Chapter 15

It was almost two months since Aashiq and I begun dating officially, if I could call it that. I still wasn’t used to his unannounced appearances. Rather than being scared, I got irritated instead. He would pop up to take me out for breakfast every morning and dinner in the evenings. When I didn’t have afternoon classes, he took me to lunch. As much as I hated to admit it, Aashiq was quite sweet. If he wasn’t a jinn, I’d have been happy to be his girlfriend.

Like he promised, Preeta never showed up again to torment me. The past two months had been the most peaceful I’ve had in months.

***

“Wakey wakey sleepy head.” I groaned and opened my eyes a little. I shot up when I saw Aashiq grinning down at me.

“What did I tell you about appearing unannounced?” I frowned.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help but watch you sleep all night.” he smirked.

“What?”

“I watched you sleep all night.” he shrugged like it was normal to watch someone sleep.

“That’s creepy Aashiq.”

“Why are you still in bed? You have a class by nine.” he said.

“And what time is it?” I asked.

He flashed me a toothy grin and showed me his phone.

“It’s just six in the morning for crying out loud!” I cried. Aashiq chuckled and pulled at my cheeks.

     “You look so cute when you sleep.” I huffed and pushed his hand away, then pointed to the door as I said,

     “Please leave my room. I’ll wake up whenever I feel like and get ready for class. By the way, I have a lab session from nine to two in the afternoon, not a class.”

“I don’t care what you call it. Get ready for breakfast.” I groaned and got up from my bed. I really was enjoying my sleep but Aashiq had to ruin it.

After taking a shower, I put on a denim and a top over my body. I applied a little makeup, then put my lab coat in my backpack.

“Ready?” Aashiq asked.

“Yeah.” I answered.

He took my hand in his and we walked outside to his car. It was a red Chevrolet Camaro 2019 edition. I began to wonder just how rich he was. The last time I saw him, which was yesterday, he pulled up in a BMW i8.

“Aashiqui, how many cars do you own?” I asked him as I strapped myself into the passenger’s seat.

“Just the mini cooper. I get bored driving the same car so I rent whichever one I feel like driving.” he replied and I nodded. He didn’t bother complaining about me calling him Aashiqui. It did make sense he rented cars because I would go crazy if he owned all the expensive sport cars I saw him with.

“What are you doing after your lab session?” he asked, turning into the street that led to the diner we always had breakfast at.

“Going to sleep, why?”

“There’s a party at my friend’s place. I’d love you to come.”

     I rolled my eyes. “You know how much I hate parties.”

     “But when I asked you to go to the halloween party with me, you didn’t decline.” A small blush crept unto my cheeks but was soon wiped away as memories of that night came flooding in. I could see the evil grin on Aashiq’s face as he tore up that black crow with his teeth. The way Preeta almost got me killed. I frowned.

     “What?” Aashiq asked softly.

     I mentally rolled my eyes. He knew damn well why I was frowning but his stupid ass had to ask.

     “Nothing. Let’s just eat and go.” I said. He nodded and found a spot to park.

     After breakfast, he dropped me off at my department and I thanked him. I took out my lab coat from my backpack and put it on. We had a mean lab attendant who would waste no time embarrassing a person for not putting on a lab coat correctly. I found an empty locker and kept my backpack in it, then took the key with me.

     The gross anatomy lab was quite empty when I got in. There were about ten students and the lecturer in the lab. I greeted the lecturer and found the table with my group’s number on it. Shortly after, the lab was filled with my other course mates.

     “Good day class. I’m sorry for the delay in bringing our cadavers. They’ll be here any moment.” Just then, some people dressed in white lab coats came in with different cadavers. A cadaver was placed on each table.

     “Today, we’ll be dissecting the mid section of the cadaver. Make sure your dissecting sets are all in good condition. I’ll go around to check from time to time.”

     “So the first step…” he began. After explaining all we had to do, he asked us to start.

     Moustafa, a boy from Sudan tore open the bag that housed the cadaver.

     “Ewww.” The lady beside me scrunched up her nose like she was going to throw up. I gave her a gentle squeeze on her palm and she smiled at me in return.

     “Okay I feel dizzy.” Janelle said.

     “This is so weird, honestly.” I added.

     “It’s just a dead body.” Moustafa shrugged.

     “A cadaver.” The lecturer corrected, popping out of nowhere.

     “It is normal for each and everyone of you to feel shock, anxiety, apprehension, nausea, or dizziness, but you’ll overcome these sensations rapidly, perceiving dissection as a challenging task.” he told the class. And like he said, we overcame those emotions and got to work.

     My group watched Moustafa as he gently tore open the belly. A loud belch came out of the cadaver’s mouth and I could swear I saw it wink at me.

     “Did anyone hear that?” I asked.

     “Do you mean the belch? Janelle asked. I sighed. I wasn’t the only one that heard it.

     “Yeah, and the weird wink.” I said.

     “What wink?” Janelle asked. I shook my head, telling her to forget it.

     “Sir, is it normal for a cadaver to belch?” I asked.

     “I’m pretty sure I explained it in my last class. Gas accumulations tend to escape dead bodies through the mouth, which can sound like sighing or belching. Muscle tone is lost so any gasses escaping via the rectum are unlikely to be audible, the sphincters tend to relax and the bowels are voided in general.” the lecturer explained.

     We carried on with the dissections until the class came to an end. Everyone disposed of their hand gloves and face masks, then filed out of the lab. When I got to the locker, I slapped myself on the head. I had forgotten my dissecting set in the lab.

     I went back into the lab and walked straight to my table. The lab was empty. The only living being was me, surrounded by cadavers of different shapes and sizes. I picked up my dissecting set and turned to leave when a hand caught mine.

     “You shouldn’t have come back here Aisha.” The voice was sinister. I tried to scream but I was so scared that no sound left my mouth. The doors to lab closed with loud bangs and the lights flickered on and off. The cadaver got up, and squirming weirdly, changed into another form.

     He was as tall as a coconut tree and had one eye which flamed like a burning coal in the middle of his forehead. His teeth were long and sharp while his lower lip hung down to his chest. His nails looked like the claws of a crab.

     “You think you can escape the wrath of Rashcid?” he asked, then burst out into a sinister laughter.

     “Please.” I finally managed to find my voice.

     “Aashiq cannot save you. Nobody can save you. Ha ha ha!” he threw his head back as he laughed.

     A cloud of black smoke appeared and took the form of a creature I couldn’t quite describe. This creature took Rashcid by the throat and clawed at his eyes with it’s second hand. An inhuman scream escaped the lips of Rashcid.

     “Kameene(you bastard)!” Rashcid gritted. I stood there watching the whole drama unfold. With a loud squelching sound, the insides of Rashcid were gutted out. His remains crumbled to the ground and disappeared into a puff of black smoke.

     The creature that had killed him came to me and changed into its original form. My mouth hung open as I gazed at his beauty. He was ten times more attractive than Aashiq. He had a nose that was perfectly sculpted and lips as red as a cherry. His eyes were a beautiful swirl of mismatched green colors.

     “You have been exposed to the world of jinns and put your life in danger. Be careful for I may not be there to save you next time.” he said.

     “There will be no next time.” Aashiq said, coming out of nowhere.

     “You know this is wrong. Your relationship with a human is wrong Aashiq. I don’t know what you hope to gain, except to satisfy your lustful desires. Why did you claim her?” The second jinn asked.

     “It’s really not your business Haroun. No, wait! I’ll tell you. I claimed her because I love her and to save her from my family’s anger.”

     Haroun looked at Aashiq amusedly. “Carry on.”

     “She had mistakenly killed Braimahim and my family, Preeta especially, wants her head.”

     “That’s no reason to claim her. Like you said, it was a mistake. Humans can’t see jinns so she definitely didn’t know Braimahim was where she killed him.”

     “But she can see you.” Aashiq smirked.

     “Which is wrong. Humans aren’t supposed to see jinns. You exposed her to our world.”

     I cleared my throat and they both turned to look at me, Haroun looking indifferent while Aashiq had a stupid smirk on his face.

     “Thank you for saving me, Haroun.” I said.

     He nodded and disappeared into thin air. Aashiq smiled at me and held out his hand.

     “Lunch?”

     I pushed his hand away and walked to his car. When he opened it, I got in.

     “You have a lot of explaining to do.”