Student Spectrums

Dania Rezwan Iqbal enjoys exploring various topics concerning politics, health, and education. Through her writings, Dania hopes to bring change and spread awareness on issues affecting people’s lives. In her free time, she enjoys drinking coffee and reading fantasy novels.

Aisha stood in the hallway outside her crumbling new apartment. She stared past the open door into the small space that would now be her new home. Broken furniture littered the floor, and as she stepped into the apartment, her feet sent a plume of dust flying around her. It looked like no one had set foot in the apartment for at least a decade. The stained paint on the walls was peeling, and a detached lamp hung precariously from a few thin wires. Cleaning up the place would take some time and labor, but Aisha felt a sense of relief wash over her. She had finally escaped the shadows of her past. She would start anew in her new home in this isolated town in the middle of nowhere. 

Aisha inspected the rest of the apartment, which consisted of a kitchen, a bathroom, and a single bedroom just as dirty as the living room. Whoever had lived in the apartment before she had left their bed in the bedroom, the mattress bare and coated in a layer of grime. Tired, Aisha set her bag on it and plopped down next to it. The bed strained under her weight. One of the wooden frames must have snapped because she heard the loud crack of a gunshot and fell to the cold tiled floor. She tried to push herself back up but her blood coated hands slipped. She looked up and saw her brother’s body lying in a pool of blood. Aisha blinked slowly, once, twice, thrice, and saw the peeling wall of the dirty bedroom once more.

She looked around the room and found herself half-sunken into the mattress. She moved her head from side to side, trying to shake off the memory clinging to her. She could not dwell in the past anymore, not when she had the chance to rebuild her future. 

I can’t stay in that hell, it’s time to move on, she thought.

Aisha pushed herself off the mattress and decided to go outside for a walk. She walked back to the hallway, closed the door, and took the elevator down to the main lobby. The moment she exited the building, bright rays of sunshine greeted her and she squinted against the light. For a moment, she thought she saw a shadow pass by her. After she recovered from the sunlight, she looked around but saw no one. 

She continued down the road, passing by different stores and occasionally people. She spotted a cafe a few feet ahead and decided to stop by for some coffee. As she continued walking, she spotted two children, a boy and a girl, running towards her. Watching them sent a pang of sadness in Aisha’s heart. They reminded Aisha of a time when she and her brother had been like that, thick as thieves. Her mind wandered through memories, unsurprisingly landing on the night her brother died.

Aisha had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed how fast the children were running until they were right in front of her. Aisha stopped abruptly and scurried out of the way. She heard shuffling behind her and turned around to see a woman doing the same a few feet away. She was dressed in a long, black trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat sat slightly askew on her head, hiding the top of her head. Something about the woman felt familiar to Aisha. Once the children had passed, the woman looked up, and Aisha looked away. 

As she began to make her way toward the cafe once more, she heard a second set of footsteps join hers. She was fairly certain it was the woman she had just seen, and the thought chilled her for some odd reason. She hastened and finally reached the cafe. She opened the glass door and went inside. From the corner of her eye, Aisha noticed the woman in black stop the door before it could close completely and come in after her. She walked to a table without ordering anything and sat there silently. 

Aisha tried her best to ignore her. She placed her order for a White Americano on one of the self-serving kiosks and, waiting for her drink, decided to use the bathroom. She spotted a sign near the back of the building labeled “Bathroom” and began to make her way to it. She heard the scraping of a chair being pushed back against the floor and knew without turning that it was the woman in black following her. Aisha panicked and half-jogged towards the back of the building, pulling open the door and running inside. The bathroom was empty and she ran into one of the stalls and shut the door. She stood there, the only sounds were her heavy breathing and the distant humming of the pipes. The door opened with a groan and the woman’s shadow spilled across the floor as she entered. 

“No more hiding Aisha,” the woman’s shrill voice rang through the bathroom, “no more running away. I know what you’ve done. You can’t hide anymore!” 

A loud bang erupted from the other side of the stall and the sound of glass shattering made Aisha jump. She would have recognized the sound of a gunshot anywhere. She heard a commotion outside but not the opening of the door. 

Aisha opened the stall and came out with her hands raised.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I haven’t done anything wr-”

Aisha stopped halfway through the sentence. Now that she was so close to the woman, she finally saw her face. Ruth, her brother’s wife.

Aisha froze in place, her fears rising as she noticed the gun Ruth was pointing at her. She had been so confident that she had escaped her past and everyone in it. But now that Ruth had shown up, her dreams of a fresh start came crashing down.

The fear Aisha felt must have showed on her face because Ruth’s face broke into a wicked grin.

“Though I wouldn’t find you, eh? You ruined my life! You killed him! How could you do such a thing!?”

Aisha covered her ears with her hands, the memories from that night rushing back. Her brother, the gun, the blood.

Ruth smacked Aisha across the face with her gun, “ANSWER ME. WHY DID YOU DO IT?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Aisha’s voice broke, “it was an accident!”

Ruth threw her head back and laughed hysterically. Her eyes had a cynical gleam, like a rabid wolf out for blood.

Aisha took her chance and lept towards Ruth, tackling her to the ground. As Ruth recovered from the shock of what had just happened, Aisha tried to pull the gun from her hand, but Ruth held fast to it. Aisha tried her best to wrestle the gun out of Ruth’s hands by wrapping her hands around the handle and pulling on it. One by one, Ruth’s hand slipped from the gun until only her index finger remained around the trigger. Aisha gave one last pull. A sudden bang erupted and they both went very still. Ruth’s eyes widened. Aisha looked down and gasped when she saw the ribbons of crimson unfurling from Ruth’s abdomen. She looked back up but instead of Ruth, it was her brother’s still face and lifeless eyes that bore into her.