Bad Lights, Good Lights [Chapter 3.1]

“I woke up at six as usual and got a bath and changed clothes,” Sarah said, using hand gestures to demonstrate generally what she had done. “I went to the dining room and ate breakfast with dad and my twin siblings. After that, my father drove me to school.” She paused, waiting for us to absorb the information.

“Nothing unusual happened then,” I said, breaking the brief silence. I laid on the bed, feeling its surface. Oh well. It’s still not as fluffy as Imran’s. I looked at Sunglow, noticing that unlike Scarlet, she was still on the air. Perhaps this was how the light royalties acted regal? Hmm...

“Well, nothing at first,” she said, pushing her open hands forward slowly as if she was slowing things down. “But there were some weirdnesses happened.”

Imran hummed. “Like?”

“Before we started going - before I hopped into the car - I saw this odd old lady staring at me. She was walking her dog, but the stare was just emotionless. She even stopped moving and was just there like a scary statue.” She shivered.

“And yet nothing really happened.”

“Mer, don’t ruin the mood, oh my god. When we were on the way to school, my father stopped at the gas station - apparently the car’s petrol was low. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went to the toilet. Should’ve did it at home. Anyway, I could see a glimpse of the young female cashier looking at me through the transparent glass wall and it was freaky. I mean, the look was the same one the old lady gave to me.”

“After I did what I should do,” she said, her cheek turning red when she glimpsed a Imran, “I saw the cashier coming in. I was about to pass her and get out of the toilet when she shut the door and locked it. That was when I got confused. I didn’t say anything to her and passed her, reaching for the door.”

She took a deep breath. “She held my hand, and that was when I realized her other hidden hand held a knife. I got panick and tried to scream but no sound came out from my mouth. A-and she stabbed me. Right at the chest. Several times. It hurt like hell.” Tears started to form at her eyes. “It was horrible.”

I grabbed her hand tightly, giving her a smile as an attempt to reassure her. “Continue,” I said softly.

“My knees wobbled for some reasons and I fell to the floor and hit my head.” She paused. “That was when Sunglow came out from my chest as the cashier attempted to truly end my life. A black light came out from the cashier, prompting her to fell to the floor, unconscious. I didn’t know what Sunglow did to it, but they zipped around fastly, colliding each other. What I just saw was a mix of gold and black light flying around.”

“We were in a fight,” Sunglow said, her firm voice interrupting Sarah. “We’re competing with each other on absorbing the other’s energy. That’s how you kill a light, by absorbing its energy. Unfortunately, not all lights possess this ability.”

Sarah nodded. “Anyway, she managed to absorb the light’s energy fully. She went to me and healed me. I thought I was going to die. It took about fifteen minutes for the healing but she left a quite severe wound on my arm unhealed. Said that would be the excuse for me to skip the school. It hurt.”

“I was sure you were safer in your house,” Sunglow said, aware of Sarah’s glare on her. “It worked, didn’t it?”

Sarah sighed. “It worked. When I came back to the house, I lied to my father that I fell on something sharp. It wasn’t the best excuse but he didn’t ask me any further. He cared more about the wound. That’s my father for you.” She smiled. “And that’s why I didn’t go to school.”

I was sure my expression was bitter then. Sarah got a caring father - me? I got someone who felt like everyone around him had to earn the spot of being with him - that one had to be good enough.

“Well, that was intense,” Imran said, making a lame note. He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was near seven. He looked at me. “We’ll get in touch. Merah, the time for Maghrib prayer is near. We need to go home.”

“Wait,” I said. I turned my attention to Sunglow. “Scar said the portal to your world was underground. Can you accompany him there? He said we couldn’t come with him, but he also said he couldn’t get far away from me.”

“Ah, yes. When a light finds a host, it’s best to stay near with the hos to allow synchronization. I was in Sarah all the time, entering her body when she was sleeping. I had no idea how the black light found its way to me, but I guessed he had been following me before I got to Sarah.

“You and Sarah need to go to us to the portal. Also, Imran, you should go to. I do not know how you are going to go out of the house with your parents’ permission, but you have to make it work somehow. If I and Scarlet can go there by ourselves, I would choose that option. As it is, synchronization stops when we get far away from our hosts. By the time we arrive at that place, Merah and Sarah stay on the ground.”

I clapped my hand. “Well, the plan’s set. We’ll wait in front of house at nine. Hopefully Father isn’t home right now - it’s hard to convince him to let us out. With mother there shouldn’t be any problem.” I got up, groaning. “Sometimes I’m too lazy for prayers when I’m involved in something important.”

Sarah eyed at me. “And sometimes I envy Muslimah. They get to wear the scarf and look proper, elegant and mature. It’s a good representation of a female.” She smiled. “You aren’t really religious.”

I let my fingers played with my hair. “I don’t know. It’s tiresome. Why do you like it? It isn’t easy to set up your scarf everyday, you know. And how to be proper, elegant and mature is subjective.”

She raised her eyebrow. “We are the more mature gender, Mer. No offense, Imran. You’re hot,” she said, giving Imran a wink, which made him flushed. “Not only we look better in scarfs or proper Muslimah, we also manage to hide our attractive figure. I mean, I like the concept of reserving it to your husband and family, and particularly like the thought that we are mature enough to know males can’t stand our beauty. Sometimes we need to think for the best for him.”

This was the first time we talked about religions here, but I saw something in Sarah. There was something wonderful in her, something I didn’t realize before. The sight of her smile was reassuring. I felt Imran tugging me.

“Okay, that’s enough. While I do think females in general are better than males, I don’t like to be reminded of that,” he said, giving us a smile. “It just happens our maturity growth is slower than all of you. Don’t stop liking us, though.”

Oh my god. Did he just reacting to Sarah’s flirting. I shook my head in disbelief and shooed him out of the room and turned my attention to Sarah and Sunglow. “See you at the portal.”