Merit, Ahmed, and Maryam

Ahmed married Maryam, his friend and university classmate. They spent a beautiful honeymoon together, and upon returning home, Ahmed's parents visited them to congratulate the newlyweds. It was customary in their village for parents to bring all their children's belongings that had been left behind, in addition to gifts for both the bride and groom.

When his parents arrived, Maryam warmly welcomed them. As they opened the packages, Ahmed was delighted to see that his parents had gathered all his old belongings, which had remained stored away due to his previous lack of a permanent home. During his university years, he had lived in a dormitory, and during vacations, he stayed in temporary accommodations.

Everyone had long forgotten Ahmed’s past experiences—those strange occurrences in his old room that had driven him to leave for Cairo and settle there. However, as they unpacked, an old black suitcase appeared, filled with books that had remained untouched. Excited, Ahmed handed the suitcase to Maryam, asking her to set it aside so they could organize its contents later.

The first two days passed happily with family. On the third day, Ahmed bid his parents farewell as they returned to their village. That evening, curiosity got the best of Maryam. She hurried to open the suitcase, eager to see if it contained any old letters from past relationships. She wanted to find them first and hide them if necessary. However, when she opened the suitcase, she was met with an unexpected surprise—a small pharaonic statue that closely resembled her, accompanied by a dark red-black agate ring.

Stunned, Maryam turned to Ahmed and asked, "Did you send my picture to an artist in your hometown to have this statue made for me as a gift without my knowledge?"

At that moment, Ahmed was equally shocked. Memories of his past came flooding back, reminding him of the eerie experiences that had led him to leave his old home.

This marked the beginning of their troubles—hallucinations, illusions, and a deep fear of the unknown.

The night after opening the suitcase, Maryam placed the small statue inside a glass cabinet that held various collectibles. However, the next day, she noticed something strange—the statue had moved from its original spot. She thought she might have misremembered where she had placed it and dismissed the thought. She chose not to mention it to Ahmed, fearing he might mock her.

Maryam was unaware of the history behind this statue or its significance. She simply believed Ahmed had commissioned it for her as a thoughtful gift.

That night passed uneventfully. However, later, when Ahmed woke up to use the bathroom, he was startled to see a full-sized image of Merit—a woman from his past—etched onto the bathroom wall. He slammed the door shut and hurried back to Maryam, making an excuse about the water being cut off.

By morning, when Maryam entered the bathroom, she found nothing unusual and reassured Ahmed that the water was running fine. She didn't see what he had seen. When he asked if everything seemed normal, she casually confirmed, mentioning that all the toiletries and perfumes were in place. Ahmed rubbed his eyes, convincing himself that he had imagined the whole thing.

Ahmed and Maryam both left for work. Ahmed, who worked in a laboratory at the university's science faculty, was used to conducting experiments in a controlled environment. Everything had always functioned as expected—until that day.

As he resumed his work after his wedding leave, he noticed something inexplicable. Each time he tried to mix chemical compounds, the reaction would occur before he even initiated it. Bewildered, he wondered if he had absentmindedly performed the experiment without realizing it.

This happened repeatedly, in various ways. Sometimes, a solution would disappear entirely. Other times, its volume would increase or decrease inexplicably. In some cases, unexpected additives caused unpleasant odors or small, harmless explosions.

Concerned, his supervisor patted him on the shoulder and said, "We trust you, Ahmed, but perhaps you need some rest. The wedding must have exhausted you."

Ahmed was baffled. He had not anticipated such disturbances following him to work.

That evening, as he and Maryam returned home together, she went to prepare dinner. When she opened the china cabinet to retrieve some tableware, she saw something terrifying—the pharaonic statue was smiling at her, winking with one eye while keeping the other open.

Terrified, she screamed for Ahmed to come and see what had happened. When he arrived, however, the statue appeared unchanged. He saw nothing unusual.

Maryam insisted that she had seen it move, but Ahmed reassured her, saying, "This statue is carved from alabaster, which creates an illusion depending on how you look at it."

Maryam calmed down somewhat, but Ahmed knew better. The strange incidents at work were proof that something unnatural was occurring. He began to suspect that Merit—his past tormentor—had followed him from his village to Cairo.

The next day at the lab, Ahmed experienced the most shocking encounter yet. Merit fully materialized before him—not as a mere vision, but as a shadowy figure only he could see. She began speaking to him, commanding him, but he dared not respond, fearing his colleagues would think he had lost his mind.

Sometimes, she laughed at him. Other times, she raged. She appeared in different places—sometimes right before his eyes, other times hovering near the ceiling. The constant hauntings drove Ahmed to the brink of insanity, eventually forcing him to leave his job.

The worst came when he returned home. As Maryam changed out of her work clothes, she asked Ahmed to retrieve some plates from the kitchen. Moments later, he was shocked to see Maryam already there, dressed in her home clothes and arranging the plates.

Confused, he asked, "How did you change so quickly?"

She didn't respond. Suspicious, he rushed to the bedroom—only to find the real Maryam still in the process of changing.

Panicked, he ran back to the kitchen, but the second "Maryam" had vanished. That night, as Maryam went to bed, Ahmed sat in front of the television, trying to make sense of everything.

Suddenly, the TV screen flickered, and the channel changed on its own. To his horror, the news anchor presenting the program transformed into Merit. She stared directly at him through the screen and spoke:

"Divorce your wife and devote yourself to me. I have always been your true love—from a time long before this one. I will never leave you."

To be continued…