BFFs: Married To My Sister's Best friend

43. Malam Escaped

"Assalamu Alaikum." Abba and a man who looks to be in his early thirties enter Sa'eed's house to find Sa'eed grunting and groaning while holding his head in his hands. He slips from the cushion to the ground with a soft thump and holds his head as sweat breaks out on his body, forming beads on his neck and forehead.

He doesn't feel himself, since the day he watched SpongeBob SquarePants with Halima in the parlor. He feels like he's been trapped right behind his eyes as he's being forced to watch someone else take over his body. He has tried to lose the thing controlling him but he still can't.

He doesn't know if it's because he's trying to escape from that dark abyss, but he's having a serious headache. It feels as if a whole band using nothing but percussion instruments are having a concert with his brain serving as the theater. He feels as if the actual him which seems to be trapped right behind his eyes is hitting his eyes and trying so hard to break free.

The captivating smell of musk fill his olfactory senses making the pounding in his head louder and more painful. Instead of the musk to smell nice, he feels disguted by it. He feels as if it's the reason for his condition.

Whipping his head up, he's met with the passive look of his father and the curious look of a man who appears to be an Islamic scholar.

"Bismillah. Sit down." Abba says ushering the man fully into the parlor. Another wave of pain which holds his neck travels over to his head, sending a large pang making hin groan more as he sweats furiously. The scholar sits down and drops his eyes to a twisting Sa'eed.

"This my son, Sa'eed. He has been acting out of character and we're suspecting he's been charmed. We need confirmation and help." Abba says and gestures to the scholar who stoops to Sa'eed's level to look into his eyes. He scampers, breathing heavily as he mutters Du'as under his breath.

"He seems to be possessed, and this Jinn in him isn't here on its own, it was forced and it's trying to escape. I need to do Ruqiyya for him. He might pass out and not wake up for a few days because when a Jinn is forced into a human's body, it becomes exhausting for them." Abba nods thoughtfully then gives the scholar the go ahead to perform the Ruqiyya on Sa'eed. He asks Abba to hold Sa'eed tight and keep saying Du'as under his breath. There's a chance that when the Jinn leaves Sa'eed's body, it might possess one of the other occupants of the room. Even though that's highly unlikely since the Jinn is forced, prevention is way better and easier than cure.

The scholar starts reciting as Sa'eed grunts. The Sa'eed that feels like he's being controlled is finally gaining his own body back, bit by bit though. After about thirty minutes of recitation, the Jinn yanks itself out of Sa'eed's body and leaves.

Sa'eed falls to the ground with a slow thud. All he can think of, as he slips in and out of consciousness is how Halima is, where she could be among others. The darkness finally engulfs him. Abba takes his to his car and pays the Malam who refuses to collect payment as what he did is just charity.

Sa'eed's house is locked and they drive to Abba's house. Now what to do with Aleesha, is all that invades Abba's mind.

Aleesha peeps into Malam mai yanka's crib, the place is literally empty. By empty it means even the hut is no longer there. She sights a gourd with a white cloth on it sitting there. She picks the gourd and holds it while trying to read what's written on the white cloth.

I know Sa'eed will start acting somehow, I've left Abuja. Take the contents of this gourd. It'll do one if two things; either it makes Sa'eed fall in love with you all over again or.... Something bad.

Aleesha looks at the gourd. She doesn't know what the bad is but she's sure the worst that can happen is Sa'eed remembering everything. And she has a solution to that. She'd just leave Nigeria for ever and go bury her head in work and work only.

Gulping the contents of the gourd, Aleesha watches the world do a three hundred and sixty degrees - 360° - turn before she starts laughing and twisting as if someone is tickling her.

Within a minute, she's one the floor stuffing damp sand down her throat. She empties her bag and carries her phone. She types a random number and the name Romeo appears. She randomly presses the phone while laughing as she stands up running. She'll start calling him then end the call herself. She runs nonstop till she reaches the front of Sa'eed's house. She throws her bag behind her back and it lands on the windshield of a passing car. The driver of the passing car rolls his window down and throws profanities at Aleesha before driving off.

Aleesha continues tapping her phone furiously and Sa'eed finally picks the call.

"What do you want? Haven't you ruined the little bit of life my son has?" Abba snarls immediately he picks the call.

"Me mad." Aleesha laughs and sits on the ground with open legs.

"Me mad, mad me. Me no sense. Romeo bye bye. Malam mai yanka bye bye." Aleesha laughs again and Abba hisses before ending the call.

At the Abba Sulyaman house, Abba smiles. He's actually happy that Aleesha has gone mad. This means that she's out of his son and daughter in law's life for good. Some may call it schadenfreude, but he doesn't care. Schadenfreude or not, he's happy, and that's all that matters.

But to confirm that there's a closure to the Aleesha chapter, Abba makes a phone call.

"I want you to get Aleesha AbdulMajid to a mental institution. As we speak she should be somewhere in Kuje. Make sure you contact her parents and let them know about her situation." Abba cuts the all and sighs.

Halima lands in Charles de Gualle Airport with a smile on her face. She still can't believe she's going to be in Paris for at least three months. That alone brings a smile to her face. Her smile falls and tears gather in her eyes as she remembers Sa'eed's promise to her before they got married.

"Don't worry, we'll have the best honeymoon at Santorini and then fly to Paris to taste their most exquisite foods." Halima squeals bringing a smile to Sa'eed's face which turns into a wide grin as he watch her happily jump.

Halima wipes the tears that fall and drag her suitcase to the parking lot. The driver that's bringing her a car hasn't arrived so she call him.

"Dèsolè mademoiselle, I'm on my way with the car." The man says once he picks the phone. He has a thick accent that's definitely not French, probably Spanish. Afterall, they're closely related languages. Halima shrugs to herself, ends the call and checks the distance from the hotel - booked by Audu for her - to the culinary Institute - which is coincidentally opposite the makeup Institute.

Google says it's one point eight miles - 1.8 miles - away. That's like a twenty minute drive, Halima muses before exiting the app. A call comes through and she picks it.

"Hali." The person laughs.

Who could it be? The voice sounds familiar.

"I'm not with Romeo anymore." The person laughs again. Aleesha! Halima's heart skip a beat, how did she get her number? This is literally a new number. Her heart starts to beat faster, she starts to hyperventilate, the phone almost slips, but a man with ebony neck long hair catches it.

"Hali, Sa'eed ran away his house. He carry key gate. He leave me. He sense back. Me no sense. Me mad. Abba shout me. Me no sense." Aleesha laughs again. The phone is on hands-free.

Halima closes her eyes, trying to steady her breathing. Aleesha's shout bursts through the phone and a man's voice comes.

"I'm sorry miss... enemy?"

"Halima." Halima corrects.

"We're taking miss AbdulMajid to psychiatry hospital where she'll be taken to our retaining center." the man ends the call and Halima sighs.