by Ayse Hafiza
“Mooooommmmm,” screamed Laila allowed.
Moments later Rashid and Kawser ran into the bedroom. Saima knew it was something to do with her and the smarting fire she felt on her face, she threw herself deep under the covers of her bedsheets.
Her worried parents pulled them off her.
“Saima, Saima who did this to you?” asked Rashid with clenched fists.
Saima started to cry, they all knew the answer. Kawser moved closer to her daughter and opened her arms. Saima rushed into them and dampened the shoulder of her mom’s nightgown with her tears and runny nose. Through sobs she told them what had happened, what they hadn’t wanted to hear.
“Lizzy doesn’t want us to leave,” Saima blubbed a hiccupped response into her mom’s shoulder as she sobbed.
Rashid took a deep breath and rubbed her back.
“Kawser, I want you to take the kids and leave,” Rashid said.
Saima began to wail, “No, No, I can’t leave!”
“Darling, don’t you think it would be for the best?” said Kawser trying to find her face so she could look her in the eye. Kawser sat with her on the bed, soothing her by brushing her hair away from her face and trying to make her inconsolable daughter relax.
“You haven’t seen your face, you have an angry red welt. We need to get away from Lizzy,” said her mom.
“Stop talking to her, why are you talking to her?” asked Idris. They had forgotten Idris was still in the room with them, watching it all. “If you stop talking to her, she will go away.”
The parents looked at each other quizzically but then realized that Idris was also talking about Lizzy.
“She can’t go,” Saima sobbed.
Kawser rocked her daughter as she held her on her lap on the side of the bed.
“Come on kids,” Rashid said taking his other children out of the room. Kawser sat with Saima in her arms, alone in the room calming her down. She was trying to get her breathing to return to normal. She would ask her no more questions, she couldn’t stand to see her daughter this upset.
“Have you seen your pretty little face?” asked her mom.
Saima shook her head, but even that movement hurt her.
Kawser picked her up and carried her into the bathroom where Saima looked at her reflection, and she could see the angry red welt on her cheek. Saima turned away and buried her face in her mom's shoulder.
“Darling, please look at it,” said Kawser.
Slowly Saima complied and turned once more to look at herself in the mirror, her mom spoke to her reflection.
“Whoever this Lizzy is, she isn’t your friend. Friends don’t hurt each other little one. You must break off your connection with her, do you understand?” instructed mom.
Saima nodded, “But what if she gets even more upset?”
“She will have to deal with it, but she isn’t allowed to hurt you, and if she does she will have me to deal with. Do you understand?”
Slowly Saima nodded, she noted her mom’s steely determination shining brightly behind her soft brown eyes.
“Listen to Idris and stop talking to her,” said her mom as she brought her back into the room.
When they entered the room, she could see Lizzy was standing in the corner, Saima turned her head away from her.
Idris knocked on the door and stepped in, his step faltered a little when he entered. Saima had wondered if he could see her too, and from his advice, she knew it was very likely. She made a mental note to ask him later.
Idris had a bag of frozen peas in his hand, which mom took and placed on her face to soothe the welt. It hurt, but it was slowly starting to help.
Saima could hear Lizzy talking, but she was ignoring her.
“Sorry, I’m so sorry, but you made me so upset. What I did wasn’t fair,” apologized Lizzy.
Saima was going to ignore her.
The woman vanished soon after and it was just mom, Saima, and Idris in the room. From downstairs they could hear Rashid on the phone, they all knew he was calling Uncle Waleed.
“Yes, Yes. I’m going to get them out of the house. They will go and stay at a friend’s house, and I am going to see the Imam for advice,” said Rashid as he discussed his plans.
Saima couldn’t help but think to herself, how Lizzy hadn’t wanted them to leave, but look what was happening right this instance. She wondered what Lizzy was going to do. She seemed regretful, but Saima knew that wouldn’t last. Lizzy had the ability to flip her temper at any second, and that meant that while she lived in the house, she wasn’t going to be safe.
They packed a few things into a bag and they piled into the car. Saima looked out at the house, this time Lizzy was standing in her parent’s bedroom which looked over the front of the house. Saima could hear her words, the I’m sorry, come back plea, but Saima ignored it and let Idris put his arm around her. Saima knew that Lizzy wasn’t her friend, her mom had told her, so Saima didn’t need to make her happy it wasn’t her job anymore.
When they were away from the street, Saima relaxed a little and whispered to her brother.
“Did you see her in the bedroom? When mom was with me?”
Idris didn’t turn his face, but she felt his body stiffen.
He nodded quickly
“What did you see?” asked Saima, who finally was sure that her brother shared her visions.
“I see her as a dark mist, I used to see her eyes, those black holes. But I ignored her and now I never see her, apart from this morning in the bedroom. She’s always around you Saima, always with you. I don’t know what she wants with you,” said Idris confessing.
Saima finally felt that she wasn’t alone, her Uncle Waleed had picked up on it, but so had Idris. Although he didn’t see her how Saima did, she repeated to herself the words she had forgotten to say from before. Ghosts don’t exist, Ghosts don’t exist. . .she repeated them to herself.
But they did exist, the angry welt on her face was proof of their existence.
17
The Break
Manzar uncle was a neighbor and one of Moms distant cousins, he was going to Pakistan for a month, so Rashid organized for Kawser and the kids to stay at his house under the guise of house sitting. It was a short drive to the house, but Manzar’s house had no phone, so when Rashid said he was going back to their house Kawser wasn’t happy. She would have no way to get in contact with him.
Saima could hear them talking, and she too was nervous. He was going to be alone in the house with Lizzy. He couldn’t see Lizzy, and that meant he was at a disadvantage. Lizzy was capable of physically harming a human, which meant that Dad could easily become a target. Was it a good idea that the family were being split up? Saima didn’t think so, she didn’t like this plan.
She clung to her father’s leg, “Please Daddy stay with us.”
He unwound her arms and in defeat, her head dropped forward trying to hide the tears brewing in the corners, she realized he wasn’t going to stay.
He dropped to his knee so he could be eye level with his most vulnerable child.
“Be a good girl, and make sure that you sleep next to your mom, okay?”
It wasn’t okay, but Saima nodded, she needed to show him that she was capable of being a big girl. Besides, now she had an ally, Idris had seen Lizzy too.
They watched the old silver Datsun drive along the street out of sight, fear in their hearts pumping with every beat.
Saima and the rest of the children waited impatiently for news, but they knew their mom was doing her best and would tell them as soon as she heard from their father.
It took a few days for the welt to disappear, and it was then Saima went back to school. In that time, normality returned to their lives. It had become a rare jewel since Lizzy had returned to the house. Finally, they had a taste of life as they once knew it. In Manzar uncles house, they started to feel comfortable again, normal again. Slowly together they started to heal. No one knew what was happening in their house because it was an unspoke
n family pact, that they would be split up if anyone outside Uncle Waleed knew the truth, no one would believe them without experiencing the depth of the eeriness in the house. The negative energy drew everyone’s spirit down, and those who were sensitive would feel it the most.
They stayed in Manzar uncles home and waited for news to say the house was sold, and they would be leaving, but Rashid’s visits became sparse. He began coming to them with news of viewings and information about potential buyers, but his visits to them began to drop away. Like Mr. Sullivan had said the housing market was tough, so they held onto his words with hopes that he was doing his best.
Saima clung to her mom at night and tried to sleep, but every time she was about to drift to off to sleep she saw Lizzy’s eyes, her deep dark abyss eyes beckoning her, but she couldn’t let Lizzy in. Realizing her mistake was that she had communicated with her when she should have pretended that she wasn’t there. Saima wondered, if like Idris she pretended that Lizzy hadn’t been there, would she have been bothered like she was now?
“Why aren’t you speaking to me?” asked Lizzy almost screaming at her in frustration.
Saima was so angry at her, why had she touched her. Mom had explained to her how wrong that was, and finally Saima was feeling stronger. But this time she was angry, Lizzy was an adult and she should have known better than to strike a child. Saima knew that Lizzy was goading her, she knew she was meant to ignore her. But she stopped, hesitated and listened to the old woman’s words. As long as she didn’t speak to her, as long as she didn’t answer, at some point Lizzy would understand that she needed to move on.
“If you don’t speak to me, then I have no one,” said Lizzy changing her tone, and softening.
She always turned her back on Lizzy, she wasn’t going to entertain the old woman. Lizzy had already managed to take so much of her time and attention already. Lizzy had been stealing her childhood.
“Go on, leave me, Frank did. All of you are going to leave me alone with him. When I’m alone, he’s going to come for me, come out of his garage where he’s been waiting for me,” wailed Lizzy.
Saima was winning, she was going to win this battle, she would not be tricked into engaging with Lizzy, she wasn’t going to let the old woman into her mind. She wanted to say the words that were on the tip of her tongue. But, if the words escaped the prison of her mouth, then she would have contradicted Idris’s instructions. Saima kept her mouth shut, her words locked away. She wasn’t going to speak to her, and slowly she felt sweet release from the grip of Lizzy. Lizzy was going to move on, and they would sell the house and move somewhere else, somehow, they would be whole, a loving family again.
Saima drifted away from Lizzy, and although she could see her in her dreams, Lizzy was quieter, somewhat smaller even, almost a black dot of impurity in her mind. Something she could easily ignore or overcome. Finally, she could feel herself winning and it was having listened to her brother Idris. She turned on her back, where she felt comfortable and safe. Then she felt a presence watching her, the ominous dark presence always there, but she didn’t want to open her eyes because she knew it would be Lizzy watching her. Lizzy wasn’t going to go away easily. She had got her claws into Saima, and now she knew Saima was intending on ignoring her, Lizzy wasn’t the type of woman to be ignored easily.
As Saima and her mom lay in the master bedroom, Lizzy got the message, that she wasn’t welcome. The little girl had been winning the battle and was starting to feel empowered by being able to control her interactions with the old woman, that was until the temperature of the room began to drop. Saima wrapped the bed sheets around her tighter and snuggled closer to mom.
“Saima, oh Saima,” came Lizzy’s voice.
The sound was so close, it wasn’t in her mind as Lizzy usually appeared, it was in her ear as if it was a whisper from below the bed. Alarmed Saima couldn’t ignore her any longer. Lizzy was here. She was in the bedroom with them. Saima opened her eyes, looking at to the door in Manzar uncle’s bedroom, there was no black presence, no shadows either. The shafts of daylight filtered in through the open spaces of the heavy lined curtains showed nothing unusual or out of place so Saima convinced herself that she imagined it. Feeling a little braver, she sat up a little and glanced around the bedroom, there was no sign of her. Lizzy wasn’t there. The little girl convinced herself that her mind was playing tricks on her. Laying back on her bed in relief, she looked up at the textured ceiling and froze.
Lizzy was floating above their bed; a swirling black mist formed itself below the ceiling. A mist that was a moving, a mix of negative energy turned itself into a face. Saima watched in horror, as Lizzy positioned herself above her mom. The face turned into a smile when it controlled her mom, spreading her arms and legs and opening her mouth. Saima tugged on her mom’s arm to wake her, but she wouldn’t move, she had been paralyzed. The black mist’s mouth dripped from the ceiling like an oil slick, and it dropped into her mom’s mouth. It was attacking her.
Before Saima had a chance to scream the black mist fell at speed and entered her mom. Saima had seen this before, she knew the feeling because it had happened to her, and that was when she got sick. Saima knew there was nothing she could do, so she crept out of bed away from mom, climbing into Idris bed she lay next to him until finally, she managed to fall asleep.
When Saima woke up, she wondered if what she had seen was real, had Lizzy attacked her mom last night? All that Saima had done was steal out of bed and run away. She woke in Idris bed, so it must have been true.
Stealthily she crept downstairs until she saw her mom in the kitchen. Pausing on the stairs to watch her.
“Hurry up kids, or you’re going to be late for school,” she called.
Saima sighed with relief, it must have been a bad dream. Her mom seemed normal.
Making their packed lunches then walking them to school. When she dropped them off outside the school gates, she gave them a kiss. Saima felt the iciness of her mother’s touch, but it was also a cold day. Her touch didn’t mean anything, and so she put the difference out of her head. Her mom was normal, there was no point thinking anything else.
As they walked away and entered the school grounds, Idris looked at her.
“Mom isn’t here now, why did you come to my bedroom last night?”
Saima glanced at the ground as they walked along the path.
“Come on tell me, I’m the man of the house now, with Dad not here.”
Saima hadn’t thought of it like that. Idris could be relied on.
“We have to wait and see if Mom is going to get sick,” said Saima to him.
“Sick. . .like you got sick?” asked Idris.
“Yes,” the one-word answer made Idris turn and look at her, a small woman standing behind the huge metal green fence of the school. He took a deep breath. Saima knew then that he would help her keep an eye on their mom.
When the time for home came, Saima and Idris dragged their heels toward the group of parents. They watched the other children run into the safety of their loving parent’s arms. Instead, only with each other as allies, they took measured steps toward their mom. With a big welcoming smile on her face, they looked for hints of Lizzy, but their mom just had dark circles under her eyes because she hadn’t slept well. There was nothing else, no other hints. They headed back to Manzar uncles home, and they watched her. She didn’t betray any signs, and neither was she sick like Saima had feared she would be. That was their consolation, Saima must have dreamed the attack on their mom, it wasn’t true, it was just a bad dream and Lizzy was gone.
With trepidation, Saima climbed into bed that night. Their mom had sent them to wash their faces, brush their teeth, and get their night clothes on. Saima listened, she had been listening to her mom intently all day. Not waiting for her mom to repeat herself like she usually did. Still unable to make sense of what she had seen the night before, she was becoming surer it had just been a bad nightmare. Climbing into the double bed alone in Manzar uncles
room she waited, practicing her rhythmic breaths so she wouldn’t need to speak when she came to bed. Saima lay there unmoving, her dad had said to make sure that she slept next to her mom, so she was doing that.
When the mattress depressed Saima knew her mom had come to bed. She made the same reassuring sounds and pulled Saima into her arms. The coolness of her touch made Saima uncomfortable. Her touch didn’t feel like it should have, it didn’t have the comfort and warmth that she was used to. The smoothness wasn’t there.
Saima waited until her mom had fallen asleep until she could check that she was definitely asleep.
“Mom?” she whispered.
No answer. That was comforting, because if she had been awake, then Saima would have had to have an answer. Saima turned over to study her.
She blinked when she saw her mom’s unnatural smile as she slept, and what was even stranger was the fact her mom was sleeping with her eyes wide open.
‘Was she dead?’ Saima though to herself. She never slept like that.
Saima moved away from her.
18
Back home
Dad had stopped coming to Manzar uncle's house. Laila, Idris, and Saima missed him and his powerful hugs, his strong arms that would envelop them. They asked their mom daily why he had stopped coming but there was no answer, she shrugged her shoulders. There was no news until Idris took his bike and went home without telling anyone.
“Did you see Dad?” asked Laila after he returned.
“No,” he said looking to the ground and kicking the tops of the blades of grass with his sneakers.
“So, what did you see?” she asked urgently.
“It’s nothing really.”
“What’s nothing?”
“All the curtains were drawn, apart from the one on the front door which was missing completely. The whole house was dark inside.”
“Dad wouldn’t do that. He’d open the curtains,” said Laila thinking over what Idris had shared.