How I Met Mr Jinn ✔️

Chapter Forty-Three

The Fires That Burn Us All

When she woke, her eyes fluttered open like the patterned wings of a butterfly, and her smile faded in low spirit. Looking into her brown almond-shaped eyes, I came to understand the difference between the two of us at that moment. She was shocked, confused, and just about ready to scream from the pain she felt, but most of all it was the terror that drove her eyes to race across the room searching for an explanation written in our eyes, and the walls when she couldn't find it. I, however, felt relieved, finally able to draw in a long hopeful breath after hours of suffocation.

''Your awake,'' I smiled, stating the obvious.

''Where am I?'' She asked, a hand on her head as she hissed in pain.

''You... don't remember?'' I asked.

''Remember what exactly?''

''Do you think she hit her head?'' Amal wandered out loud, ready to run out and call the doctors.

''Hit my head? How?'' Marisol exclaimed.

''When you were driving, you lost control then you hit a tree or something,'' Olivia explained.

''N- No that can't be right! You know that's not possible, you know I don't drive in this weather.'' She stammered, terror written in her eyes as she spoke.

''Ok, so what's the last thing you remember?'' I asked, stepping closer to her bed.

She attempted to shrug but then yelped in pain after realizing her injuries. ''Uh,'' She scratched the back of her neck nervously, ''I think I took an uber back to my apartment, took a shower, ate some leftover pasta from yesterday then-'' She stopped and stared at us for a minute with her eyes wide. ''Oh my god..''

''What is it?''

''When I went to the bathroom, I... didn't feel myself afterward. I remember staring into the mirror without a single thought in mind, then- then everything became a blur.'' She explained. ''I- I felt like... -like I was watching myself through a window or a screen of some sort, and that I had lost complete control over myself. I couldn't- I couldn't even scream, Ruqaya.''

''It could just be sleepwalking?'' Olivia guessed, trying to lighten the mood- something we all need.

''No, I think I know what it was,'' I replied. Marisol looked up at me with tears in her eyes, after staring at her shaken fingers, and the goosebumps that appeared across her arms. That look, however you might interpret it, made me feel even worse having to say it out loud.

I glanced over at Amal, who with no doubt wore the same look in the eyes I did. Hidden between the different shades of brown, was fear after connecting all the ill-fated dots together to which our eyes knew the words to but our mouths couldn't bare to pronounce. We were broken off by Olivias curiosity, forcing one of us to say the fantasy we all believed was true. ''It's him,'' I began, ''he must have possessed you and made you drive the way you did.''

''But why me?'' She cried, ''I don't even know that douchebag,''

''I think it was more of a way to tell me that I don't have much time left. If I don't cut ties with Grecio quickly, who knows what he'll do next,'' I explained. ''In other words, he's growing impatient.''

''I'm still shaking, and I can't seem to stop,'' Marisol muttered. Amal rested a hand on her shoulder, which Marisol held on to.

''Then do it already,'' Amal snapped, tears in her eyes, ''You knew from the moment you two started talking that it wasn't going to work out for either of you. That you'll be left heartbroken once he leaves, or deceives you!''