By proxy

Chapter three: sickening spirits

Said Bennani follows a very meticulous morning routine. He wakes up at around 6 during the winter season and makes himself a nice breakfast. For today, he's having an olive harcha on which he drizzled some honey, two sunny sides up eggs and of course a tall glass of mint tea. If he got hungry later in the morning he could still steal from Mona's collation.

At about 7, he'd heat up some water for his ablutions and read some Quran to have something to ponder upon for the day. After Fajr and the morning adhkar he irons his clothes and get ready for school.

Mona wasn't late today, her wound had almost completely healed, and all she had was little scratches on her hand from a fiercely playful Tux.

- 'You smell heavily of orange.' Said exclaimed.

- 'That is because I ate like five of them earlier.'

- 'You're so going to get diarrhoea.'

- 'First of all, it's constipation. Besides, they're so good I can't resist.'

The atmosphere at Lachelier's had changed, it was a lot more silent and because of that silence, you could hear the whisperings of students all the better. The school director, Madame Himmler, made a speech concerning the recent tragic events, she informed them that counsellors would be available if needed.

The philosophy majors received a replacement, Miss Ghizlane. It surely felt good not to endure the mockeries and tricks of Habib , but Mona never wanted things to end up that way, or did she?

She could feel the eyes of her classmates on her, after all she was the only one who disliked him, maybe she did it. While the lecture started, Mona was daydreaming about her investigation, there were a lot of students who were sexually abused by Habib, both females and males. Rumour said that he didn't even do it for carnal pleasure, but just for the power, just to see his victims drown in shame and horror. It could be anyone , he dad so many enemies, but then remember that the school is also very suspicious in this case. Habib could do whatever he wanted, they probably didn't say anything because of all the scandals it would bring on them. An enterprise must maintain their image, though fake it may be.

Or maybe it was Mona, haven't you ever considered that possibility? After all, she does hate a lot of people, everyone in general. She hates her family because they've abandoned her, especially her mom. Though, through no wish of her own, you see, her dad always talks about how useless, lazy, ugly and stupid their mother is. But Mona didn't want her daddy to see her that way, she didn't want to be associated let alone become the useless-lazy-ugly-stupid thing that was poisoning their home. No, she can't, she can't, she just can't. Her daddy, the living person she loved the most, started rejecting her, rejecting her like a three-day-old leftover. Of course, that kind of thing takes its toll on a young woman, if your dad doesn't love you, who will?

Perhaps Mona got angry, so angry that she went on a killing spree, taking lives whenever she just couldn't take it anymore, maybe she did it in order to feel just the tiniest bit of human contact, maybe she held the hands of her victims before they died, or hugged them, kissed them , loved them. Or maybe all that I've just told you wasn't worth a dime.

There's also the possibility that good old Said committed those crimes, the majority of victims were men, and Saadoune has some pretty serious daddy issues. Always nagging him, always belittling him, and comparing him with his successful doctor of a brother. Nevertheless, Sasha cannot possibly affirm that his father doesn't love him. His father intrinsically loves him, the thing that inhabits him, however, does not. To Said, his dad is possessed, possessed by all those spirits that he gobbles up each and every night, even in the blessed month. If Sara became fond of cheese following her trip to Munich, Hicham Bennani took a liking to drinking. Though he drinks at night, and sometimes in the evening, he's brain is the brain of an addict, a slave to dopamine.

After all, isn't alcohol the Arabic word for spirit? Spirits that poison the hearts of men, rendering them partly obsolete, possessing them. Turning them into pseudo tyrants, controlling them like puppets while at the same time making them feel in charge.

And so, dear readers, who do you think is the culprit? Mashenka, who grew up in a burning house, or Sashenka who lives in a haunted house? The answer is none. Simply because they weren't even born when the first fake suicide happened, the death of little Aya . The truth definitely lies elsewhere.

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- 'Sasha, Sasha, you'll never guess.' Said an excited Mona as she was climbing in the white Uno.

- 'You got a crush on someone.' Said Said without looking up from his phone.

- 'Anyway, today is an amazing day for my self-confidence.'

- 'And why is that?'

- 'Well there's this guy in English Studies who I often run into.'

- 'Whom.'

- 'Pardon?'

- 'It's "whom" but sure continue.'

- 'So I often run into him since my best friend is also in English Studies and the other he asked me what exactly was wrong with my hands, like why they had so many cuts etc. And at first I thought it was really rude, like "Mind your own business, okay?", and today he shows up with a pair of woollen gloves as a gift to me. I think I'm going to cry, this is the cutest thing that's ever happened to me this year. I can't wait to go home and overthink all of this.'

- 'If there's a wedding I want a chicken bastilla not the fish one.'

- 'If there's a wedding I'll buy you a scooter. I'd be surprised if he still remembers me by the end of the semester.'

I forgot to mention that L'académie Lachelier of arts and humanities is outside of Eljadida, somewhere in Sidi Bennour. On their route they pass by the golf resort, the forest of Haouziya, the beach of Sidi Bouzid, taking in the fresh ocean air.

When the odd twins arrived at their destination, they found the street packed with passers-by since it was Friday.

- 'I'm going to the mosque, would you like to come with?' Suggested Said.

- 'No thanks, maybe next week.'

- 'Okay then. Don't wait for me and don't leave me any food, I don't feel like couscous today.'

- 'Got it.'

The prince went straight up to his room . If Said Bennani wore his best clothes on any occasion, he reserved his better outfits for his mosque outings. He first took a bath, as he had more than enough time to get ready. After thoroughly drying his hair, he lit some incense and let the fragrance wrap around his qamees, the latter is a gift from an old friend. He used a lint roller to clean the shirt from any cat fur and went out when he heard the call to prayer.

The mosque was newly built, you could sense it by smelling the odour of new carpet. There were a few boys running around, an unbothered cat was cleaning himself by the entrance. Said listened to the lecture, it was about ecology. Nowadays, a lot of people take many blessings that we have for granted. How it irritates me to see water gushing heavily from a tap while the user could have used a small bucket or only opened the tap a little. One in ten people in the world lack basic services regarding safe drinking water, which is quite sad. With this in mind, Sasha tries his best to take with parsimony and give some back when he can.