Malika.Alexandria, Egypt.
December 17, 2009.
11:45 am.
Malika left Farah"s office thinking about the box. She was trying hard to remember if she ordered anything, she had a photographic memory; it was highly unusual for her to forget. She looked at her watch; her shift already started, but she decided to drive to her house to get the box first. It took her about thirty minutes to arrive, she parked her car outside the house main door and called one of the maids to get her the box.
After a couple of minutes, the maid stood in front of her and said, "Here it is." she gave her the box.
"Who ordered it? Did the delivery man say anything?" she took the box and put it on the car"s hood. The maid told her what happened then went back inside the house leaving Malika slightly confused.
She looked at the box again then took her keys from her bag and opened it. She found a small-sized sticker inside with the address of the sender; it was sent from Seoul, and the date was two days earlier. "Seoul? Maybe Noah?" Malika said and frowned. She opened the letter first; it was blank paper with only one sentence in the middle; Mend Reality. "What?" she put the letter away and looked at the box, it was a small one.
Her frown grew stronger when she found thirty papyrus with hieroglyphics texts placed neatly inside. It looked like as if it was telling a story, the first one she saw caught her attention— on the right side was a drawing of an ancient Egyptian green frog-headed man, sun symbol above his head and next to him an odd-looking bird with a water pot above its head, on the left side were three columns of hieroglyphics written inside a cartouche— Malika was familiar with hieroglyphics and started to translate it. "That"s creepy."
Malika took all the papyrus from the box and spread it on the car"s hood. With endless questions taking over her mind, one question was louder than the others; what if for some unrealistic reason the story written on these papyruses was true?
A sudden shiny light reflected from the box hit her eyes. She left the papyrus on the car and reach her hand inside the box. She held a red amethyst oval quartz gemstone necklace with a clear silver chain between her slim fingers. Despite her light touch over the hard quartz, it cut her finger and her blood dripped over the chain and her hand swiftly.
8:30 pm.
"Malika, wake up." Layla"s voice was soft and calming as usual— Malika"s breathing was deep and steady— Layla called her again but this time she lightly shook her shoulders. Malika moved slightly and rested on her back. "You"re going to get late…wake up," Layla said and tapped on her right arm.
"Stop…" Malika whined when her mother shook her shoulders again.
"It"s 8:30 pm, you"re late," Layla said while turning on the lights and heading outside the room. Malika opened her eyes swiftly; she looked around and found herself in her own bedroom laying on her bed. Her eyes moved to the window next to her, it got wide open in complete denial; it was dark outside.
She sat up quickly but felt sudden pain from the back of her head as if someone hit her hard. She held her head in pain and walked behind her mother and said, "No... It"s 11:45 am… How did I come here?"
"Honey, go change your scrubs"— Layla smiled and touched Malika"s silky hair— "it was a long day at the hospital, but you have to switch your sleeping pattern… you can"t take the night shift if you"re that sleepy."
"What night shift?" Malika said and held her mother"s hand in an alert.
Layla laughed at Malika"s surprised reaction and said, "The night shift you agreed to take over for the next two weeks"— Malika frowned— "you signed for it earlier today" — Malika looked like a lost kid in the middle of kindergarten— "wake up sweets… go wash your face and change… you"re late."
Layla went downstairs to her husband while Malika stood in front of her room freaking out. "How?!" Malika whispered to herself. Her phone ranged; it was Farah. She went back and saw the phone on a chair next to a big wooden cheval mirror.
"Where are you?!" Farah said from the other side loudly.
"Farah! help me," she said with a loud scared voice. "I don"t know what happened, I—" Malika looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn"t believe her own eyes, she moved her hand over her neck gasping from her reflection on the mirror. She was wearing the gemstone necklace and her blood from the cut turned into a red metal merged with the silver chain.
"—Malika are you still sleeping?! I"ve been waiting in here for an hour! Are you coming or not?!" Farah"s loud voice cut Malika"s thoughts sharply.
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"¬—I"m coming!" Malika ended the call and looked at herself terrified. She remembered the box and called the maid who happened to be walking outside her room. "Where is the box?" the maid stood in front of Malika not understanding what she meant. "The box that you gave it to me this morning; the one that came in the mail today," Malika said slowly.
"But nothing came in the mail and you didn"t come home until 7 pm," the maid said hesitantly.
"But how?... I came home at 11:45 am?!" Malika screamed at her. The maid looked confused from Malika"s terrified face and screaming voice, Layla called for the maid who ran fast after Malika turned her back to her.
Malika looked at herself in the mirror and said, "What happened to me!?" she changed her scrubs and looked for her bag; she found it on the floor next to her bed. She noticed the papyrus were inside it. She took it and went running to her car heading to the Farah.