Chapter XXXVII. A Figment of your Imagination is not who I am

An old, two-story building with a black iron door decorated with old Ottoman calligraphy stood in Istanbul’s Uskudar neighborhood. The building had been painted a light-yellow color. As time performed its laws in the building, revealing its veil, the original stone color began to show in sporadic places where the paint had crumbled from it, creating a painting with the signature of chaos, the greatest order.

It has stood firm in the midst of alleys for almost a century. It can still recall the incident. The specifics and the core of assurance are found in these lanes.

Sheikh Omar and his men were slain in this place. Before it was too late, they hoped to take action to save the empire, but when they died, they regretted having done nothing.

They actually accomplished a lot; all that was needed was for time to apply its supreme law.

It’s possible that Sheikh Omar came to the realization that saving what could be preserved was preferable to saving an empire that couldn’t be saved since the blood poured to pave his road was worth what it took.

Years after the murder of Abd al-Haqq, in a covert headquarters on the island of Malta, they found no evidence of any files that would have jeopardized the secrecy of their existence. Everyone had enough time to forget. The page of the Yildiz policemen who were brutally murdered was flipped in the archive room; a bundle of papers detailing the entire incident was hidden beneath a dust-covered pyramid of paper stacks. Today, no one thinks about them or even knows they exist.

The Great Order is in charge, and there are no irregularities, therefore everything is good.

According to the imaginary line time, it is 4/19/2001 AD.

The location is the wreckage of an old house in the village of Al-Badari, Assiut Governorate, Egypt.

A young man of twenty-one years old with a muscular build, height, white skin, bald head, light beard, and dark eyes who is not from this country and does not even have Egyptian traits and has more Levantine features. It does not appear that any Pharaonic or Ottoman blood flows in his veins.

He scans his surroundings with interest.

Trying to find a tag!

-According to my uncle Fouad, my grandfather buried the box within the house!

Moved to a different room, possibly this one.

Behind him, a quiet male voice said, “Marwan, let’s get digging.”

-No, the locals are secretly monitoring us right now. Perhaps they knew the ancient story of the crypt and the curse, he said cunningly.

-Damn you, you idiot, shut up, I’m about to choke, we agreed not to talk about this, said the voice in an irate male voice.

“I apologize”, the young man said while laughing.

He continued: “My friend”, in a provocative manner.

“I am not your friend, so please do not refer to me in the male form. When will you learn to respect women”, the voice roared indignantly.

In a mocking tone, he laughed once more and said, “You should hear your voice when you talk like a man, I can’t imagine you’re a woman after that.”

She responded, “Really?” with a sarcastic feminine tone and a sweet, seductive voice: If you had said it yesterday night as we tossed in bed, I would have believed you.

She continued in a belligerent tone, “My beloved”.

I do it for you, you imprison me, you’ve become my unbreakable curse, she said, feigning female rage.

“Damn”, she said again, shrugging. You became my curse. You’re trying to manipulate me, what an absurd and bizarre circumstance.

Marwan: I don’t play games. I do this action for both of our sakes. I drive you to act like a man when I need a male around me. This is safer for us than employing a stranger, thanks to your limitless skills in disguise and role-playing.

-To trick me more frequently, up your own mood! I’m beginning to dislike being around you.

-You know how much I love you and how much I enjoy teasing you occasionally, so please don’t say it again.

The voice: When will you let me go? When are you going to leave me alone?

He said, “Do you really want that?” in a pleasant voice.

No response; only the sound of the air.

A few locals are standing outside and looking on with interest.

A little boy is said to have died there while looking for treasure and a female is said to have died by being burned in the clay oven, according to tales and stories that have been passed down through the town for many years. This house was abandoned for about 80 years.

No one knows why this young man, who is the owner’s grandson and is not Egyptian, wants to renovate it, just appeared today.

He is entitled to do so since he has established through the proper legal documentation that he is the rightful owner of the property, which was passed down to him through Zainab, the daughter of Saleh, his maternal grandmother, and Alara, Zainab’s daughter.

Some individuals, however, are compelled to observe because of their curiosity as they are not accustomed to outsiders showing any interest in their community! In particular, if they are not Egyptians unless it is for a cause involving graves and valuables.

Marwan: We are unable to remove the box, while they are constantly watching us. They are intrigued, but days will pass and their curiosity will be satisfied. Everyone will carry on as normal, and we will find a chance to dig safely.

-I just can’t picture this! Did the box truly remain buried in the palace’s vault for all that time? Then, without anyone knowing, it was buried here in silence!

-We’re one step away from discovering the truth, honey, so I don’t know.

The voice: In an expression of sorrow over his passing: I’m not sure because he told you about the situation while he was dying—maybe he was hallucinating?

-He was not hallucinating, he assured them, adding that despite his comments being concise and succinct, they were quite obvious and could not be misunderstood.

-You were just nine years old at the time; perhaps you imagined something that doesn’t exist?

“What are you trying to say?” he sighed, gritting his teeth and biting his lip.

-I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to imply that. However, it’s possible that your mother, Alara, concocted the tale and implanted it in your memory as one of the many tales she created from her imagination.

With disapproval, he turned to gaze behind him. He remarked, “Her tales?” Are you certain that those were her tales?

There was a long period of silence, and the only sound was the wind!

He continued to look behind him, his gaze always fixed on one spot and never straying from it.

“You don’t typically look me in the eye when you talk about her, what has changed now?” she sighed in a low voice.

No response; only the sound of the wind.

He’s got an idea. He’ll start working on its reconstruction after establishing his ownership of the property.

He wants to construct a home because he admires the Pharaohs, his ancestors, and wants it to be his destination whenever he travels to southern Egypt. He will begin by building a room, and once that work is finished, it will be enclosed between four solid walls. It won’t take him more than a few minutes to dig without anyone noticing.

The voice: Dervish Yildiz. The meaning of the name is rather mysterious. Didn’t he mention them at all further?

Marwan: No, he was exhaling his final breaths. I wish you had been present to hear what he had to say. You wouldn’t have questioned the genuineness of the situation, he quipped sarcastically, at least.

She said, with a sarcastic tone, “Oh, right, I should have let a nine-year-old go to call the doctors while he was taking his last breath!” How do I know that you wouldn’t have stopped on route to get some candy?

Astonished by what she stated, he laughed: Find out who is speaking! Likewise, what age were you? you had just turned seven!

Said it again, “At seven, Solmaz, you’re two years younger than I am.”

-I was more mature than you since you were little, you could not be relied upon for anything, exactly like your mother used to say, she remarked, with excessive pride and self-confidence in a deceptively suggestive tone.

“At least he did, and I won’t let him down”, he said pausing, shaking his head, and sighing as he turned to face the courtyard.

Nubia: Please accept my apology; I didn’t mean to offend.

In a charming voice, she said, “You’re not the only one who can tease others whenever he wants, right?”

“We’ve stayed longer than expected”; should we leave, she asked as she turned to face the crowd.

Nothing but the wind’s sound; there is no response.

He’s driving a rental car, and she’s seated next to him, looking out the window, pondering about something.

“Do you still want to know the answer?” she asked.

-Which answer?

-If I’m serious about getting rid of you.

Held her hand: Yes?

She sighed, revealing the agony of memories that could not be ignored. She stated: We’ve been living together since his death. Baibars, we were kids. We were not expected to face what we did, but we did. Your mother was vicious, and we suffered as a result of her, I wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for you; You always endured torture for me, suffered punishment to protect me, strengthened me, and comforted me amid nights of horror and terror, my father trusted little Marwan, and I trusted Marwan and Baibars.

She smiled: You are not going to abandon me. You promised to stick by my side, and you did. Then I fell in love with you and trusted you in return. Do you truly believe I want to go away from you?

She added: He trusted you about his only daughter, and you think I don’t believe he confided in you about the box in his final moments?” she sighed. Crazy one, I said that to make you irritated but I am shocked that you have hidden it from me till now!

He swerved to the right and came to a stop at the side of the road.

Tears welled up in his eyes, he turned away from her, escaped from her eyes, and he murmured, “Shut up, Solmaz, stop it, don’t keep deceiving.”

Solmaz: Stop fantasizing about a false scenario, Baibars, I am the truth, nothing will ever separate us, I am not out of your imagination.

He groaned sarcastically and shook his head: No, you should stop fantasizing about a fictional story. You are nothing more than a figment of my imagination. My mother murdered you a long time ago.  After my uncle Fouad died, I failed to protect you, and you became an orphan with no father or mother. She promised him that she would take care of you as she had taken care of me, and she meant it, except that he had no idea how she had taken care of me.

He sighed and wiped away his tears as he continued, “She started to have hallucinations that Hatshepsut would abandon her, to move to you, your blood was pharaonic, suitable for transfer, young and beautiful, and in one of her fitful periods of madness, she quarreled with Hatshepsut, trying to prevent her, saying “I will not allow you to move to Nubia, I will kill her, I will smash her skull if you tried”. She grabbed you and pushed you against the wall, where you hit your head and bled to death in front of my eyes. I briefly lost consciousness, and when I came to, she claimed that I had accidentally pushed you out the window while we were playing. Solmaz, it is the reality of what actually took place.

Solmaz: Rather, Baibars, this is an illusion created by your imagination. She did argue with Hatshepsut. She rejected the thought of passing on her curse to me out of jealousy, envy and glee rather than out of love. When you heard her threaten to kill me, you lost your mind. You jumped to her as soon as she caught me in an attempt to stop her, but she let me go and grabbed you instead of me. She then began harshly whipping you. I started screaming for help and tried to stop her, but she grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. My body hit the wall, not my head, and I fell to the ground unharmed.

With the exception of the unheard-of nervous breakdown, you were experiencing at the moment, which caused you to leap and scream hysterically, yell gibberish, and make gurgling noises. Your nose was bleeding, the foam was coming out of your mouth, and you were completely unconscious for two minutes as if you had died a while. It did not last longer than that, and then you came to. I do not know what happened between you or what she said to you, but I rushed to her at the sound of her screaming as she asked me for water and a bottle of perfume.

After a brief pause, she said, “The problem started when you regained consciousness.” You believed that I had passed away, that you had been comatose for a full month, and that your mother had made up the story that you had pushed me out the window while we were playing.

“I don’t understand how you managed to make up such a story when you were unconscious for only two minutes”, she said, shaking her head in confusion. You composed a story from your imagination.

She approached him face-to-face: For a whole week, Baibars, you have refused to acknowledge my existence, to communicate with me, and to acknowledge that everything around you is merely a product of your mind.

Baibars: Why didn’t she take me to a psychiatrist then? She insisted on treating me in her own way, beating and flogging me until she convinced me that you were still alive. She told me repeatedly, It doesn’t matter if she’s here or not, what matters is that you see what I want you to see, against your will.

In a mocking tone, she turned to face them and remarked, “Perhaps this is the only thing for which I did not mind your suffering; I would not have imagined that I would die for you, while I am still alive and well.”

“Then, Baibars, what happened?” she continued. We lived under her care for the entire time, under the shadow of suffering and oppression, until she passed away months ago. We survived, and now we are all together. We have a lot of money, all we do is travel in search of a long-forgotten mystery involving my grandfather Hassan and his family, may God have mercy on them.

“Why do you insist on upsetting the harmony of our lives with this fantasy of yours, Baibars?” she sighed resentfully and with false fury.

-Stop referring to me as Baybars; I’m Marwan, and I’m sick of these games.

“I don’t want to hear that name again, not even Solmaz”, he continued.

She retorted obediently: As you please, it won’t matter to me. Do you want Solmaz finished right away? Does this please you, I will stay Nubia, Solmaz will perish from the moment?

-Yes, only Nubia and Marawan. Neither Solmaz nor Baybars exist.

“This is if Nubia even existed in the first place”, he continued cynically.

She whirled around to face him, saying, “Well, stop the car, stop there, I’ll show you that you live under the delusion that I’m dead while I’m alive and sitting next to you.”

-No need to say it again, and using the pin to prick my finger won’t show anything.

Nubia: This indicates the pain. If I were an illusion created by your imagination, you would detect something odd about me since your mind is unable to maintain my appearance, voice, or touch while it is suffering.

-We’ve done it a ton of times, and I don’t want to repeat it because nothing odd has ever happened.

Nubia: Do you see? I am actually here and will remain; I am not a figment of your imagination!

He murmured, drawing a long breath and grinning, “The car has already stopped, Nubia”.

-I must be blind since I didn’t notice this. When did you stop?

-Since we started talking, you missed taking the medication, right?

-Sorry, I forgot.

“My father was frail in front of her”, he added with a sigh. “I’d only have had one question for him if he’d come back to life. What made him decide to remain at her side? What made him wait so long to end things with her? even before my birth! Since he married her, how is it that he hasn’t noticed her?”

“Don’t blame him, my dear”, said Nubia. “He shared his story of her with us. You are aware of her nefarious nature. She manipulated the threads of his passion for him. He was a kind-hearted poet. She didn’t reveal her true self right away; instead, she drowned him over time. After he intervened and she gave birth to you, the situation was resolved. He couldn’t have taken you away from her and he wouldn’t have abandoned you and left you in her care. He was completely unaware of what occurred to you.”

She added, “And he made an unpardonable mistake. I will go above and beyond what she did. If you do it, you will do it in return.” in a frightening tone.

With a grin: Are you standing up for her?

“Should I worry about this?” he added.

-Not every time, I stand up for her. She gave you a punishment for something you didn’t deserve. Before she met your father, she was a lunatic. The devil inside her was tamed by her love for it, but his treachery kindled evil once more, possibly spreading.

Marwan: She didn’t punish me alone; what made you claim that she did? Why do you let yourself off the hook?

-Perhaps I merited it because Hatshepsut wanted me, or perhaps she was coerced into torturing me for her own benefit. Her stance toward me is understandable, but what she did to you cannot be excused.

“What bothers me the most is your incessant explanation for what she did to you”, he remarked with a disapproving expression.

-Please excuse her. Hatshepsut has a right to whatever that she owns. She wished to hold onto her.

“Is Hatshepsut anything that one would want to maintain in the first place”, he remarked sarcastically.

While Marwan raced off once more, she pulled a pill from her bag and took it.

“Are you certain that you don’t want Solmaz any longer”, she asked in jest as they drove.

-Yes, Nubia, I do feel quite confident. Not Baibars nor Solmaz. Maybe it was because of these characteristics that I thought you had passed away.

He stopped at a rest area along the road to refuel after 30 minutes.

In front of them, in a glass shop window, are several necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and handcrafted antiques that are typically purchased by tourists.

After completing the gasoline tank fill, he paid the worker cash payment and left the remainder as a tip.

He drove up to the shop and stopped at the sideways entrance, staring at her and the front of the store, which she could only see unless she twisted her head to the right.

Marwan: We won’t be leaving the hotel; we’ll return right away.

“It was an extremely difficult day, so I need to take a break”, said Nubia.

Turning to face him, “Maybe sleep early too.”

He said, with a disapproving expression, “Sleep early?

With a mischievous smirk, he added, “What I’m really thinking about is, if we should go in there and buy you those clothes, what do you say?” as he nodded at the storefront.

Nubia paid little attention: “I have a lot of clothes, my dear”.

“Not for Nubia”, Marwan said.

She arched her eyebrows, bit her bottom lip, and then turned to face him, saying, “Don’t you see, Baibars, you can’t forget Solmaz. No matter how much you try to hide your longing for her, you will only ask for her again. Baibars and Solmaz will never die.”

She grinned, turned her head toward the store, inhaled deeply, felt her heart beat passionately, and let out a sound resembling fire and smoke. Was buried in her chest for an eternity, simply free.

-Oh, sorrow to you and your infinite wishes, you are the delight of the heart and artery of the spirit,

“It is a short blue dance suit”, she whispered in a low, loving voice as she turned to face him once again with a look of surprise on her face.

“Were Nubia and Solmaz not sufficient for you last night?” She cocked her head, exuding the ladies’ confidence and cunning.

She approached him, placed her palm on his chest, put her ear close to his, and said softly, “Perhaps you should talk to the hotel before we come, and ask them to change the curtains on the balcony, for silk ones.”

We’ll get a lot of candles, too, along with some other things, she replied with a naughty smile as she leaned back, swallowed her saliva, felt for the knot around her neck, and winked at him.

She moaned while touching her neck and added a sensual tone.

All night long, this pharaoh will dance for you.

You will be granted your wish.

I’ll always make sure you’re wellbeing.