Al Nadaha - Book cover

Al Nadaha

Aya Sherif

Chapter 2

LAYLA

A smile made its way to my lips as we finally reached the countryside. It stretched before us like a great quilt of golden, brown, and green squares.

It always had a unique way of making me feel at peace. The blustering wind, the fresh air, the clear sky, the radiant sun, and the chanting of birds. They all seemed like a hymn sung straight to my soul.

Plus, the people there were really kind and sincere. They had never been interested in judging one another and couldn’t care less about politics, which always seemed to be the biggest concern in our country.

They weren’t troubled by anything that was outside of their little bubble.

They dealt with life day by day, only caring about getting enough clean money for the simplest necessities of existence, like feeding themselves and raising their children in peace.

Finally putting the car into park, a smile automatically found its way to my lips as I looked at the house that witnessed some of my best childhood memories.

Taking a glance at my mother, I found that she was smiling at me without uttering a word.

“What?” I questioned, looking at her with a smirk on my face.

“Nothing.” She shook her head, her smile never wavering. “But it feels so good to see you smiling again.”

My smile dropped a fraction when I remembered the amount of distress I had caused her.

I hated how she had to tolerate so many burdens for my sake, especially in the past couple of weeks when I was the worst version of myself.

My father died when I was in high school, and since that day, my mother had been the only source of stability I had in this world.

She was the rock that stood firm in the chaotic storm that followed his death. She was my strength and the only reason I kept fighting when it felt like I had lost all the will left in me.

I owed her everything, and that was why I couldn’t let that bastard get the best of me. I needed to bounce back from this. I had to—for my mother, and myself…

I let out a soft chuckle. “I know my smile is far too bright for this world, but we really need to get going. Don’t want to keep Grandma waiting, do we?”

She giggled. “Yeah, she must have prepared a feast for us, and we will be in a lot of trouble if the food gets cold.”

We both got out of the car and walked straight toward the house. We didn’t have a chance to knock on the door as we were immediately met with the brightest of smiles from my beloved grandmother.

Her gray eyes lit up with their usual warmness that always used to bring me peace. Her white hair was well-hidden under her headscarf, only a few strands going rogue by sneaking out of it.

And I never got tired of studying the many wrinkles on her face that were the map of her soul, showing the many paths she took through her long and fascinating life.

Wrapping my arms around her in the tightest of hugs, I felt my eyes stinging as I buried my face in her shoulders. I didn’t need to utter a word as the hug itself said so many words at once.

We pulled apart, and she held my face in her hands, smiling widely. “I missed you so much, Layla.”

“Me too, Grandma,” I spoke up, smiling warmly at her. Then my smile turned into a little frown. “I don’t really get why you’re refusing to live with us in the city.”

She chuckled quietly. “And leave here? My home? Your grandpa’s home?” Her smile had a bittersweet nature. “I can never do that. I would like to breathe my last breath within these walls.”

“Come on, don’t talk like that, Mom,” my mother interrupted, stepping closer and hugging my grandmother tightly.

Although she was her mother-in-law, my mother never called her anything but Mom. And she was used to taking care of her, before and after my father’s death.

“This is nothing out of ordinary, Lubna.” My grandmother let out a sad chuckle and shrugged. “This is just the cycle of life.”

Her tone broke my heart, so I decided to change the subject quickly. “Well, enough with that talk. I’m really starving, and my stomach is already starting to make noise.”

I made a sad face that made both of them chuckle. And with that, the three of us stepped inside the house.

No matter how many times I had walked into this house, I always felt my breath being taken away at first glance.

And I couldn’t help but think about all the important, historical events that the house stood tall through. Occupation, the country’s transition from monarchy to a republic, war.

It was as if I had traveled into the past—to an era that was so elegant, so simple despite all the complicated events that were taking place at that point in history.

We had dinner together, and as usual, my grandmother prepared a dozen different kinds of dishes for our sake. And the food couldn’t have been more delicious.

After that, we chattered about how life was treating all of us and how it wasn’t being very kind to me.

“I loathed that idiot from the very first moment. He was too low for you, my dear,” my grandmother commented on Karim, my ex-fiancé from hell.

“Yeah, I guess I really should have seen it coming from miles away.” I plastered on a smile that I knew wasn’t very convincing as I saw pity in their eyes.

I didn’t like where the conversation was heading, so I decided to change the subject. “So, Grandma, the chief editor of the magazine I work for asked me to write a story on a very peculiar subject.”

She raised her eyebrows in question.

I smirked before I continued. “He asked me to write about Al Nadaha.”

I watched as her face went a few shades paler and her eyes widened a fraction. She succeeded in covering the change of expressions quickly, and I wouldn’t have noticed it if I had blinked.

She tried to force out a little smile my way, but I was able to tell that it wasn’t genuine.

“Interesting subject,” she finally muttered.

Studying her for a few seconds, I wasn’t able to figure out the reason behind her mood switch. There was definitely something off with her, but I wasn’t quite sure if it was mere surprise or fear.

“I thought you could help me with it. I don’t believe there’s anybody who knows about those old tales more than you,” I said, still keeping my eyes on her, waiting for any reaction.

She looked at me for a good minute with a stony expression before she finally spoke up. “That damned creature terrorized this village for decades, and it caused so much agony.”

She paused for a few moments, looking quite distant.

“There’s something that I haven’t told anybody before; something that happened a really long time ago. Something that proves the horrors that damned creature can do.”

Her eyes looked very sad as if they were affected by whatever memory that haunted her. I looked at her with interest, all ears to hear what she was about to say to unfold a piece of the mystery.

“My sister, Amina—

I interrupted her. “Your sister? I never knew you had a sister.” I looked at her with a bewildered face.

She let out a small smile, but I could tell it was a bitter one. “She was my older sister, and she died before I met your grandfather. I really don’t like opening that subject up. It’s just too painful.”

“How did it happen?” I found myself asking, and it earned me a glare from my mother who was watching our conversation in silence.

My grandmother smiled bitterly again, and I noticed that her bottom lip was trembling. And she clasped her hands together tightly. “I guess I better start from the beginning.”

Giving her a nod, I waited for her to continue.

“It was in the summer of 1956 when the man Amina had loved all her life asked for her hand in marriage and our father agreed.

“At that time, the country was at war, and Hussein, Amina’s new fiancé, had been asked to join the army alongside many men from our village.”

My grandmother stopped narrating the story and took a shaky breath.

I watched as a quick shiver went through her body and how she tried to take control of her trembling hands.

I wondered what the reason behind that reaction was.

She closed her eyes before she continued. “But before he left, something strange happened. H—He was called by Al Nadaha.” She paused and inhaled sharply.

“He started acting in a bizarre way and became violent. Then after a short time, they found his body floating on the water. It was believed that he committed suicide, but we knew better.

“It was the doing of that devilish creature.”

When she finished, my eyes were wide. “And what happened to your sister, Amina?”

She let out a deep sigh that I could tell was filled with so many agonies before she gave me my answer. “The loss, it was so much bigger than her; she couldn’t take it.

“She devoted her life to gathering information about Al Nadaha and finding her secret. She thought she might get revenge on Al Nadaha for depriving her of the love of her life.”

My grandmother scoffed as the last sentence left her mouth. “That creature took them both. It killed Hussein, and it led Amina to her death.

“She died not too long after Hussein’s death, and I knew for sure that her obsession with that demon was what caused her to reach that point.”

I blinked a few times, not believing what I was hearing, that there was a possibility that Al Nadaha might have been real.

“Amina even had a journal. It was dedicated to research about that creature,” my grandmother said, and her words immediately got my full attention.

“Is the journal still here?” I felt guilt pinching my gut the second the question left my mouth as I failed to hide the excitement in my tone.

“Yeah, I kept it with me. It’s the last reminder I have left of Amina.” My grandmother sighed, then she looked at me. “Do you want to see it?”

I nodded. “Yes, please.”

She stood up to her feet and disappeared into her room. She came back after a while with a black journal in her hand. She handed it to me.

I looked at the journal in my hand, flipping through the pages quickly.

“Grandma, can I keep it for a while? I promise I will take good care of it. I know it means a lot to you, and I will return it the minute I’m done with it.”

My grandmother sighed deeply, then nodded at me. “Okay, but you need to be careful around it. I always thought that this journal had something off about it.

“Every time I read it, I feel my stomach swirl, and my chest burns as if the air gets pulled out of my lungs. My heart tells me that it’s surrounded by darkness, that it’s wicked.”

I looked at the journal again, totally ignoring what my grandmother said about the darkness that revolved around it. All that mattered to me was the secrets held within its page.

And all the information that would help me write the most killer story about the creature that used to terrorize generations.

A small smile made its way to my lips as the pieces of the plan started to formulate in my head.

That was definitely going to be interesting.

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