Hell Again

by Mihret Adal Gidi

  “We have also seen Zhai taking punishments that we wouldn’t dare try to do this anymore,” she sounds and looks sad.

  “If you wouldn’t do this before, why now?” I stopped her standing in her way and Zhai skipped to my right, looking at them.

  “You don’t have to believe us, I wouldn’t as well,” Abebi answers.

  “What ip we ar catch and punish again?” Zhai asks and I nod, agreeing with her. “Nothing is changed,” she utters.

  “Well, we need to take chances, but us four alone. We can’t trust anyone,” Jane says, whispering.

  “And I am strong, I’m not sexy and beautiful only, ohh,” Abebi says, and we breathe a smile. “It’s best to make friends and share punishment with someone who have same intention with you than someone who would sell you off,” she sucks her teeth at the end of her whisperer.

  I never thought that sucking teeth would be done in a whisper too.

  “Besides, we will share what we find out in this place with you,” Jane adds.

  She is right, though; we need people who can help us, me and Zhai alone will do nothing fruitful. I turn to Zhai and find her looking at me, smiling. I can tell she is thinking what I am thinking. I nod to her and press a smile.

  “Okay, wait for us by the oak tree, we will change and come,” she says to them.

  “You better show up, Ay,” Abebi says, walking backwards for a few steps; pulled by Jane and starts speeding off, giggling.

  “I hope we ar doing right,” Zhai says bluntly, but deeply worried.

  “I hope so too,” I said and hug her as we start walking. “I’m not leaving your side. I am not going to be alone, from now on,” I add, and she pats me on my arm that’s on her neck. I really don’t want to be alone.

  Suddenly I heard a huffing sound from behind us and I turn in speed to look. Good thing Zhai heard it as well that she flicks turn to look back. Surprisingly, there is nothing to see and everything is dead quiet and no sound or even footsteps of Abebi and Jane.

  “Hello,” I call out and there is no response.

  “Jane, Abebi?” Zhai follows but nothing. We both look at each other and I see how shocked Zhai is. I don’t know why I feel like an older sister to her, but I exhale long and smile.

  “You know what, I think we are too paranoid,” I said and hug her to proceed on our steps.

  “But I think I heard something. I know you did too,” she says.

  “Yes, a wind. Nothing more than that.” The sun is not up fully and I think since we have seen more than enough the whole day, yesterday, it won’t be a surprise for us to feel jumpy for anything insignificant.

  ***

  “Oh, Shemyaza,” Andrealphus utters, smiling, as he thinks why he have to protect a human who wants to leave him. “Is that all you heard?” he asks once again to a woman standing behind him, covering her head with a transplant shawl and in long black dress.

  “Yes, master. They only want to try, but I sensed nothing more than that,” she answered. “It’s quite unlike they can go,” she utters frowning. “They just want to form relationship based on their common interest,” she adds, shrugging her left shoulder.

  “And Adha?” He seems to take more interest in her than the rest of them, or even more than the topic of them in need of getting back home.

  “I couldn’t get closer to her since I feared they might feel my presence among them.” He knows she can’t get closer to them to evaluate her closer, but he has to ask. He just can’t wait till he gets to see her face to face like Baal did; he needed to check her to believe what he said to be true.

  She seems older and she is holding a dead branch in her right hand, for a support to stand still on, she is in long, brown tent dress and her hair subdued in lose plate.

  “I know,” he says, and she nods. “I will follow you to Sabbat,” he orders her blunt. She presses her lips in hard line as she nods. She then places the branch between her legs, as if on horse, and snaps her right hand in the air; it floats with her, first, then she ascends away. “What sorcery did they send up on us?” he utters to himself, in deep thought. “I will find out what’s changing you and into what,” he says. He is sure Shemyaza is changed, something is wrong about him. Turning back suddenly, he runs three steps and jumps and rests up on a back of a horned cloven-footed demon with wings that fly him away.

  ***

  To my surprise, they are really waiting for us under the oak tree, but Jane is asleep on the ground, pillowing a notebook and Abebi is standing still, looking at the enchanting woods behind the tree. She looks like a statue, sculptured to mean something; She is standing with a branch in her left hand, she looks like she is guarding Jane, her right foot on the root. I can tell she’s alert and see that she is strong.

  Speaking of root, I remember the intruder mention something about the root; following it or something…not really sure but I recall her words indeed. I am sure she mentioned it.

  “Okay, ar we weady to dig?” Zhai asks, and murmuring, Jane wakes as Abebi turns her head, giving us her attention.

  “Are you joking?” Abebi asks.

  “No,” I said. I walked right past her over the root she was footing on and to the root we encountered the intruder by…more like to the part she disappeared into. “Before anyone comes to realisation, I believe we will go deep enough, and if we are lucky, back home.”

  “Okay.” I think Abebi is reasonably disappointed about our plan and how serious we are. “How would you know about that?” she asks with her hands on her waist.

  “I thought you want to share everything,” Zhai says, but she gets closer to me with a piece of metal we brought from the house… actually, we got it from her bed.

  Remember when I say I am not going to be alone? I decided to be in her room. After all, my room is with him, I can’t go to his room. I remember as we walked in her bed room and how I smile seeing her open-frame metal bed. We were thinking about going in search for the way out and I was not ready to do it with no weapon. You can guess where we get the metals in our hands now.

  Until we get to the tree, I was arguing with Zhai about how crazy it sounds to think about digging the spot where the intruder disappeared by, I totally forgot about the intruder, but I recall her words and how she was sucked into the root body. Now I am taking the lead in the digging; I simply pick a metal piece, with a curvy tip and a little wide, to start the digging. Zhai follows me; we are both working hard and serious about this. For a while they simply stand seeing us on the crazy we are working on; we are not even willing to explain ourselves, on why we are thinking this could be the path, I can’t blame them for not joining us now.

  “Okay,” Jane says as she picks her weapon and join us anyway.

  “You are all crazy,” Abebi hesitantly pick a weapon and she finally joins us all.

  ***

  It was only the usual day until Hadiya finds the paper pushing through from the ground. She may not be fluent in English, but she can understand and communicate well enough. But what does she know about message from the ground and asking for help to get out?

  “Hadusha.” Rihanna knocks on her door. For that matter, she was knocking for quite a long time that she feels obligated to call her as loudly as she could.

  “Rihanna,” she calls her name and flick leave her seat to the door. Rihanna is already in her compound, using the rope they use to open the door from outside, but the door to their house is locked, so she has to knock it.

  “I was wondering if a genie chased you all the way here from the river,” she says playfully as she enters to the leaving room.

  “What?” Hadiya is truly shocked to Rihanna’s assumption. After all, what if this is finally a message coming from a genie. “What do you mean?” She couldn’t control her shock that she screamed a little demandingly.

  “Oh, calm down,” Rihanna says, frowning after taking an evaluative stare at the shaking Hadiya, with a piece of paper and thorn plastic wrap in her hand. “Are you okay?” she asks her, calm
from her usual playful self as she takes a seat on the single seat sofa. “What is that? A letter from Ahmed or…” she asks her, but Hadiya holds it behind her, intending to hide it from Rihanna’s view.

  “Nothing,” she answers as she walks to sit to the two-person seat sofa placed before the singles that Rihanna just took.

  “Oh, you’re left with some days to change place and though Ahmed told you not to go you keep going there…”

  “I told you, it’s because I love it there, but now…” She takes a while, thinking.

  “Now what?” she asks her. “Did you finally decide to stop that someone is following you? I guess Ahmed’s father wouldn’t dare send you letter…or did he?” As usual, she asks and answers her own question.

  “It’s weird. It’s in English,” she whispers to her and Rihanna frowns, confused. “I was there down the river…”

  “His father wrote you letter in English?” She is in need to burst out in laughter.

  “You are crazy,” Hadiya rolls her eyes, exasperated. “I found it down the river... I have to dig it out...”

  “Say no more, I can’t believe that you start exchanging letter with...” she shakes her head as she stops herself from saying her assumption. “We need to go tell Ahmed…” She jumps up from her seat to march out. She knew that one day something will go wrong if she keeps going there.

  “I am begging you in the name of Allah,” Hadiya jumps and holds her knees with her hands and Rihanna stands, frozen in shock. “At least listen to me,” she begged her. “I called Allah’s name before anything and you’re not to walk past that. I am begging you.”

  “Okay, okay, you will have to be convincing. You know I care about you. I…”

  “I know. I know, but have you never felt a calling before like there is something important you should decide on?” she asks, but looking sadly down at her friend, Rihanna shakes her head. “Welahhi, I do, I feel that, but I need to be careful, I fear. I think I might even need your help.”

  “Ya Allah,” Rihanna screams, holding her head, but it’s out of fear.

  “Listen,” Hadiya screams as she pushes her back on the sofa to try and explain to her. “I found this… I mean,” she shakes her head as she lifts the piece of paper in her hand towards her. “I was simply playing with as stick in my hand and this pushed me back and I pulled it out. I even felt air coming out…”

  “Allah, you are going to get all of us killed. What if this is a message that will end us all, like the end of the world. What if demons from the ground would come out?” She pats her lap once in fear. She hits her head and sits still, pressing her face between her palms.

  “No, I can feel it’s not, but in case it is, I want you to help me keep reading the Quran for me as I help this soul out the ground.” She bites her lower lip. “The writing says, ‘help,’ and Wolahhi, Allah is my witness, I really need to help.”

  “What!” she barks at her, standing up with her eyes wider than the usual.

  “Plea…”

  “Don’t, are you crazy or do you think I am?”

  “No, you’re not and I am not as well. You will help me in this, or I will do it myself…”

  “I will tell Ahmed,” she pushed her and starts walking to the door.

  “Good luck, but I will be there alone,” she said and stays right where she is, going over the note in her hand.

  ‘Help, get me out of here!’ The paper looks wricked, from damp it gets from the plastic wrap.

  After she walks all the way to the door, all the way out to the compound, she turns to check if she is following her, only to find she isn’t. She didn’t want to let her go alone after she begged for her help in the name of Allah. Besides, she wants to know how real this story is, she is wondering how bad it would get to her if she is on and on of words from the good book and if she stands in a safe distance. Damn her excitement in wanting to know something, as well to have something to talk about. She walks back into the house and finds Hadiya right where she left her.

  “Okay,” she says, in her obvious attempt to hide her interest. “Tell me what it says and know I am doing this only for you.” Hadiya jumps up and runs to hug her in excitement.

  “I’ll tell you on our way,” she says, as she grabs the Holy Quran from the table and marches out, pulling her along. “We will have to ask who we are communicating with, and we will see what to do.”

  “Allah, follow us,” Rihanna pleads, looking up at the sky as she is pulled by Hadiya and her own highly growing interest.

  ***

  We’ve been digging for a long while, taking turns in taking the mud out; the deeper we follow the root down, the more saturated it gets. I couldn’t get rid of the intruder out my mind; she seemed lost, confused and was also muddy. I am guessing maybe we are getting closer to the way she manages to get to us. Getting rid of the mud with the shawl in hand was Jenny’s idea and we keep taking turn to get it out since we need to make a way. But after a while, Zhai comes back with a broken concaved shaped, dead part of the oak tree’s bark and two us have to push out large amount, while two of us have to work on the digging, we keep taking turns over and over again.

  On our way back into the hole path we form, me and Jane heard Zhai screaming as Abebi screams to hold on. We just speed off to them, and to our surprise, I think we have dug more than enough to reach to a far end of our journey that we are now at the edge that seems like we form a way to a deep and wide hollow. Abebi pulled her up and we all try to look down at the hole we just formed in amusement and we all smiled.

  Truth be told, what makes the digging much easier is the nature standing to our favour; the digging takes only to some parts; we dig only to end up to an empty space and we followed the root and dig to open another excavation path for us to pass thorough to another open space and all the way to this part where it feels the end; and once again, following the root path, we dig to go even deeper all the way to this hollow.

  All the mud we carried out are mud from an attempt to widen our way through to the spaces to form a comforting path to pass through. The empty spaces are lightened up with root of the tree that we are following; it’s with lights of rainbow, but a little different that there are also other colours mix; of silver, purple... a lot. Like at night, out there, everything comes to life, in colour, and I suppose it’s lighting up in here since it’s dark.

  “I can smell fresh air,” Jane smiles as she closes her eyes.

  “I can feel home,” I whisper, and everyone looks at me, and looking at myself, I try to cover my bruise on my left shoulder, pulling the dress up and Zhai looks at me sadly.

  Since we are crawling and pushing quite a lot our dresses are torn and we are all covered in mud, as well smelling like a dead fish. We are a mess, but we are seriously happy as we are all enjoying our moment for now.

  “Well, if this feel like home,” Abebi utters with a smiling face, “this is the worst perfume we choose for the reunion,” she giggles, and we all laugh along. She changed the attention they all draw towards me and I have to thank her secretly.

  “I will go down and check first. You two should go out once again to close the way in,” she finally orders. Pressing my lips, I shake my head in amusement to her demanding needs, but both me and Jane are already on our knees, crawling to the way out.

  The good thing is the fact that we worked so hard to cover our tracks by scattering the mud we pushed out; not really, I mean, after all it’s not hard to tell it’s a fresh mud. We are anyway, trying to keep attention away from this direction, to us and it seems to work just fine. I guess too many turns of mistakes turns Zhai an expert in escape planning. In case we’re wrong and there is no way out, she figured we would be able to avoid punishment.

  Once we reach to the way out, we both look at each other as we see the sun ahead of us and it’s clear on our faces that we are both worried dearly. Pressing sad smiles, we both close the way in with mud and block it with the concave bark to give it more strength, not that it hold
s but it will give us more time. And yes, not like we are expecting anyone to look for us here particularly but it’s really not bad to take extra measurement.

  It’s all dark, as we crawl back to Zhai and Abebi, and every of our movements are going to be with our touching senses since we can’t see anything; we can’t see anything in the cave we formed, till we reach to the space with light we named ‘rest space’.

  “Hopefully, we’re not going to fall down the whole,” Jane says and I crook, holding my laughter and she follows me. It’s funny she would fear to fall down since that whole is formed by the rest space and though the light isn’t enough, we have to literally loose our sight to fall down.

  “If I may ask; how did you get here?” I asked her anyways. I feel like we should have something to talk about than to talk about something we fear would happen.

  “I don’t know,” she says quietly. “Everything was good; newly married of good husband, but I was unfaithful; mentally, I mean. I was looking for someone who is more qualified.”

  “I guess, after all, we are all doomed because of that,” I utter, thinking. “We are wrong,” I said and take a moment. “Not that I know how everyone got here, but I guess that’s the common thing we all have; Zhai, me, and you…perhaps Abebi too?” she stays quiet for a while and I feel a bit creeped out. Though I am breathing heavily from the crawling, I know my last sentence was quizzical.

  “Yes,” she says quietly. It really took her quite a long time to answer. Once we reach to the last rest space, I turn to take a glimpse of her. I hope it’s the lightning effect coming from the root, but I saw rouge-ish with marigold-orange coloured eyes and too wide to the side that I turn to deny what I saw.

  “We should keep moving,” I add and quicken to the hole we formed that takes further down to the other rest space; last rest space to the hallow we formed that takes us down even further.