Chapter IV. You will not get me twice

The wise man glanced intently at Zainab, who was tall, chubby, and young despite her age. I’m worried it’s left Fatima to settle in her!

-Perhaps she collapsed as a result of the terror of what happened to her sister?!

-No, no… When I examined her eyes, they looked just like Fatima’s, as if the curse had been flowing from Fatima’s body to hers all the time.

In order to protect her from that unavoidable fate, a preventive treatment ritual is required. The curse is hovering around her if she hasn’t already settled in; however, since the decision has already been made, the wise man knows what they don’t know about the survival of the burial secrets and Zainab is in his marriage to her.

The old man has a substantial amount of money, and even though he is legally entitled to receive Fatima’s dowry in full, he won’t get it. What is this unfortunate man’s fault for losing his money after his bride? He won’t upset the father by giving the money back because of the severity of what occurred to his family and he won’t rob him of the pleasure of Zainab’s dowry either.

The grieving mother rejected the marriage, but when did women in this country get a say on such matters?

Her heart was crushed twice before, and she does not want the third to break it. However, in this country, women have no voice and no purpose other than to serve and give birth, therefore she does not want the second to suffer the same fate as Fatima. She highlighted the girl’s young age, saying, “O Saleh, Zainab is still ten years old and the fire from her sister’s bones has not yet been extinguished, how can this marriage take place!”

Woman, you need not worry; the wise man knows this. We’ll wait a few weeks, and once she gets into his house, he won’t touch her until he is certain that she is fully prepared and free of curses, and that our relationship with him now exceeds that of you and Zainab. The crypt is still locked, but this marriage will grant us the full right to the burial. He is the wise one; He understands how to get out what’s inside and how to sell it even.

Zainab is in a lot of pain as her sister’s face, eyes, and looks, and her father is shoving her into the oven. If she stays in her mind, she will meet the same end. Since she was the one who encouraged Fatima to flee, something chastises and troubles her if she considers performing the same action.

However, something changed in the ten-year-old girl; perhaps it was what happened to her siblings and what will happen to her.

Or perhaps it really is the ancient curse!

Or possibly the changes are due to nonsense injustice, tyranny, and old man lust, which just manufactured a curse and generated an evil spirit where none before existed.

She grieved by herself alone every night, fantasies appeared in the space around her, and she would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night without warning to find what appeared to be Fatima standing at the door, staring at her silently before walking away.

-Fatima? Fatima, are you there?

No response ended her nighttime hallucinations.

One night, as she was falling asleep, the mother appeared at the door of the room.

What would you like, Mom?

With no other comment, the mother departed the room. Where are you going? Zainab asked the woman she was following in a hushed voice. You can’t go out this late, Mom, stop!

She then remained still as she observed the mother sleeping in her bed in the next room.

She once again glanced towards the front entrance, but nobody was there.

In this state for a whole month, Zainab had grown familiar to what she thought were hallucinations brought on by what she had recently experienced and heard from Fatima, but one particular night is exceptional.

Not Fatima, nor her mother, but an exquisitely beautiful woman, in the middle of her twenties, with a slender figure, a taut body, a pharaonic robe, a spacious chest, large full breasts, wide black eyes, black wavy hair with golden locks, pure brown skin that shimmers on moonbeams that seep into the room through small openings in the window, standing erect like a wax statue, smiling.

-“Who are you?” Why are you silent? Why did you manifest as my mother and Fatima?

She continued to smile while softly shaking her head and closing her eyes.

-Until you get to know me, O Zainab, grow to know my presence, and do not be afraid of me, she said in her first words.

-And then, who are you?

-Greetings, I’m Hatshepsut.

-Is Hatshepsut you? that which Fatima informed me of?

-What exactly did she say?

-She claimed that at Luxor, a few years prior, a famous queen named Hatshepsut’s mummy had been found. In an effort to put a stop to the suffering, she claimed to be Hatshepsut and informed the wise man such.

-It wasn’t she who said the name, Zainab, but me.

-Are you Hatshepsut the Queen?

-Would you like me to be in charge as queen?

– I’m curious about who you are.

She walked over and sat down on the bed next to her, saying, “I am not the queen; I am an ordinary girl; I was among the common people; a gentleman loved me; he desired me for himself.”

She smiled shyly: no problem with that, he was strong, attractive, and wealthy.

She shook her head, turned away from the window, and continued, “I was happy with him, I lived my best days.”

But, in a sorrowful tone, he was a frequent traveler.

After a brief period of silence, she turned her attention back to Zainab, who was attentively listening to what she had to say and said: “He travels for months, leaving me alone among many muscular servants, and all my fault is that I have satisfied what must be satisfied, look how beautiful I am!” with a malicious smile. He needed to take me along with him wherever he went since this beauty should not be left alone and go far from it.

And with a sympathetic expression, she continued, “The poor man, how sad I am for him. When he discovered the matter, he could not bear the shock, so he gathered all his gifts for me, very precious, and buried them far inside that cave. Then, he called the priest, killed me with special rituals inside the crypt, cursed me for all time, and I stayed there for thousands of years until you opened it.

Unexpectedly furious, she felt her neck, her face grew redder, she was on the verge of losing control, and she yelled: “Zainab, that bastard, slaughtered me with a knife without mercy or pity.”

When Zeinab jumped off the bed to get away from Hatshepsut out of fear, the Egyptian queen abruptly calmed down and made a kind, gentle response, saying, “Come next to me, you poor girl; do not be afraid of me; I apologize; I did not mean to scare you.”

-So, what the wise man said is true, Zainab asked with suspicion. He did not lie to Fatima, did he?

In a tone of disapproval: Rather, Zainab, he lied. I wouldn’t hurt her, ever. He intended to take advantage of her, and he did, but all I wanted was to be released from my jail, and she got it.

She added, “I told him my name and my age under the threat of whips because I could not withstand the suffering that Fatima could not bear!” He vowed to stop if I told him, but that bastard, he’s so cruel and sly; he didn’t keep his word.

-I must discuss this with my mother.

-My darling girl, don’t do it. You won’t get any credence. She’ll assume you’re affected by what Fatima said and what happened to her and Mustafa. You had a challenging time the last few months. You’ll believe that I’m only a figment of your imagination and that I don’t actually exist. Even if she does believe you, the truthfulness of the elderly man will then come out, and you will wed him.

Zainab: I’ll still get married to him. He has paid the dowry. The wedding is scheduled for two weeks from now.

-In a stern, rebellious tone: No, he will not approach you, I will not allow this wicked person to get me again, his stench stinks, his body is disgusting, I will not allow him to touch us, Zainab.

-Fatima used the exact same phrases you are using now when she mentioned that he stinks and his body stinks.

-Yes, she and I were both present the entire time.

She was reincarnated every night and spoke to her about the ancient civilization, but she didn’t really bring anything new to the conversation; everything she said to Zainab, she had heard somewhere, and everyone here is talking about it. As their relationship grew stronger each day, she did, however, start to amuse her and, to make up for Fatima’s absence, started to become her very close friend.

-You must have strength, Zainab. You need to muster more courage before you confront the elderly man. I’ll be by your side, and I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

-But why didn’t you intervene while Fatima was being burned?

-She didn’t assist me as Fatima was frail and I was unable to incarnate for her like I do for you because your soul is stronger and your blood is pure.

-The phrase “pure blood” means what exactly?

-When a person is killed using special rituals, like the one the priest performed when he killed me, the person is cursed for all time and can only exist in a body whose blood matches the blood of the murdered. The greater the tie between us, the more power I have.

-Does this imply that our races are similar?

-The power I feel now indicates that we are of one offspring, a true blood tie between you and I, something I was unaware of while I was with Fatima.

The days went by, and Zainab became stronger. She also had a dependable ally who promised not to let اher down.

She mustered up her courage the night of the wedding and ran away to any location as long as it was far from the elderly man and the oven.

Her tongue is glowing with only one thing:

You won’t get me twice!

You won’t get me twice!