The Other

21

(Hana)

                                        I followed Zulaykha downstairs to the living room to pray. I sighed as I thought about how I used to pray with my family when I was still alive... Must be nice, Zulaykha.

But the thing that was mostly on my mind was how Zulaykha had told me that I'm the same as Alma... I am nothing like her. Alma kills. I don't. Yeah, I help her with her revenge, but it isn't anything bad... It's not like I'm helping with the killing... All I'm doing is helping the extra student with this situation.

They all finished praying and Zulaykha headed back to her bedroom. I followed. She closed the door and locked it.

"What was that all about?" I asked. Zulaykha sighed.

"You think you're so innocent, Hana..." she said. "If you show yourself, people will probably know what's going on. They'll probably think you're the one killing people, but so what? You're already dead. Instead, you choose not to show yourself. What if people become suspicious of me? I'm the only one who doesn't get harmed. None of this happened until I came here. They're going to think it's me...especially because I'm Muslim!"

"So that's what this is about?" I asked. "You only care about yourself in this situation! What about everyone else dying?"

"It's not like that!" Zulaykha said. "Of course I care about the people dying. However, I have no control over that. You do! You can talk to Alma. You can stop following her orders! Do something at least! You're just letting it all happen... And pretty soon, I'm probably going to be a suspect..."

I sighed. Zulaykha and I both collapsed on the bed. Zulaykha wants me to show myself to everyone else, but what good will that do? They'll suspect me, I'll tell them the truth, and that won't make a difference. Alma isn't going to stop killing just because people know about her... Plus, people will freak out if they saw me! I wouldn't even have a chance to explain the calamity.

But if I don't show myself, people will just suspect Zulaykha. She'll be taken in for questioning and I'll have to reveal myself then. Therefore, they'll believe her when she tells them about Alma.

But then again... Alma lived a rough life. She is now in hell. Her life can't get any worse. The only thing that makes her happy is her revenge. I'm way too nice to take away her only happiness...

She wants people to suffer like she did. She wants to kill people until there's no one left, but the extra student... Then, the extra student will be suspected and put in a prison, so that person will suffer also.

If she kills Zulaykha, the calamity will end. She won't be able to kill anymore people. Of course she can just kill the extra student afterwards, but that isn't true suffering...

You see, when Alma went to hell, she only asked for one thing from Satan and it was to have her revenge. He granted her that one wish and now, anytime an extra student comes along, Alma will be given the power to kill...