With the First Drop of Rain | Aslaz

Gift

"You know you will pay for this, right?" said the man in white clothing, taking his eyes off the scene in front of him to look at the old man standing beside him.

"There is no punishment heavier for a father than seeing the pain of his daughter," the old man replied.

"So you're ready to bear the consequences, whatever they are?" The man in white didn't need a verbal response; he saw the answer in the old man's eyes.

"Then let's hope your efforts won't be in vain," he said, watching as the old man turned around and walked away, soon disappearing into the light.

A sudden strong wind appeared out of nowhere, announcing the arrival of another man. "Do you think they will succeed this time?" The newcomer asked, with a mix of sincere curiosity and subtle mockery in his voice.

"Who knows," the man in white replied.

"After all, humans are indeed interesting."

***

An awful sound of an alarm filled the small, cozy apartment.

"What is this annoying sound? At least let me sleep now that I'm dead," a woman murmured, hiding her head under the pillow.

Dead...

Second later, a woman with messy hair in pink pajamas sat up straight in her small, single size bed. She looked around as if she were in a movie, and the only thing reminding her that it wasn't a dream was the loud noise of the alarm and the pain in her arm from hitting the corner of the table near her bed while getting up.

"What's going on? Where am I?" said the girl with a confused voice, hitting her cheeks.

She never considered her apartment heaven, but surely it wasn't hell either. And why would she be in hell in the first place? She was the one betrayed and killed by her best friend and her husband.

A sudden intense pain pierced her head, and a flood of memories rushed in. She held her head in her hands, hoping for the pain to end. She remembered everything and felt it all again: the shame, loneliness, and pain both from her sick body and the bitter betrayal.

It lasted minutes until the pain lessened and the world stopped spinning around her. She opened her eyes once again, observing her surroundings. She was really in the bedroom of her old apartment, wearing her worn-out pajamas. The annoying noise was still coming from her alarm, and her old phone lay on the table.

Asi lifted her hands, and her eyes, already wide with shock, grew even bigger. The skin of her hands wasn't cracked, and there were no wound traces from needles.

The moment she noticed the mirror hanging on the wall, she got up from bed and rushed to it. In the mirror, she did not see the Asi aged from disease with tortured facial expressions and black bags under her eyes. Instead, a much younger Asi with shining skin and thick hair looked back at her.

Asi's brain refused to process what was happening. The last thing she remembered was finding Bora and Sude together, naked, in her own bedroom. The pain of betrayal and anger filled her once again. She was curious: when had their dirty affair started? Was it before her illness or after? Didn't their conscience torture them when they were making love in her own house while Asi was sitting alone in a dark hospital room, wondering if she would be alive to see tomorrow?

Her thoughts distracted her from the elephant in the room, the huge question mark hanging in her head. A sudden notification sound startled her from her track of thoughts. Asi extended her trembling hand to her old phone and opened it. Nausea washed over her when she saw Sude's and Bora's names on the screen. But something more important caught her eye.