The Other

31

(Yuki)

                                        We arrived at Zulaykha's house. Arlo parked his car across the street and we hopped out the car and approached the house.

It looked like Zulaykha was wealthy too. Her house was huge. We arrived at the door and I gently knocked.

Within seconds, a handsome boy had opened the door.

"Uh... Hi?" the boy said.

"Hey... Uh... I'm looking for Yasir..." I said. The boy smiled.

"Oh, yeah. He's my cousin. My name is Ziyad. Yeah. He's right upstairs." the boy said. "Make yourself at home."

He was so nice and welcoming. Who said Muslims were bad people?

Arlo and I awkwardly walked inside. The boy had left us alone. I was never just welcomed into a stranger's house as if I were family or something.

"Should I take off my shoes?" Arlo asked. "They're not Asian...or are they? They're Muslim... Is that a thing with Muslims too?" Arlo asked numerous questions.

I ignored his questions as I headed up the stairs. As I walked through the house, I saw beautiful photographs of their family and Arabic words in frames hung up on the walls.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I heard a scream...

It was a frightening scream. It came from a girl... Zulaykha? What was going on?

I quickly ran to the room that I heard the scream come from. It looked like Zulaykha's room.

I saw Zulaykha and Yasir standing in the corner of the room as lights flickered on and off.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked.

And just then, Zulaykha's bed had slid across the floor by itself. It slid all the way over to me, forcing me to leave the room. When I was out...the door slammed by itself, locking me out...