The Encounter

Somehow Sam mustered the courage to break into the house by jumping over the boundary wall and running back side of the house. As he reached there, he found himself in luck as he saw, in front of him, a crumbling plaster wall with several tiny holes of all sizes. At first, he looked around to ensure no one was watching him. The wall was about two feet higher than his height. He stepped back for about 20 feet and then ran to get momentum to jump higher. The sneakers that fit snugly helped him to have a good grip on the bottom sole and the firm grip of his fingers on the top verge of the wall helped him run up the wall. He jumped over the wall inside the house safely and easily like an athlete who succeeds in his first attempt.

As soon as Sam landed on the floor with a thump inside the house, his heart began pounding like the heavy drumming of rain beating upon a window pane. Sam was obsessed with the distressing thoughts of being in a haunted house then and there all alone. Anything could happen to him anytime. He was like Hercules in the Maze of the Minotaur. He surveyed the surrounding. He had never been to this part of the house before. Mustering courage, he progressed and entered the back side porch of the house and then the sitting room, where he found nothing except dust, cobwebs, mist, and rot.

Sam searched every room but did not find Jennifer anywhere. He even checked the storeroom, and kitchen and peered into the washrooms but found no one. He then approached the main door to find if it was opened; astonishingly, it was latched from the inside as well as padlocked from the outside. Then he moved to Jennifer's bedroom again to have a thorough check.

Being in the bedroom reminded him of his maiden trip to this house, particularly, to this bedroom, where he looked into the mirror of the vanity and enjoyed the most revolting burgundy drink. Sam, who was in her bedroom again, could not stop standing in front of the ramshackle vanity and looking into his reflection in the mirror. This was the point where his shoulders were pressed by something invisible on his first trip to this house.

"Any moment a vampire or a zombie will appear from nowhere and will leap over me and sink his jaws into my neck." His mind was racing.

Sometimes thoughts equate to imagined figures and actions.

Whoosh!" suddenly a swift gust of wind blew past his nape, forcing him to press his ears; panicked and scared, he twisted himself, "Weird! What was that? Who's there?" Sam uttered in a quavering voice.

As he turned around and stepped up, he bumped his forehead on an unseen metallic plate. "Oh my Gosh!" He sat holding his head and touched the wound with his right-hand fingers, which were damped with a sticky substance oozing out of the middle of his forehead.

"Hahaha….It was just the tip of the iceberg!" A spooky voice echoed in the room.

Sam's torso and limbs were paralyzed, his lips seized and eyes wide open as if they had forgotten to blink. With much effort, holding the wall, he stood on his feet, "Your days are counted! You've made our lives miserable! Leave us and get lost!" Sam took a deep breath, gathered courage, and shouted his lungs out.

"You've no idea who you're dealing with! I've already been extremely infuriated by what you've done to me. Stop poking your nose in our matters! You've locked my sweetheart in wedlock with you! I can make a mess of your life now, but I warn you! If you don't keep your sanity, I'll send your soul to the land of no return!" The demon's intimidating tone of voice caused utter fear in Sam's mind. However, he did not fall into panic and kept himself in control.

"You can't harm me…even your father, the father of all evil spirits can't even touch my hair." Sam had no idea how these remarks let out of his mouth on the spur of the moment unintentionally.

"Hahaha…. Then what is draining out of your forehead? Hahahaha…." The demon mocked Sam for his so-called remarks and his show-off for being overconfident. The demon then warned him gravely, "You'll pay the price for your disgraceful remarks about my lord, Lucifer."

Sam instantly made up his mind to run out of the house and inform Hammad Syed. The moment he turned around, a flying vase hit his head, turning everything black in front of his eyes. He fell to the floor and passed out.

Jennifer was on her way to reach her house to meet her prince, the most charming guy in her life. Her Qareen's temptations were constantly motivating and stimulating her to meet her Romeo, her everlasting lover. Her face was gleaming and her eyes shone with excitement. She wore her hair down to have it as straight as possible; being sleek and well put together, her hair looked beautiful. Her prom dress, covered in sequins, was glistening in the moonlight. She had a mind to patch up with such an appealing personality, her everlasting love, to live the rest of her life with him. All she had to do was to ensure that he had turned into a real human; could make her feel better than Sam did, provide her the pleasure of life any man can give to a woman, accept all her flaws, and keep giving her loving compliments all the time because he is capable to talk to her; he is a beautiful human being now.

The taxi pulled over at the main gate of her house. After paying the fare, she got out of the taxi and stepped up, and halted at the gate. She rummaged through her shoulder bag for the door key; to her utter disappointment, there were no keys, "Oh no! Where are the keys? I might have forgotten at Christine's house…but I think I didn't take them out there…then where are the keys? Did I forget them inside my house when I came here yesterday and was spellbound to meet the most fascinating prince? She thought to ring Christine to ask about the keys, but then she thought, "No…no… she will ask why I needed the keys or where I was at that moment, I can't let her know at this stage what I've planned to do."

The demon saw Jennifer was waiting at the gate and had forgotten her keys somewhere. He thought to unlock and open the door for her, but if he did so, Jennifer will not reckon him a human, but a genie. He flew to Christine's house and found the keys on the bedside table in the bedroom where Jennifer had slept last night. He picked up the keys and returned in a jiffy. To brush aside any suspicion Jennifer might have about his being a demon, he dropped the idea of slipping the keys into her handbag. Instead, he dropped the keys on the roadside where Jennifer had gotten out of the taxi. He then communicated with Jennifer's Qareen, asking him to persuade her to search for the keys around her footsteps from the point of getting out of the taxi to this door.

"I might have dropped the keys somewhere. I think, at first, I should look for the keys on the path I walked from getting out of the taxi to this door."

Jennifer turned around and after several steps, she found her keys on the roadside. This brought a huge smile to her face. She, at once,  returned to the main gate, unlocked the padlock, and pushed the door open.  She stepped in; oblivious to the fact that lying unconscious inside her house was her newly-wed better half.