CHAPTER 3: MEMORIES OF DARKNESS

Rain continued pounding against the iron-sheet roof with a terrifying heavy rhythm.

Grrrrr… tchaaah… tchaaah…

Inside the house, the air felt thick, as though the walls themselves were listening to everything happening within.

Adili remained standing at the doorway of the guest room, staring at Zawadi with eyes full of shock.

His heart pounded violently.

“You are my husband…”

Those words echoed endlessly inside his mind like the whisper of a curse.

“What do you mean?” he asked again, his voice trembling with fear.

Zawadi did not answer immediately.

She simply kept staring at him.

Her dark eyes looked as if they concealed another world deep inside them.

Then slowly, she spoke.

“You forgot… but I never did.”

A freezing chill crawled down Adili’s spine.

“Fo… forgot what?” he asked weakly.

Suddenly—

BANG!

The front door slammed violently again.

“ADILI!” Bi. Sauda’s voice shouted from outside. “I told you to get that woman out of here!”

Adili turned slightly in frustration.

“Mother, please! People are sleeping!”

But when he turned back toward Zawadi—

the bed was empty.

Adili froze.

“What…?”

He quickly scanned the room.

No window was open.

There was no second door.

Yet Zawadi had vanished completely.

A Shadow in the Living Room

Adili’s heartbeat grew faster.

“Zawadi?” he called quietly.

No answer.

Slowly, he stepped out of the room.

The living room was dark except for the faint flashes of lightning entering through the windows every few seconds.

Flaaash!

For one brief instant—

he saw someone standing beside the wall.

Adili jumped in fear.

But when the lightning disappeared…

no one was there.

“Am I dreaming?” he whispered while struggling to breathe steadily.

Then he heard another sound.

Children laughing.

A distant laugh.

But it was coming from inside the house.

Adili felt his blood turn cold.

Slowly, he followed the sound toward the kitchen.

As he moved closer, the same scent of flowers from his dream began filling the air around him.

A sweet scent.

But one that carried something sickening beneath it.

When he reached the kitchen…

he found the light on.

And Zawadi stood there silently.

Her back facing him.

“How did you get here?” Adili asked with a shaking voice.

Zawadi did not turn around.

Instead, she spoke softly.

“They are coming…”

“Who?”

This time, Zawadi slowly turned toward him.

Her eyes were completely black now.

Not a trace of white remained.

“The ones who took our children.”

Adila Wakes Up

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened.

Adila stepped out, sleep still heavy in her eyes.

“Adili… why haven’t you come back to bed?”

But the moment she saw Zawadi—

she stopped moving.

Her expression slowly changed.

As if she sensed something evil in the air.

“Why do her eyes look like that…?” Adila whispered fearfully.

Zawadi stared at Adila silently.

And for the first time…

she smiled.

But it was not a normal smile.

It was the smile of someone who knew a terrible secret.

“Poor you…” Zawadi said gently, her voice disturbingly soft.

Adili turned sharply.

“Don’t speak to her like that.”

Zawadi ignored him.

She kept staring directly into Adila’s eyes.

“Every night you pray for a child… don’t you?”

The color drained from Adila’s face.

“H-how do you know that?”

A violent wind suddenly burst through the house.

The windows began slamming on their own.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The lights flickered wildly.

Bi. Sauda screamed from her room.

“I knew it! I knew there was a demon inside this house!”

The First Truth

Within seconds—

the children’s laughter returned again.

This time much closer.

Very close.

Adila began trembling.

“Adili…” she whispered while gripping his arm tightly. “I’m scared…”

But Adili himself had frozen.

Because now…

he could see them.

Small shadowy figures walking slowly at the end of the hallway.

Three children.

Standing in the darkness.

Watching him silently.

Then one of them spoke in a thin, terrifying voice.

“Daddy…”

Adili felt the strength leave his legs.

“No…” he whispered. “That’s impossible…”

Zawadi slowly closed her eyes.

Black tears began rolling down her cheeks.

Then she whispered softly:

“At last… you remember us.”

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