The days passed gloomily and quiet. Nothing unusual happened, and I had become fully convinced that I was losing my mind, or at the very least, so confused that I desperately needed psychiatric help.
I decided to treat my husband more gently; I felt I was being unfair to him with the delusions and paranoia haunting me. My heart was torn between the feeling that I was insane and the vivid, detailed reality of what I was seeing, but in the end, I chose to believe them and try to recover.
I took my medication religiously. I spent most of my time in bed, either asleep or lifeless. I was just about to drift off when there was a knock at my door. I sat up and asked who it was. The caller identified himself as Khorshid. I got out of bed to open the door. He greeted me warmly, asking how I was, and I told him I was just heading to sleep. He apologized but then made a strange request.
He asked me to come upstairs with him. He said his family gathers on this specific day every year to play games for fun—a very special day they all look forward to so they can celebrate together.
I asked him blankly, "What kind of games at this hour, Khorshid?" He gave me a strange look and replied, "You're always the first to attend every year."
A question flashed in my mind, and I asked him immediately, "Every year? Have we been married for that many years?"
Suddenly, Shams rushed in without knocking. Khorshid avoided answering as she recklessly pulled him away, saying they were calling for him immediately. She glared at me with disgust and snapped, "You too, hurry up! We're out of time; it'll be midnight in a few minutes." I ignored her, my questioning gaze still fixed on Khorshid's face, but he took the chance to escape my tedious questions.
He insisted I had to come up, or else his Aunt Fekriya would be furious—and her anger was something no one wanted to face.
I changed out of my pajamas in a rush and headed upstairs, without a single shred of the suspicion I used to have.
I found the women standing in a semi-circle, just as I remembered them, with Khorshid at the center.
The light was extremely dim. They were all dressed in a uniform, deep dark red—even Khorshid. Their pale faces, dark blue-tinted lips, and styled hair made them look like vampires. The sight terrified me all over again.
I questioned my own sanity—was I back to the visual and auditory hallucinations the doctor described? Was this a dream? I needed proof. I had to do something to be sure.
I approached Khorshid since he was the only one I didn't fear yet. I told him about my fears and asked if this was reality or a mirage. He assured me it was entirely real.
He stood before us all with pride, hands behind his back. He shouted in a cold, emotionless voice:
"Dear ladies of the palace... this is our annual day that we wait for with such passion. We will live out its details with joy, and we will never forget it... and you, Asia, will never forget it as long as you live!"
I frowned in confusion. Just as I was about to ask what he meant, he waved his hand for me to be silent. He continued in the same tone:
"As we do every year, we play different games. This year, our game takes place in these rooms behind me. There are six of them. Each room holds a different challenge, and in each room, one person will fall and lose, unable to continue to the next!"
"And now, let us begin. To the first room!" We moved to the first room. A quick scan showed it was completely empty of furniture, except for a six-seat table in the middle.
Khorshid sat at the head of the table, and Mrs. Nazli sat at the other end. The rest of us gathered around. Khorshid pulled out a small "revolver," placed it in the middle of the table, and began explaining the game:
"This game has become popular lately. This gun contains only one bullet. Each of us takes a turn. Whoever passes without the shot firing into their chest is a winner. As for the loser, there is no place for them among us, and no mercy."
"What?"
The word escaped my throat along with a loud scream, protesting this madness. Aunt Fekriya, sitting opposite me, glared at me with rage. I swear her eyes were as red as a demon's.
I ignored her terrifying appearance and stood up to go back to my room, preferring sleep over this insanity. Mrs. Nazli looked at the door, and it slammed shut with violent force. She said coldly, "If you can leave, go ahead. But you are forced to continue if you cannot free yourself from this room."
I tried desperately to open the door, but it wouldn't budge an inch.
Aunt Fekriya screamed at me to return to the table; there was only one minute left until midnight. I sat back down, trembling with fear. This family was not joking.
When the massive pendulum clock in the room struck, Khorshid began. He pointed the gun at his chest and pulled the trigger. It was a blank.
He handed it to Shams, who grabbed it with a strange, playful excitement, as if she were about to eat candy.
Her shot was also a blank. She passed it to Aunt Fekriya, whose eyes gleamed with excitement—the first time I had ever seen her smile.
Damn you... you're all lunatics!
Then it was Mrs. Nazli's turn. Her shot was also a blank.
That meant only two chambers were left. It was either death or survival for me. But first, it was Maria the maid's turn. I was trembling, my blood boiling with terror. The maid placed the gun against her chest and pulled the trigger. A violent shot exploded, burying itself in her ribs. She fell dead instantly, her eyes bulging.
They all started laughing hysterically and clapping. I screamed at them in a panicked frenzy. Aunt Fekriya slapped me so hard I went silent immediately. Khorshid looked at me sharply and threatened to kill me if I did it again in any other room. He said in a terrifying, raspy voice, "You have two choices: either dance and be merry with us, or watch in silence. Otherwise, I'll take your head off and feed your body to the starving dogs."
I went silent, my heart shaking. We moved to the next room, number two. It contained only six chairs.
Each chair had iron shackles for the hands and a small box fixed to the back. Only five chairs contained the safety key for those shackles. One key would trigger the chair to drop into a deep pit filled with an upward-pointing sword—if someone fell, it would split them in half.
How horrific. Were these rooms levels of increasing brutality?
I was terrified; my legs could barely hold me. Khorshid grabbed me violently, forced me into my seat, and shackled me. Everyone did the same. Aunt Fekriya opened her shackles first with ease, followed by Shams, then Khorshid. As usual, only I and Mrs. Nazli remained.
It was my turn first. My hand shook and slipped from the key because of the heavy sweat soaking my body. Khorshid yelled at me, and I hurried, crying silently. The shackles opened easily. I stood up quickly to join the survivors, but that meant death was coming for Mrs. Nazli, my husband's mother!
Would he and his sister really let her die? Would they let her die such a gruesome death?
Everyone around me cheered for her to move fast. She began laughing with malice and excitement before opening the trapdoor under her seat. She fell onto the sword, which pierced through her back and came out her stomach.
No... no... this was too much horror for me to handle. I fainted.
Someone splashed a heavy dose of water on my face to wake me up. I found myself in the third room. I was lying on my back on a flat iron surface, enclosed on all sides by something like glass, raised about a meter off the ground by iron chains fixed to the ceiling. We were all restrained. Khorshid lay down like us after waking me up. He told us that what we were lying on had an insulation layer that would protect only three of us from glass shards that would be fired from wall cannons like mortars.
Shards of glass flew at us from every direction. Aunt Fekriya took the brunt of it. She kept laughing loudly, and Khorshid and Shams joined her. As for me, I felt physically ill from these maniacs. I closed my eyes until the noise stopped, and with it, Aunt Fekriya was gone.
Only the three of us remained. I didn't know if it was great luck that I hadn't faced such brutality yet, or terrible luck that I was still alive to witness this.
The fourth room... large iron cages. Only two of them had doors that locked properly; the last had no lock. Khorshid explained the point: a starving lion, which hadn't eaten in a week, was going to have a delicious meal today!
Damn it! I don't want to finish this game. I beg you, let me go, this is too much. He told me to go to hell; he didn't care. He shoved me with all his might into one of the cages. I survived this time too. I didn't care who escaped. I heard the roar of the lion outside and piercing screams coming from Shams!
Everyone who died was laughing before their death, except for her—she was screaming in terror, pleading.
My teeth chattered and my body shook violently. I covered my mouth to keep my crying silent, terrified of everything.
A moment later, it was over. The sound of the lion and Shams vanished, and silence fell. Khorshid opened the door for me. He reached out his hand for me to take, but I was afraid of our hands touching. I stood up quickly on my own. He ignored it and told me the next room would decide my fate and his.
The fifth room contained only two boxes. One contained the key to exit the room, and the other contained a "surprise" way to kill the owner of the box.
Oh, my heart... can you take any more of this horror? I stepped forward to open a box, and the two boxes began spinning around each other with incredible force. I asked why they were spinning, and he said the spiral they were on had to turn three times to be fair to the other party, since I was the one who placed the key in one of them.
I said to myself mockingly:
"You've really moved me to tears... what loyalty and dedication to your work, man!"
The boxes spun three times before stopping. I opened my box with agonizing slowness. I looked inside... and found the key!!
I grabbed it eagerly and ran to the door to escape this madhouse. I heard Khorshid's voice as he read the paper from his box:
"Jump from the window."
I gave him one last look as he prepared to jump, then screamed at the top of my lungs:
"Go to hell, you fool!"
I ran toward the hallway to head downstairs and leave the palace forever. I found a strange iron sliding door that wasn't there before, like a prison gate. There was a note on it saying the door would only open by completing the game in room six!
I kicked the door violently out of pure frustration. It hurt my foot badly, and I had to limp. I went to the cursed room, seeing no choice if I wanted my freedom.
I entered the room and found... Mrs. Nazli, Aunt Fekriya, Maria the maid, and Shams, standing in their usual semi-circle!
They were all in perfect health, without a scratch. I was terrified like never before. Everything that happened before was one thing, but this was something else!
I wanted to leave and lock the door on them from the outside. Someone stopped me from behind and shoved me inside. I turned in terror to see who it was... it was Khorshid!
They surrounded me from every side. I screamed hysterically as they drew closer, tightening the circle. Their loud, terrifying laughter filled the air. They chanted in unison, "We don't die... we don't die!"
I lost consciousness as my nerves shattered and I couldn't breathe from the sheer panic.
The same scene... Khorshid sitting next to me on the bed, and the women gathered around him in a semi-circle!
Ugh! How I hate this scene!
I screamed, "Not again! What were those horrible things that happened last night?"
Khorshid looked at me with deep sadness. He told me I had lost my mind again. He said I told them I was tired and going to my room to rest, but an hour later, I came down screaming at them for no reason while they were at the dinner table. I was telling them they were crazy and that they had been killed and come back to life. Khorshid calmed me down and told me I must have just had a nightmare.
He also told me I had a nervous breakdown and wouldn't stop screaming until he gave me a sedative injection.
I lowered my head in deep shame, believing him completely. I said through my tears:
"Please, Khorshid... end my life. I'm useless. I'm a nuisance to you and to my own mind. I hate my life, I hate everything. Please, end it."
He stroked my hair and kissed my forehead gently, promising I'd be okay, but that we needed patience.
His tenderness in that moment calmed me. The women left one by one without a word.
Khorshid took my hand and kissed it gently. I felt a small sense of safety with him—that I might actually be okay because of his presence and his great patience with my illness.
He went to get me breakfast in bed so I wouldn't tire myself going downstairs. I kissed his cheek and thanked him lovingly.
I got up to fix my appearance in the mirror so I'd look beautiful when he returned.
My foot hurt so much that I couldn't put weight on the floor. I remembered something important... I had kicked that iron door!
I remembered Aunt Fekriya's powerful slap when I felt my face aching. I forced myself to reach the mirror, and there I saw it—my face had bruises in the shape of fingers!