Escape from the Darkness

The moment he shouted like that, my whole body trembled and my heart tightened, especially at the word "understood" that he said angrily and in a loud voice, and I found myself hearing another person's voice in my head telling me "What I say goes, understooood?" I didn't come to myself until I was screaming and Safiya was giving me an injection through the IV that was attached to me while she was yelling at Diab, whose features showed worry and fear, and I slipped into darkness hearing nothing but the voice of someone terrifying me as he said to me

"What I say gets done. Asem is not the kind to repeat his words twice, understooooood?"

I don't know how long later I woke up. I opened my eyes and found Safiya beside me.

Safiya eagerly: "Sumayya, you finally woke up. How do you feel? Tell me you're okay."

Sumayya with her eyes closed: "Headache. Every time I open my eyes I feel a terrible headache."

Safiya: "Okay, just a second, I'll call Dr. Maher and come back to you."

Sumayya fearfully: "No, no, don't leave me alone, what if he comes in and shouts at me again? Don't leave me, please."

Safiya in surprise: "Honey, calm down, I asked him to leave the whole hospital, and besides, what's with all this fear? You went off at him, so why did this happen to you as soon as he raised his voice?"

Sumayya shook her head: "I don't know, I don't know, I... I was so scared."

Safiya tenderly: "Okay, calm down, he's completely gone and I made sure with security that he left the whole hospital. So relax now and let me call Dr. Maher, okay?"

I nodded without a word. I myself didn't know why I was afraid. I had no answer at all, and after a short while I left the hospital with Safiya on our way to her apartment and while we were on the road Safiya tried to talk to me about anything to make me stop thinking for a bit until she suddenly fell silent and distress showed on her features.

Sumayya: "What's wrong, Safiya?"

Safiya: "I feel like there's a car following us ever since we left the hospital."

Sumayya: "How so? Are you sure?"

Safiya: "I don't know... Look, we've already arrived anyway, come on, and may God protect us."

I got out with her and I felt that the one watching us was Diab. Why I felt that, I don't know, as if only my feeling was working and my mind was completely stopped and empty... We entered a building and went up to an apartment that was very comfortable, the furniture and colors simple and soothing.

Safiya: "You've brought light, Sumayya, come in, please."

Sumayya: "Thank you, I'm sorry again for the trouble I've caused you."

Safiya: "Didn't we agree there's no such talk between us... Would you like to rest a bit while I make lunch?"

Sumayya: "No, I've rested a lot, can I help you?"

Safiya: "Of course you can, come on before Seif gets back from work starving and if he doesn't find food he might make my life miserable."

Sumayya: "Is Seif your brother?"

Safiya: "Yeah, he's my brother and my friend and my father, he's everything to me in this world. A lot of times I'm afraid he'll fall in love and get married and our relationship will change, but I push those thoughts out of my head and wish him all the happiness in the world."

Sumayya: "May God keep you for each other always."

Safiya: "Amen... Look, since I'm late today I'll hurry and make pasta and pane and salad, and the salad is on you, here are the things."

Sumayya: "What's this, girl, you're having me help by making salad?"

Safiya: "Of course, Seif loves it so much and I don't have the patience for all that chopping, come on, and God willing in half an hour everything will be ready, I prepared things before I went out."

Sumayya: "Okay, as you like."

Safiya: "Put a lot of pepper because the gentleman likes it spicy."

I was about to answer her when the doorbell rang.

Safiya: "There he is, he's here, wait, I'll open for him and come back to you."

I nodded with a smile and fell silent and drifted off, wondering whether I also had siblings and whether we were close like that or distant from each other? Or am I alone? I came to at the sound of Safiya's voice.

Safiya: "Come here, Seif, let me introduce you to Sumayya... Sumayya, this is Seif, my brother."

Seif with a smile: "Welcome, you've brightened our home, Sumayya."

Sumayya shyly: "Thank you, and sorry for all the mess I've caused you."

Seif: "Don't say that, there's no mess at all."

Safiya: "Don't mind her, ever since she met me she's been saying nothing but sorry and thank you, that's all she says, I think I'm going to hit her and be done with it."

Seif: "I think I'm the one who's going to smack you so hard you'll stick to the wall, you're making pasta and pane again? 😡"

Safiya 😂: "There, you beast, what's wrong? I just got back a little while ago, what am I supposed to do?"

Seif 🤨: "Girl, I don't eat anything else anymore, I'm sick of it, damn it, what am I supposed to burn at the gym, two pieces of pane?"

Safiya: "Make them three 😂"

Seif: "I swear I'll get nasty with you."

Safiya: "Come on, my prestige is in the gutter, on my day off I'll make it up to you."

Seif: "Like last time off when you said you were tired and ordered us pizza, right?"

Safiya: "No, no, shame on you, this time off I'll make it up to you."

Seif looked at Sumayya... "Are you okay with what she's doing to me?"

Sumayya with a smile... "No, honestly, I'm not okay with it."

Safiya... "Girl, I'm your friend, hey, focus, are you confused or what?"

Sumayya... "I am focused."

Safiya... "Fine, you're ganging up on me, okay, everyone gets just two pieces of paneh and no more, and I'll take four, double."

Seif... "What?"

Safiya... "I'll give you the whole plate, boss, and we'll eat pasta and salad, okay?"

Seif... "You mean you'll be the one eating pasta and salad alone, and Sumayya and I will be the ones eating the paneh, right?"

Safiya... "Might makes right, fine, fine, whatever."

I didn't know how time passed with them without me thinking about anything. They made me laugh a lot. Seif was tall and broad and handsome but he had this presence. He worked as an engineer in his own office with a group of his friends... And after a few days Seif suggested they search the hospitals for any accidents that happened on the same day Diab found me and in the police stations for any missing persons reported that same day, and Safiya really did take charge of the hospitals and he took charge of the stations.

And I spent my time at home between thinking about tomorrow and the kitchen, where I discovered I was really very good.

And two months passed with nothing new happening except that I got very attached to them and I got to know Amm Mohsen, he was a very kind man who had a bookstore in Downtown Cairo, and one day I decided to bring up what had been weighing on me with them.

Sumayya... "Safiya, I want to talk to you about something."

Safiya... "Why are you so serious, what's up?"

Sumayya... "Honestly, I want to work."

Safiya... "Work how, I mean, did we upset you in any way?"

Sumayya... "No, I swear, not at all, I just don't like sitting around like this without work, I'm bored, and besides you always tell me to rest my mind and stop thinking, but I'm free and I have free time so it's natural for me to think, so I should fill that time, right?"

Safiya, confused... "That's true, but still, what would you work as? You don't have any ID papers, Sumayya."

Sumayya... "But I looked and searched and found that I can get temporary papers with my report that I got from the hospital before I left."

Safiya... "How's that?"

Sumayya... "Believe me, it's possible, so what do you say?"

Safiya... "We'll ask Seif and see how those papers work and then we'll figure out this work thing, okay?"

Sumayya enthusiastically... "Okay."

I was so excited. I thought a lot about my past life until I got tired of thinking and decided to leave everything as it comes, God would surely arrange the best for me. And when Seif came and I told him, he said he would ask about those papers and get back to me as soon as possible, and after that I would either go to work with Amm Mohsen at the bookstore or with him at the office, and I didn't know why I was happier and more inclined to go with him, and my smile grew as I imagined myself with him every day at home and at work, but I snapped out of it at a question I asked myself, I wonder, was I in love before I lost my memory? That day I thought a lot about that question and I fell asleep after I felt a severe headache that I hadn't had in a while.

The next day they went out and I started tidying the apartment and making lunch, and after two hours I heard the doorbell ringing.

Sumayya... "Yes, coming... It's you?"

Diab with a smile... "I missed you."

Sumayya... "What? How did you know where I am?"

Diab... "You haven't been out of my sight for a single moment, Sumayya."

Sumayya annoyed... "What exactly is going on? What do you want from me?"

Diab... "I want all of you, you belong to me."

Sumayya angrily... "No, you've really gone too far now, please leave and I hope I never see your face again."

I went to close the door and found him pushing it and coming in.

Diab... "I'm not leaving without you with me, I can't believe I got a second chance, I can't believe you're with me again, why do you want to deprive me of you, Noha, why do you want to go away again?"

Sumayya as she stepped back in fear... "What second chance? Do you know me? Didn't you say you found me lying on the road? And who's Noha?"

Diab... "Come, let's go to our home and there I'll explain everything to you, come on, come with me, my love, don't be afraid."

I was about to answer him when I heard Amm Mohsen's voice.

Amm Mohsen... "Where would she go with you? And who are you anyway?"

Diab frowned... "It's none of your business, old man."

Sumayya in fear... "Help me, Amm, I don't know what he wants from me, help me, don't leave me."

Amm Mohsen... "Don't be afraid, he will leave quietly now."

Diab... "Like I'm scared of you or something?"

Amm Mohsen... "No, it's just that before I came in I sent the doorman to get some men when I suspected something was wrong, and they should be coming up any minute now."

Diab clenched his hands in anger and looked back at me.

Diab ... "I'm leaving now, but the next time I come for you, you'll come with me whether you like it or not and no one will be able to stop me, do you hear me, no matter what. Bye, love."

As soon as he left, I broke down crying, and when Amm Mohsen failed to calm me down, he called Safiya and Seif, and within a short while they were both by my side.

Safiya ... "Here, love, drink this lemonade, it will calm your nerves a little."

Seif ... "How could you just open the door like that without asking who it is or looking through this damn peephole, or is it just there for decoration?"

Safiya ... "Easy, Seif, she's had enough already."

Seif angrily ... "Easy what and hell what? If he hadn't believed Amm Mohsen's lie and left, God knows what would have happened, and there he is telling her he'll be back."

Sumayya crying ... "I'm sorry, I... I'll leave and—"

Seif ... "Sumayya, don't make me angrier than I already am at you. Leave to go where? You're not leaving here."

Safiya ... "Seif, calm down, you're scaring her even more."

Seif took a breath and spoke in a calmer voice ... "Don't be upset, I was just worried about you, I'm sorry."

Sumayya 😔... "I'm not upset."

Seif 😏... "Yeah, it's obvious."

Amm Mohsen ... "Enough now, thank God we were protected. What's important is what comes next, what are you going to do, Seif?"

Seif with a sigh ... "I have a friend at the office whose cousin is an officer and I had asked him to ask about the papers. I'll call him now and have him find out for us about this guy called Diab, but I need his full name."

Sumayya ... "I only know his name is Diab and that's it."

Safiya ... "I can get his full name from the hospital."

Seif ... "Good, go ahead, call and get the name quickly, I want to know everything by tomorrow morning at the latest."

And indeed, that same day Seif learned his full name and told his friend, stressing that he needed the information urgently by tomorrow, and his friend promised he would do what he could.

And the next day his friend called him and told him that his cousin wanted to see him in person, and Seif went down to meet him, and Safiya and I stayed waiting anxiously, and after three hours of waiting and fear and anxiety, Seif came back and the look on his face did not bode well at all, from the way he looked I couldn't speak or ask him.

Safiya ... "What's the news, Seif, please reassure us."

Seif .... No reply.

Sumayya crying ... "S-Seif, don't tell me I know him or have any connection to him."

Seif ... "Can you calm down and stop crying? I haven't even said a word and you're already crying."

Safiya ... "Then talk and make us understand, have mercy."

Seif ... "Don't worry, Sumayya, you have no connection to him."

Sumayya ... "Really, are you sure?"

Seif ... "Sit down first, because this is big and long, and although you have no direct connection to him, unfortunately your life has been in great danger since the day he saw you."

Sumayya ... "Danger how? I don't understand!"

Seif ... "When I met Muqaddam Khaled, my friend Mohamed's cousin, he asked me to tell him first why I was asking about Diab. I told him everything about you and that we don't understand whether he really knows you or what exactly. Khaled was silent for a while, as if he was gathering his thoughts, and then he started to talk."

Flashback

Khaled ... "Look, Seif, if I didn't know you're a trustworthy person, I wouldn't talk to you about something like this, and to be honest with you, I suspect something in particular. If it turns out to be true, I might be able to use Sumayya and she would be doing the country a great service."

Seif in surprise ... "I don't understand anything."

Khaled ... "I'll explain to you... We've been working for a year on a major money laundering and arms smuggling case and the main name in it is Diab Aziz, and every time we get hold of a lead, unfortunately we lose it. Once we recruit someone and he finds out and kills him, and once important papers fall into our hands and before we can receive them they disappear, along with the person we were supposed to receive them from. For a year we've been going around in circles to no avail, because he's a very cautious and very clever person."

Seif ... "And then?"

Khaled ... "Diab was married to his cousin, a girl named Noha. He adored her and she was his only weak point, and five years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and spent six months in treatment. He took her to more than one country and there was no result; the disease was spreading through her body quickly, and in the seventh month she passed away. At that time Diab disappeared for two whole months, no one knew where he was or what he was doing. There was a lot of talk that he had a breakdown and was receiving psychological treatment in clinics abroad, and talk that he was just depressed and shut himself away. After those two months he came back and went back to his work, and since then not a single woman has entered his life, not even for one night."

Seif doubtfully ... "You mean that...?"

Khaled with absolute certainty ... "I mean it's very likely that Sumayya looks like Noha, and that's why when he found her he didn't take her to the hospital, and it's quite possible that in that accident Sumayya had someone with her and Diab got rid of him, but he hadn't counted on her leaving the hospital with your sister, and what's certain is he's plotting something big and tightly controlled to take Sumayya back to him again."

Flashback

Seif ... "And in the end he asked me to let him come tomorrow and talk to you personally, Sumayya."

Sumayya ....