2:00 AM…
I had been lost in a deep sleep when I jolted awake, startled by those frenzied sounds—screams of a girl who seemed to be burning in the fires of hell.
I sat upright in bed, terrified, the darkness enclosing me on all sides save for the faint moonlight slipping in from the balcony. The screams intensified. Not a single movement stirred within the palace… how could such horrifying cries fail to wake them as they had awakened me?
I hesitated.
Should I rise and seek the source of the sound? Perhaps the girl needed help. But everything I had witnessed within this palace drove me away from that thought. I pulled the covers over my head, burying myself beneath them, trying to ignore the noise as much as possible.
I tried to fall asleep again—but that sound would not cease.
The more I ignored it, the louder it grew… as though it defied me.
No—worse—
As though it was calling me.
It did not call my name, yet I felt as if it did. The girl screamed violently, pleading into the void. A thought struck me, forcing me upright once more.
What if that girl is being tortured here… just like me?
I must hurry to save her—but I do not know the reason for her screams. Perhaps it is something dangerous… and that same danger will consume me if I intervene.
By the way… although Khurshid is my husband, Mrs. Nazli told me that the doctor had instructed him to leave me alone in a separate room until I fully recover, as it would greatly help my condition.
I did not understand the doctor's reasoning—but I prefer it this way. It is as if he sits inside my mind, doing exactly what I want.
At last, I decided to invade the dark chambers of my own mind and confront my fears by following the sound—carefully, cautiously. With a strange certainty that this girl might hold the key to the mystery unraveling around me.
Do not question my persistence in believing that I am not mad, nor delusional as they insist on planting in my mind. My instincts tell me there is a puzzle here—one that demands to be solved at its roots.
In the end, if they are right—if I truly am mad, if I lost my sanity in that accident and not just my memory—then I will find peace in knowing.
But does a mad person ever admit they are mad?
They say that if a madman admits his madness, he becomes the sanest of all.
What matters now…
I moved slowly toward the sound, stepping carefully on my toes. I opened the door with extreme caution, ensuring it made no noise. The entire floor lay in darkness, all rooms sealed shut. A faint light glowed at the far end of the corridor.
The screams were clearer now.
I followed them—equal parts dread and urgency—until I realized at last:
The sound was coming from the basement.
Impossible.
How could I go down there alone? The light was barely enough, and the palace itself was terrifying without adding anything more. I returned to my room as quietly as I had left, retrieved my oil lamp, and lit it with trembling hands.
Then I went back.
I tried to steady my heart, whispering softly to myself—
Come on, Asia… go forward. That girl must have answers you have long burned to know.
The staircase was suffocatingly dark. Without my lamp, I would have seen nothing at all. As I approached the final step—
I saw her.
A girl curled into herself, her hair hanging over her face, groaning in exhaustion.
My voice trembled as I asked about her condition.
She answered, reaching a weak hand toward me:
"Please… help me."
Good God—
She was bleeding profusely. A wide pool of blood spread around her. I focused more closely—
She was giving birth.
She was pregnant.
What madness is this? Who is this girl—and how could she possibly be pregnant?
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to gather what little courage I had left. I stepped closer, reaching out to help her.
"Don't worry," I said, my voice shaking. "I'll help you… I'll get you out of here."
She lifted her head slightly, revealing half her face through the tangled strands of her hair.
I wish she hadn't.
I have never seen anything like it—she looked like the devil himself. Hideous. Terrifying beyond comprehension.
She began to laugh.
A horrifying, grotesque laugh.
Then she screamed:
"Save yourself first."
That laughter nearly stopped my heart. I stood frozen—this is what happens to me when fear grips me. I become still, as though time itself halts.
Slowly—agonizingly—she reached down and tore the fetus from within her body with brutal force.
She lifted it in her grotesque hands and held it out to me.
It was—
A black cat.
Hideous. Its eyes fixed on me with piercing intensity.
That was enough.
My paralysis shattered. I screamed and ran upward in blind terror. The lamp fell from my hand, shattered, and went out. Darkness swallowed everything.
Her laughter and the cat's meowing never ceased.
In that moment, I wished for death—just to escape the suffocating weight of that terror.
At last, I escaped that cursed basement.
How could they sleep so deeply? Those sounds could wake the dead—let alone the living.
I began pounding on doors with all my strength, not caring which one. All I wanted was for someone—anyone—to wake and offer me even the illusion of safety.
The first to awaken was Aunt Fekria.
She grabbed me by my clothes and dragged me toward her violently, threatening me for disturbing her. I shoved her away, trembling, my words tumbling out incoherently as they always do when I am afraid.
She shouted for Maria to take me away before she killed me herself and found peace from my screaming.
At last, Mrs. Nazli awoke.
She approached us with her usual cold composure, her deep voice demanding to know the cause of such chaos at this late hour. The aunt answered harshly, hurling the vilest insults at me.
Mrs. Nazli stepped closer, smiling coldly:
"Will we never find rest from your delusions, my son's wife?"
God… what am I to do with this wretched old woman and her kind?
I had no choice but to call for Khurshid—the only one among them who treats me with any gentleness.
I screamed his name again and again.
But instead—
Maria came.
And his sister, Shams.
Wonderful… the gathering of terror was complete. All of them stood around me—everyone except the one I wanted.
Wait…
What is this?
I stepped back, realizing they had formed a semicircle—just as they always do around my bed.
Is this a moment for order and precision?
Their behavior feels deeply unnatural.
I shouted, fear consuming every part of me:
"I want Khurshid… where is Khurshid? I want him now!"
The circle tightened. Their expressions identical—lifeless, ghostly.
Mrs. Nazli stood at the forefront.
She was suddenly before me.
She bared her teeth—
They were the same as the girl's in the basement.
All of them.
Their teeth were the same.
They moved closer—step by step, slow and deliberate. I felt they were about to devour me alive.
I ran.
Toward my room.
It was at the beginning of the corridor—
I ran and ran—
And collided with something.
It was her.
The basement girl.
I froze. My legs refused to carry me any further. She grabbed my shoulders with her long, filthy nails, laughing just like them.
She stood before me.
They closed in behind me.
I was trapped.
A violent breakdown seized me. I screamed repeatedly until everything went black.
How I despise that recurring scene—
Waking to find them arranged in their cursed semicircle… and Khurshid seated beside me.
It was the next morning.
I looked at them in hysterical fear. Khurshid kissed my forehead the moment he saw my eyes open. I shoved him away. He leaned in again, explaining his absence—he had been attending to matters of the palace.
I told him, trembling, what his family had done to me in his absence.
He told me I was exhausted… delirious.
His mother, he said, had already explained everything to him:
"My son, I woke to your wife's usual hysterical screaming. I found her clutching your aunt's clothes, threatening to kill her. Even Shams, Maria, and I could not free your aunt from her grip. She kept pointing at nothing—speaking of an evil spirit haunting her in the palace, claiming it had possessed your aunt. Utter nonsense, of course. Your aunt was terrified… we all were. We can no longer endure this."
I shouted at him, my patience gone, that every word was a lie—that I had done nothing of the sort.
His aunt looked at me mockingly—
The same smile.
The same presence as last night.
I felt she was about to kill me.
I lunged at her.
We both fell as I struck her violently. Khurshid pulled me away forcefully, then slapped me repeatedly until I came back to myself.
I pushed him away, screaming that I hated him—that I wanted a divorce, that I wanted to leave this cursed palace as soon as possible.
Then—
The needle.
He pulled it from his pocket as if it never left him.
He drove it into my veins.
I had no strength left to resist.
I slept deeply—I do not know for how long.
I awoke to the sensation of burning breath against my neck.
I turned weakly—
She was beside me.
The basement girl.
She was trying to wake me—with her foul saliva.
I tried to scream—
But her black cat leapt onto me, suffocating me.
I struggled, but no sound came.
Then—
Footsteps outside.
I forced my voice out—and this time, I succeeded.
Khurshid rushed into the room.
He was furious—
Furious when he saw her beside me.
So he does see her.
I am not mad.
He sees her—he is angry at her—he is even scolding her.
She snarled in protest as he rushed toward her, grabbing her and dragging her out of the room.
I felt a surge of vindication.
He could not deny it now.
He was speaking to her—dragging her away.
I rose from my bed and followed him to understand what was happening—
The door was locked from the outside.
I pounded on it violently until he opened it after some time. By then, my strength had nearly left me.
He embraced me gently.
I whispered:
"Who is the basement girl?"
His answer struck like lightning:
"What girl?"
My eyes widened in horror.
"Khurshid… what is wrong with you? You just saved me from her! You dragged her out—you were shouting at her! What is happening? Are you and your cursed family trying to drive me insane?!"
He exhaled sharply, then said he had had enough—that he could no longer endure my madness and hallucinations—and that the doctor must be called again to prescribe a more effective treatment.
Back to the beginning.
Who is right?
What I see with my eyes and hear with my ears…
Or their words and their actions?
I made a decision.
I would observe.
And tonight—I would return to the basement.
This time, I would go with courage.
And I would not leave without answers.
I waited until they all slept.
Then I slipped out quietly, walking on the tips of my toes. I descended the stairs carefully, lighting my path with a new lamp.
And then—
The shock.
The place was filthy, rotting—
Devoid of any sign of life.
Nothing.
No girl.
No cat.
Nothing at all.
The basement was utterly silent—
Save for the faint scurrying of rats.