, which almost froze his heart. It was Sawsan’s face! Jumara, who had formed as Sawsan, looked directly into his eyes. He could not contain himself and started shouting hysterically. Jumara forced her hand onto his mouth to shut him up.

I had to move now; this was the best moment for me to possess him! His violet energy was gone because of his fear I had to take its place before he fainted. I tried controlling his body, and he started to shake. But I had to control him no matter the cost! I focused and his shake dissipated. I stood up while leaning on the couch, set the hookah back up, and gathered the hot coal with his hands, ignoring the pain. To hell with him! Jumara came back to our world, and we both started to look for the money.

Then the bedroom door opened, and his wife came out rubbing her eyes and asking, “What are these sounds? Were you yelling at someone on the phone?”

“Go back to bed. Nothing happened,” I told her through Abu
Attiyah’s body.

“What are you looking for?”

I had no idea if he had told her about the money, but this was my only chance—and again, to hell with him!

“The money I brought last week. I forgot where I put it.”

“Seriously, every since you brought that money home, your mind has left your head! Did you not say you paid it to that agent to buy the plot?”

“Okay, okay. Go back to sleep now. I’m expecting a visitor!”

Thankfully she did not suspect a thing as she slammed the door behind her. I opened the front door for Jumara, and she went outside to call Eyad. A short while later he knocked the door, and was surprised when Abu Attiyah answered it.

I whispered to him, “It is me, Hawjan! Come in quickly.”

“Did you find the money?” he asked, also keeping his voice low.

“There’s no time for the money. Just start filming.”

He focused his phone’s camera on the chair in which I sat, to film the scene that would incriminate Abu Attiyah. He set it in a way to make it seem as if Abu Attiyah did not know someone was filming him, and I started talking to an imaginary person.

“Abu
Attiyah’s word is never broken! Fifty-fifty. Each of us will take seven hundred and fifty thousand, and if he ever brings the rest, we will split it. Tomorrow we will bring the goat, and you prepare the hex. We’ll let him slaughter the goat and bury the hex in the yard, and spill its blood at the entrance and—”

Eyad stopped filming on purpose, to make it seem as if the person filming had gotten scared. I returned to the couch where Abu Attiyah had been sitting when we’d come in, and relaxed to leave his body. He was in a coma when we went toward the door. Crazy Eyad had to go back to slap him and kick him in the gut. Then Eyad rushed to the door.

“I couldn’t resist,” he said. “I wish I could kill the scumbag.”

Eyad did exactly as he had promised the investigation officer—he handed over the evidence to incriminate Abu Attiyah, then uploaded the video of him negotiating with the sorcerer onto YouTube with a temporary account, and gave it a nice scandalous title to make sure he had no way to escape. What I did not understand was how he was able to hand the envelope to the officer with the full amount in it—one and a half million riyals. Eyad asked the officer to give it to Dr. Abdulraheem, as it had been found on the sorcerer who had admitted to his crime. The officer respected
Eyad’s wishes not to get Dr. Abdulraheem involved in any interrogation. Eyad was truly amazing. Sawsan would have been lucky to have him.

I felt at ease now that this business with the sorcerer and Abu Attiyah was over and the doctor got his money back. After a few days, Eyad called upon Jumara and me to help him with a personal matter.

“Hawjan? Jumara? Are you here?” he called outside our room.

“What happened? You got us worried!” I said, inviting him in.

“I’m as strong as a horse! I just need Jumara’s help on a crucial matter.”

“What can I do for you Eyad?” she asked.

“I need you to help me propose to Sawsan.”

“What?”

“First let me show you a video clip of my mother.”

“Why?”

“I guess if you can form in any shape, it would be easy for you to imitate voices.”

In most of the Arabian world, you need to propose through the family. First the mothers get to know each other, and if they feel like their kids are a good match, they offer their opinion and introductions, and if everything goes smoothly then the fathers get involved.

Eyad was in possession of two dangerous traits: cunning and recklessness. He wanted Jumara to call as his mother and propose for him! Jumara was so happy about this; she would no longer need to worry about my love for Sawsan. Or, at least, she would push a real knight into Sawsan’s life. Someone who deserved her more than I did; someone who would force me to move aside and admit defeat, and forced me to forget her.

Eyad was amazed when he heard Jumara imitate his mother’s voice. “Wow, you sound just like her! I wish we could pull a few pranks on Father.
Maybe some other time. Now let’s call Sawsan.”

“But I don’t know what to say,” Jumara told him.

“Simple. Each of us will wear a headset, and I’ll whisper to you what to say.”

Eyad went away for a moment, and came back with an old phone. “This is my mother’s spare phone. We’ll call from this phone and turn it off afterward.”

As Eyad called Sawsan’s number, my hearts was full of butterflies Sawsan did not answer, so he repeated the call, and just as he was about to give up, she answered, sounding confused as she did not know the number.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“Hello. I am Manal Al-Aqeel, Eyad Al-Zaydi’s mother. Is this Sawsan?” said Jumara as Eyad whispered to her.

“Hi, Aunt,” Sawsan replied as a sign of respect and indicating that she was like family. “How are you?”

“I’m great. I hope you’re feeling better. Sorry, I wanted to call your mother and could not find her number. Can I please talk to her?”

As Sawsan went to call her mother, I got a bit more nervous.

“Hello?” Mrs. Raja said at last.

“Hello,” said Jumara. “How are you, Um Hattan?
”,

Um meant ‘Mother of’ as a lady in the Arabian world would be called out as the mother of her eldest son.

“I am well. Nice to meet you.”

“How is Sawsan doing? I hope she’s getting better.”

“We pray to Allah every day. Thank you for asking.”

“I don’t want to take too much of your time, but honestly we have heard lots of good things about you, and we would love to come ask for
Sawsan’s hand, for her to marry my son Eyad. He is her colleague at school, and he can’t stop talking about her.”

Sawsan’s
mother froze for a moment. This was a sensitive moment in any mother’s life. This call would change her daughter from a child to a woman with an independent life.

“I really don’t know what to tell you,” she finally said. “We would be honored, but you know
Sawsan’s situation, and—”

Jumara cut her off—actually Eyad did. “By Allah’s mercy Sawsan will get better, and we just want to make your acquaintance.”

“Okay. I also need to ask her father and her, but you are more than welcome to visit us at any time.”

Eyad had not expected this to move so fast, but he came up with the next step and whispered it to Jumara. “We would love to visit you, but I’m calling from France.
Eyad’s father and I will return in two months. Can I ask Eyad to visit you with his cousin? We will surely visit you to check up on Sawsan the moment we are back.”

“You are all welcome at any time.”

“Can they come next Wednesday after sunset?”

“They will be our honored guests.”

The call ended, and we all released sighs.

After that, days passed by so fast, and Wednesday came before we knew it. We went to Eyad almost an hour early and found him in a white, traditional Saudi
thob (that is like a long shirt, almost like a dress) and a white ghoutrah (a head scarf). This was the first time I had seen him in formal dress, and it made him look even more prestigious and handsome.