Crescent 92

"Weren't you jealous?"Maryam asked, a playful gleam in her eyes. It was her turn to ward off the dread.

She didn't want Hayaa to think she was that much affected, or, going to be affected, by the tale.

"As my younger sister, I couldn't be jealous of you. After all, it's the duty of the elder to protect the younger."

Hayaa answered with all sincerity.

Her mother had always told her that. She never had any younger siblings, but she said, if she'd be allowed to express her view, she believed that Allah put elder siblings so they could protect the younger ones.

So she imbibed her eldest daughter with that notion.

Subsequently, she would not have to worry about these stuffs of 'sibling quarrels'.

"A butterfly followed you afterwards.

Midnight black, satin wings. Frail and fragile they were.

Though you loved it and it seemed to like your company, you would never encage it to prevent it from leaving you.

Somer, you called it. Though for whatever reason, ..we would not know.

You didn't want to steal its freedom.

But, it stole your freedom. Your identity."Hayaa eyes looked pained as she stared away from Maryam.

She didn't want her to see the anguish and sorrow in her eyes.

"The butterfly stopped appearing all of a sudden.. We didn't see it again, and you fell sick immediately after and couldn't leave your bed.

At first we thought you were just sad your pet 'insect' had left you. But then, things became serious as you began floating in and out of consciousness.

Father called in many physicians, but none of them had the answer to your ailment.

At that time, we would not have thought of anything anywhere near the need for Ruqyah.

Your strength to leave the bed, had simply gone, and you were bedridden perpetually."

"She was Junnah from grandmother's time, wasn't she?"Maryam's light voice was carried to her, now sober.

Hayaa only nodded.

"It was a jinn.

But we only got to know that years later when the attack on the South district started, and Sheikh Inaayat visited us with a strange story about an encounter with a girl who looked exactly as you. He pieced together that the butterfly probably was not really the creature it appeared to be.

Even though you rarely hear of them taking such forms.

But Junnah did so, to get close to you. And after that, - handicapped you, using your image for her own ends."

Maryam nodded absentmindedly, the clear picture unfolding before her eyes.

Beautiful on the outside, deadly on the inside.. Five years of her life were stolen, just like that.

For the five years after that, Maryam would spend her life bedridden. Only at ten would she be herself again.

In order to take her place and her form, Junnah had done all this.

All the pieces now fitted perfectly in Maryam's head. She remembered how Arkaan and the green-eyed girl looked at her, as though they had met her before.

She never had.

It was impossible for that encounter in the first place, due to her sickness of that time.

But there was one more question she wanted to ask, more like confirm..

"If she was there at grandmother's time, ..she couldn't be my Qareen, right?"

Hayaa laughed in derision, though, not at Maryam,

"Junnah was many things..

Deceiver.

Schemer.

Impostor.

Murderer.

Vile.."

She stretched the last word with hate palpable on her lips. Maryam could easily tell how much hate her elder sister had for Junnah.

"But the one thing Junnah was not, and could never be, ..is a Qareen to you.

She was an Ifritah(female Ifrit), if anything."Hayaa muttered in vehement detestation.

Perhaps, anyone who remembered the veiled jinni would feel as her sister, even Arkaan.

By now she was sure that, the girl Arkaan had met all those years ago, the girl because of whom he had asked 'whether they had met before', the girl who was in her likeness for five years.. had all along, been Junnah..

She didn't know what encounter Arkaan had with the female jinni all those years ago. But it only made sense.. as she had never left the bed after her fifth year, till when she was ten.

Arkaan seemed so sure to have met her when he asked her that question in the Chinese market that day, but Maryam had no real memory of such an encounter!

All in the Southern district, and perhaps even the whole of their island city knew a daughter of Al Maghribi was bedridden for half a decade. After all, not only were they a closely-knitted society, but even the Al Maghribi family itself, was very famous here. For decades since their clan was established here, they'd hold a special position in the City's Council.

So how did Junnah succeed in fooling everybody.

Or was it just the people who did not know of her that she'd appear to?

Strangers like Arkaan and the green-eyed girl?

But then her sister mentioned Junnah had been the cause of havoc on the entire city, she couldn't have caused it without making her presence known to people at least, on a wide scale..

They must have realized it wasn't her, once she appeared in her form.

The veiled jinni.. Perhaps, that could have been the reason for her dark veil. She perhaps appeared in that form to the vast majority who knew she wasn't Maryam.

The terror in the green-eyed girl..

..

The next thing Hayaa said, made her heart leap with fear she had not felt before.

"Junnah proved her power as a strong jinni, - an ifritah, by what came next upon Tâ Hâ, sometime after she stole your image.

Your sickness was just the harbinger..

Junnah had never betrayed her people.

She had deceived grandma all along.

Took the life and identity of her progeny.

And then led an assault on Tâ Hâ's South district."

"But for what?"Maryam's voice came out lighter than usual, and disturbed,"If she wanted revenge on grandmother, she needn't attack a whole district to fulfil her revenge.

She already took a part of my life, why attack others with her people?.. They weren't even the same ones who drove them out of their homes."

No matter how you looked at it, Maryam couldn't understand the motive behind the attack on South district.

Involving those who had nothing to do with her feud.

This was pure evil.

..Junnah was pure evil.

"What was her reason?" Maryam asked again, her voice strained, tears almost palpable from it. She couldn't understand why all of a sudden, she was made to suffer such an injustice. She couldn't understand why innocent people had to be harmed through her. She even ended up using her identity to do all those things.

Junnah was pure evil, was all her mind could tell her.

She had tried empathising with this jinni who had lost her home. She really had. But to hurt others because of your wrath, moreover, those who had no hand in what had happened, was just so unfair.

She had never done anything to wrong this jinni, and yet, Junnah had literally crippled her life for five years!

The residents of the South district weren't the same ones who took her home, yet, she had attacked them.

Hayaa's words blurred by her ears,"Did they really needed a reason?

If human beings who were created of dust are capable of violence, without any justification, how much more the jinn, created of the more unstable material of fire.

The shadow of a Bloody moon was cast over the South. The whole district was on lockdown.

No one dared to enter. And those that were in, wouldn't even leave their homes.

But day-in day-out, there were always possessions that occurred, even in the safety of homes.

When a father was affected, he turned against his own wife.

When a mother was affected, her children were in danger of being killed by her own hand.

Children, had the blood of their siblings, on their own hands.

In the whole South district, the only safest place was the Circles of Inaayat, and there, the Ruqyah began.

The students of the halaqah were taught to use the Qur'an in every situation. And Ruqyah, was just another form of what they had learnt, being put into practical use.

A Starry night sky.

Hope, light in the lair of the dark and evil things.

The battle ended with one child..

Only a few know what truly happened, and our estate was a part of the East district, although the most southern part.

Those who were affected said, they stood as a large mob, outside of Masjidur-Rahman when their senses came back to them. And upon the highest tower, they heard the adhaan being called.

It was a young boy on the minaret. They said the voice sounded like the verge of breaking into tears. But it was strong.

They couldn't see the boy, for he was far up. And they never saw him afterward. It was as if, he called the adhaan for the end of the battle between jinn and man, and disappeared right after that.

Even Sheikh Inaayat and his students were cornered in the masjid by that time. They couldn't perform a massive exorcism on all those possessed bodies. It was too risky, and the children lives would be in danger.

But that voice saved them.

We never heard of Junnah again.

And you were fully yourself about a year later, with no memory of what had happened."

Five years worth of memories.

Maryam saw those years pass as a blur, and if you asked her to comment on it, there would be nothing remarkable she could really tell you.

However, she did remember seeing her mother every time, by her bedside. She couldn't tell night from day, but she almost never saw her mother leave her side.

Her mother would spend hours sitting by her sickbed for all those years, tightly holding her weak and pale hands, spending her night reading to her the Seerah of the prophet, alayhis-salaat wasSalaam.

Everything appeared to her as a dream.

Now that she thought of it, she realized where her familiarity with Arkaan came from..

She did really see him!

But once only, in between her lapses of consciousness on a night, within her room in the East wing!

If she ever told anyone however, they wouldn't believe her!!!

Even though Hayaa had told her all this, she didn't know what to feel towards Junnah. She should hate her.

But, she didn't.

She didn't know why.

But it was clear Junnah was an enemy to her, her nemesis.

Junnah.. Was it your revenge for what grandmother did to your tribe? Even though you knew I wasn't even born at that time..

Even though you knew I had nothing to do with it..

I was innocent.

The South district was innocent.

"Nobody knows her reason..,"Hayaa said, soliloquying, as though she had heard Maryam's thoughts just now."But perhaps, two can tell.."She said faintly.

"Who and who?" Maryam blurted out, her heart palpitating. She needed to know the reason. Why her life, and that of others were tormented so. They might have no memories of the event, but just knowing a considerable length of time had been stolen from her life and that of others, and that violence had occurred by use of her identity and bodies of others, was unforgivable. It couldn't have just been for fun, or out of a wimp.

She needed a reason.

Not a reason to hate Junnah, she realized. A reason to justify her own feelings, - why her heart wasn't willing to hate the jinni, ..as though it knew something others didn't.

Whoever they were who knew the answers, she would seek them out if she had to. She needed to know what for Junnah had existed, and what her ambition was towards. Was it revenge as her sister and others had held believe of?

There was one name in mind however. One name, of someone who might have known her intimately.

"Zak's former Ustadh, Sheikh Inaayat, and, ..someone else. A boy.

Sheikh Inaayat wouldn't tell us his name. But from everything we know so far, he had the most encounter with her, and he called the adhaan to end the event of the Bloody moon and Starry night sky."

Arkaan.. Maryam wasn't sure. But this was the name that whispered to her with Hayaa's words.

Hayaa looked at Maryam's eyes which were sunk in deep thought. Of course, she had her own speculation about who the boy was, but she wouldn't tell her.

And she was 90% sure her guess was right.

After meeting him once again, and after so long a time.. How couldn't she realize..

"It took five years for you to be free.

The havoc occurred on South district when you were nine. It was during that time when Sheikh Inaayat visited us and theorized your case wasn't a natural condition of illness. We wouldn't think it before, because there was no link to tell us why you'd come under a jinn attack.

You were a nice and sweet child after all, growing up the good Muslimah way. By Allah, you wouldn't steal the freedom from any creature, how much more hurt them. So it came as a surprise to us.

At first, father suspected King Dhul Qarnayn or al-Ayn(the evil eye). But then the scholar dismissed it.

The jinni had visited his halaqah once with a request.

Before that, Sheikh Inaayat had always heard from Zak about you, and so had once come to pray for your healing.

However, after meeting the jinn, he realized the truth..

The human appearance the jinn had used to move about in the city was your very own ..Maryam."

Even at that time, no one could believe it. For the jinn had never once appeared to any of the family members, except as a butterfly to the little Maryam and in their mother's dreams.

"That was why she had you in that state. So you wouldn't interfere with whatever she did."

Looking at Maryam's eyes sink deeper in her own thoughts, Hayaa added,

"Junnah possessed the boy too at some point, and made him do things.

However, the worse she did was to bring her entire tribe to the South district, leading to the mass possessions, strange illnesses, and violence. A repeat of the bloody moon and starry night sky event that occurred in Rawdhātul Jannā.

Junnah had never really betrayed her tribe.

She was always in connection with them, ..till the end."Hayaa's words sounded harshly in Maryam's ears.

"It makes us wonder, till now, which side had she always been on?

Till now, had her heart even accepted Islam?"Hayaa sighed.

"No one knows what happened to Junnah and her people. After that adhaan, you would hardly hear of jinn possessions on this island again.

Your sickness was resolved also.

Even though we knew the locket and key was the medium through which Junnah got to you, it didn't have to be removed anymore from you. They were gone.

It was also grandmother's token at her death after all."Hayaa said with a tone of finality, making Maryam know she had finished her recount.

Maryam had known a number of people in her short span of 17 years, and had seen and witnessed diverse characters, the good and the bad.. But Junnah, Junnah was pure evil.., as long as what Hayaa said was true.

She had new questions.

But she knew her sister didn't have the answers to all of them, especially Junnah's raison d'etre. And even if she did, she could tell her sister wouldn't be willing to tell her anymore.

She's ended her tale after all.

She'd just have to ask Arkaan about it then! Something told her he held the answers to all her questions!

But did Arkaan remember?

She had not.

Especially since he had also been possessed at a point in time. Most probably, as an effect of the possession Junnah had on him, he had lost those memories.

They stayed in the silence for a while, both their eyes travelling in thought, till Hayaa spoked again,

"The veil..

The niqab is a protection against the jinn too, did you know, Maryam?"Her voice came out softly.

"Why mother and I wanted you to wear the face veil was that, apart from it being a requirement to enter into the Veiled Sisters' halaqah, it also served as a protection from the jinn inasmuch as the hijab itself.

The Qareen are said to take the form of their human counterparts because they've been with them, knowing every detail about them, their appearances and their habits.

Junnah might not have been that type of jinn..

However, she was able to steal your face,

Your identity..

The face veil would have made it more troublesome for her to mimic you, presenting herself to others as if you were the very one.

Behind the face veil is a hidden identity for the modest."

"Shukran yaa Ukhtii.."was all Maryam said, as she sat still, gazing into the distance.

Hayaa understood what that meant, and touched Maryam's shoulder comfortingly, as she got up.

"It's all in the past now. She's long gone."She whispered.

The boy also left the island soon after.

But now that he's back, I'll protect you.. As your eldest sister.

Hayaa walked away. She knew her sister needed time to assimilate all that was said to her.

'Who and who?'Maryam had asked her.

She had only told her Sheikh Inaayat, and ..someone else. But if she had told her she didn't know who that someone else was, or didn't have speculations of him, she'd be lying.

Actually, it would never have dawned to her that he was the one. But after seeing him, after so many years now, she was certain.

That was why she wouldn't trust him.

...

Even as Hayaa walked into her room at the East wing, she held unto her door's threshold, and looked ahead. From there, she could see Maryam's door from an angle, on the other wall.

When it was opened, she saw a considerable portion of the room, and who walked within, as long as they were close to the door, she could see them.

She remembered.

A starless night.

The radiance of a moon fell on his lanky figure, probably from being malnourished at that time.

He stood where she could see him, oblivious of her.

He looked at the sleeping Maryam with confliction within, from how Hayaa could see his holding her bedspread tightly, and pained facial expression.

He whispered something to the sleeping girl.

Hayaa was stupefied and so had done nothing, until the time he bent down, as if to peck the sleeping girl.

Not her little sister.

She wouldn't allow anyone to defile her Maryam.

"Hey!"She shouted, running towards her room. How had he made it in here, - East wing, without anyone noticing him. This was disastrous. It meant East wing could be infiltrated by any Non-mahram at anytime.

For a moment, two shining emerald stones for eyes, turned back to look at her.

Confusion turned to realization.

And then when she got to the room, he was gone. The window wide open to show his route of entry and escape.

Hayaa had never mentioned this to anyone, to protect her younger sister's dignity. But she had advocated for her father to step up security.

Eyes like emerald stones. She had never trusted them.

Especially since they were always drawn to her younger sister, then, and even now.

..

Even as she continued sitting at the steps, Maryam thought back to the dream. She had memorized every single detail of the butterfly and the girl. How they looked alike, and their subtle differences.

She remembered.

Apart from the face veil that told them apart, Junnah and her had one other difference..

Their anklets..

Although their anklets both had the same key to it, they both were missing the locket..

But more importantly, their anklets were different.

Whilst her own was a copper anklet with the symbol of the butterfly wings, ..Junnah's own was a simple trinket.

Something you'd buy from a peddler across the street. There was nothing remarkable about it, but she seemed to wear it with a form of content.

What bothered Maryam also was that, everybody believed she must have had the locket.

Only she knew that, she had lost the locket years ago. The moment she had woken up from that long dream, it was gone.

And so was Junnah.