AASHIQ: A Lustful Demon✔️

Chapter Five

Preeta and I were back in our room. The food was delicious, surprisingly. I thought it'd be as nasty as the food in high school cafeterias, but it wasn't. I had steak and spaghetti on the side while Preeta had a tacos, a carton of fruit juice and some slices of roast.

"Tell me more about yourself." Preeta said to me. I looked at her and smiled, realizing we didn't talk about ourselves in the cafeteria.

"Well I'm Aisha Muhammad. I'm eighteen and a Human Physiology major. My dad really wanted me to study business administration but girl, I'd rather be in a hospital than go on all those business trips with my father. He's barely ever at home. I love to read and hangout with the right people. I guess that's it?" I replied her.

"Do you have any phobias?" Preeta asked as she munched on some chips. For the little time I spent with her, I noticed she loved to eat. Her mouth was barely ever still.

"Uh yeah. Arachnophobia. Yeah, arachnophobia." I nodded. Preeta raised a brow at me.

"Just that?" I nodded again and she shrugged.

"Well I have spectrophobia at times."

I looked at her in confusion. I had never heard of that word in my whole eighteen years of living.

"Spectrophobia is a fear of mirrors or spectres. The fear may not be of the mirrors themselves, but what they represent and reflect. Many times, this fear can be tied to religious beliefs or superstitions." she said.

"So what's it like in your case? Are you scared of the mirrors themselves or something else?" I asked curiously.

     "In India, there's this belief that we shouldn't look into mirrors after midnight or we may just see something we aren't supposed to see." she shrugged like it was normal.

     "Have you seen anything? In the mirror, I mean." I asked.

     "Yeah, quite a number of times. I'm used to seeing them wherever I go." she chuckled.

     "What do mean by them?" Preeta burst out laughing and some pieces of chips came out the side of her mouth. She quickly wiped them with the back of her palm and sobered up.

     "You should've seen your face. I was only kidding."

     I didn't find it funny but I forced a smile.

     "Let me tell you about my family." She changed the topic, thankfully.

     "So, I have an older brother, Aashiq. He's in his third year here. I had a younger brother who got killed by some girl. My mum isn't taking it so well and she has promised to take revenge on whoever that person is." She paused for a moment and I could swear I saw her glare at me.

     "My dad is probably somewhere in the desert now. He works with the Ministry of Environment in India and they're on this program to transform the dry lands of Asia. I don't know about my other relatives though I've heard from my mum that they live around the world. They're everywhere."

     I nodded my head. "Do you think it's weird to like," I watched her facial expression before I continued, "see strange things in the mirror?"

     She shook her head and smiled at me. "I don't know what it feels like to see things in the mirror, but it isn't weird. It does happen."

     "Will you be freaked out if I said I see things?" I asked cautiously.

     "Of course not Aisha. Do you see things?" I nodded my head and she adjusted her sitting position.

     "Tell me what you see, Aisha."

     "Okay so it started one night. Mum asked me to take out the trash from the kitchen and I did. I took it to a dumpster and turned to go home. I felt like something was following me but when I turned, there was nothing. So I ran home. That night, I had looked in my mirror and I saw," I paused to catch my breath.

     "I saw my reflection smiling back at me. I told my mum but she didn't believe me. She thought it was a prank. Another night, I felt a weight pressing down on me. When I opened my eyes, there was something there. I really do not want to say what it looked like. Another night, I had a dream where I was in the middle of a desert. There was this black dog and it just, it just scratched at my face. When I woke up, the marks were there. These are just a few of what happened to me. It was driving me insane. I totally understand if you think I'm making this up."

     "Of course not. And what have you done about it?" Preeta asked. Her voice was laced with concern.

     "Nothing. I just feel it'll eventually stop." I sighed.

     "Or maybe just begin." She laughed. I frowned at her and asked, "What do you mean by it may just begin?"

     "Nothing, it's nothing at all. I just find your story intriguing and I'd love to see what it's like to be haunted by some kind of jinn." she replied.

     I looked at her suspiciously. "And how would you know it was a jinn?"

     "Maybe because it was you who killed my brother."