A few months passed by. Aishah had been able to forget the incident when she saw me strolling around our bedroom. Soon, everything became normal again and we almost forgot what had happened.
The final examinations came and went. Then it was time for another semester holiday. I discussed with Aishah about spending some time at my hometown. She agreed. I was so happy about it.
We packed some of our belongings and left some at the apartment. We were allowed to leave things there because the next semester we were going to be staying at the same apartment.
Aishah’s hometown situated exactly in the middle of the city centre, and she was bored with the same busy surroundings at her house. So she had decided to stay for a week before returning home to her family. I didn’t have any objections to that. In fact I was happy indeed to have somebody as a companion.
We took a bus and I didn’t even mention to my mother that I was coming home that day. I didn’t want to burden her, so I thought maybe I should just give her a surprise. I knew she would get a little upset, a disguised one of course, but it’s just one of her ways to show that she loves me.
We arrived exactly in the middle of the afternoon, with our heavy bags carried exhaustedly like thirsty camels in the deserts. With sweat and lack of energy, I greeted my mom and she was absolutely surprised to see me. However the happiness that portrayed from her face soon vanished her little upset thing, and things became noisy with my excited voice and Aishah’s.
Aishah was not a shy type of a person, so she coped pretty much effortlessly with all my family members. We laughed at her jokes, and later we helped my mom who at that time was preparing for lunch.
We had lunch, and Aishah was introduced to my father who just came back from the office. After a while, I decided it was time for both of us to rest. I tagged Aishah and gave her a wink.
“Come on. Let’s go upstairs. Bring your bag with you. You will be sleeping in my room,” I said excitedly.
“Can’t wait to see your room. I bet it must be pretty. You are a rich man’s daughter,” replied Aishah, winking back and gave me a tease with her words.
“Naah. Only my father is rich. I’m not…” said I, defending myself. Somehow, I don’t like to be called somebody’s rich daughter. It felt uncomfortable. I never liked to hide behind anybody’s shadows, even though the person is my own flesh and blood father.
I stepped up the stairs one by one, moving toward my bedroom. Aishah trailed along behind me. Suddenly I felt the same feeling I had long ago experienced. It was a feeling like somebody was waiting for me in my own bedroom.
I tried to ignore the uneasiness. I held one arm to Aishah and we stepped up hand-in-hand together towards the bedroom door.
A few moments later, I arrived in front of my bedroom door. I held out the key, and put it into the hole.
Click!
The door unlocked. I turned the doorknob and pushed the door forward.
A gush of air blew at my face. The same long ago feeling tantalized me again, with the welcoming breeze of air movement. I acted cool, and gracefully entered the bedroom. I gestured to Aishah to come along.
"Wow… this is awesome. You’re so lucky to have a bedroom as beautiful as this! Shanis… I am envious of you!” Aishah growled a little, and made funny faces. Then she laughed, so hard that her stomach moved inward and outward, like someone practicing on her belly dance.
I laughed too, feeling very much entertained with Aishah’s teasings. I put my bag aside, and Aishah put hers next to mine. I undressed and quickly had a brief shower. Aishah did the same afterwards, and soon both of us were sitting on the bed, pillow-talking.
We talked about almost everything, from guys to make-up, and from hopes to disappointments. Without realizing the time, we talked and talked endlessly.
Soon it was dusk. Only then we realized that night was creeping by. We went down for dinner and later went up as soon as possible to catch up with our pillow-talk. We chatted along, and didn’t even aware when was the time we dozed off.
The next morning, we woke up early to perform the Subuh prayers. After getting dressed for breakfast, I noticed Aishah was not in a good mood. Her eyes seemed skeptical towards any movements that I made. She frequently glanced up towards a picture framed above my bedpost.
“What’s the matter?” I put a concerned face and looked directly at Aishah. Her uneasiness made me a little awkward, too.
“I had a dream. A terrible dream. I’m scared, Shanis. I want to go home today. Sorry, but I don’t think I can stay with you here for another day.” Aishah pleaded to me, and I saw that she was scared. However, I doubt whether it was a genuine expression.
“A dream? What do you mean?” Feeling a little annoyed, I asked her with a frown on my face. I didn’t expect her to say such a thing like that to me. I thought she was just making excuses.
“Look at that frame, and tell me what you think.” Aishah pointed at the framed picture above the bedpost, and she returned the frown to me. I saw her pointing finger was tremendously shaking.
“Well… it’s just a picture with a frame…” I held a breath, and looked at Aishah’s face with a question mark printed on my forehead.
“No, it’s not. Last night I dreamt somebody came out from that picture. And it bit me. It bit me at my back, Shanis. It really did,” said Aishah, so serious that it hurt to see her contorted face.
“But it’s only a dream…” I objected, feeling uneasy with Aishah’s over-reacting attitude. Somehow, I felt as if Aishah was just trying to find a reason to start an argument with me. I felt a level of rage suddenly protruding from my bloodstream.
“No, it’s not! See this… see it for yourself!” Aishah screamed to me. Abruptly she pulled off her sweatshirt and revealed her back to me. She pointed at a bruise just below her shoulder. I saw the two-inch bruise with the shape of some sort of teeth glaring at me. I shuddered.
“Oh God! Let’s get out of here.” I nodded with regret, for not believing Aishah in the first place. We repacked our things into our bags as quickly as we could.
“Mom, I hate to tell you this. But I have a job to be done, and I hope you can give me permission to stay out for a while. I would be staying with Aishah,” I told my mother during breakfast and sought for her permission. Luckily, she nodded in approval. To myself, I nodded in a huge relief.
I spent the night at Aishah’s place, because I was afraid to be in my own bedroom. I felt terrible, but it was the only sober thing to do at that time. As days passed by, I continued staying with Aishah. After a week, both of us decided to stay at our university apartment. There were many returning students, so we felt safe and more comfortable being there.
That’s all for now, dear readers. Please wait for another true experience from me. Till then, have a nice day.
