Nasr was looking at me with the back of his narrowed eyes as he held the recorder in his hand.
There was a long silence before he said:
" End of story, right? I mean he's dead. You killed him?"
I pointed to him with my free hand and said:
" Don't you get it yet? I'm still alive. If he was dead, I'd be dead too. But you hear them say the cancer is gone from my mind and the drug has cured me. That's exactly what's not supposed to happen. This bastard has somehow found a way to live, so I have to find a way to come back and kill him."
Nasr sighed in anger, so I continued, saying:
" You still don't believe me? Well, forget all this . If you think I killed Adel and Ramez, then how did you do it, smart guy? Did you tell the elevator that, or the glass that killed Adel? Open your eyes well to see the truth. It's fate, they died in the other dimension, so they should have died here. I wasn't threatening them, I was just telling them what I already knew, and those hundreds who died because of the explosion as well, a disaster will surely happen that will kill hundreds here in this dimension. And if there is a way to fix that, you are now preventing me from finding it, in addition to the monster who will not rest until he returns to take revenge, he returns to strike again if I don't prevent him from doing so."
Nasr quickly closed the recorder in his hand, then stood up and said:
" You know what? You were wrong to listen to this nonsense in the first place. Prepare for the trial. And my advice to you is to find another novel instead of this children's novel. I'm done here."
I shouted,
" You stubborn bastard, you demanded the whole truth from me, and I have given it to you. Be brave, fulfill the rest of the agreement, and leave me alone."
But he brought the coat from the hanger to put it on, then turned his back to me to go out, saying:
- "Well, I was lying."
Suddenly, without warning, I saw my body stiffen, before the spasm struck my joints.
Nasr rushed to me screaming for help, but as if he had been dragged into the belly of a chameleon, I found myself back on the old bed, sitting on it with my hands tied to it as well, and in front of me was the man with the amputated arm, so I shouted:
" What now? What do you want from me? I tried, I did everything I could, but I failed."
He nodded, then said to me:
" I know that. Calm down, this time I didn't come to punish you, but to warn you."
He came closer to me, then grabbed my arm with his remaining hand, then said:
" Train number 511. These people are not supposed to die. You still have a chance to save them, but hurry, time is running out."
I suddenly returned to the hospital again, and the nursing staff had gathered around me trying to revive me. I got up sweating and they made me lie down again, I saw Nasr in front of me watching the situation anxiously, so I shouted, saying:
- "Train number 511... Train number 511."
Nasr frowned.
- "What's wrong with him?"
I said:
" They will all die. Hurry now before it's too late."
He gave me a suspicious look before grabbing his coat and quickly leaving the room.
***
On the station platform, amidst the crowd of passengers and the noise of vendors, Nasr sat bored.
He was looking at his watch, waiting for train number 511 that loomed in the distance.
He did not know what he would do, but he decided to complete what he had come for. He did not believe anything Adam had said, but what was on his mind was that he had come to prove that all of this was just nonsense from one of the patients whose brain was damaged.
When the train reached the platform, the crowd pushed him until he found himself inside the train. Inside, he began to wander around looking for anything suspicious here and there for a while, but he did not find anything. When the train began to shake, announcing its movement, he said to himself:
"Damn it."
Now he had to wait for the train to stop at the next station. So he figured there was no harm in investigating further . So he rushed to the front of the train and found the assistant driver. He told him he was a police officer and asked him to make sure everything was all right. The assistant looked at him suspiciously and assured him that everything was going as it should.
He sighed angrily, cursing Adam and his fairy tales that would force him to wait until the next station to leave the train, enduring the heavy traffic on the way back, all for nothing.
When he turned to sit, the assistant received a message on the antenna from the driver telling him to come quickly.
The assistant looked at Nasr, then said:
- "Something is wrong."
They both rushed through the seats until they reached the driver's car, and from behind the glass separating them from him they saw him with a look of panic on his face. They knocked on the glass to get his attention, and when he saw them he shouted, saying:
- "There is a train on the same track, both trains will collide with each other."
Nasr shouted, his voice over the surrounding noise:
- "How did this happen?"
The driver replied,
" I don't know, I obeyed all the traffic lights from the semaphores, and I kept to the required speed, but the driver of the other train is not responding, he did not stop at the previous station as he was supposed to."
The antenna in his hand rang louder, so he began to listen to the instructions. The assistant said to Nasr:
" Wait here, sir. I'll come back and pull the emergency brake, and when we stop I'll tell everyone to get off the train."
He said it, then ran back. This seemed to Nasr a reasonable solution at the time, until the driver finished talking to the command, then looked at Nasr searchingly, then said some words that were lost in the noise, so Nasr gestured to him that he did not understand what he was saying, so the driver shouted, saying:
- "Where did Abdullah, the train assistant, go?"
Nasr answered him in a similar voice, saying:
- "He went to pull the emergency brake."
He screamed in terror, waving his hands nervously:
- "The other train, the other train is coming this way."
When Nasr translated what the driver was saying, he shot back like a bullet towards the assistant, who he found had broken the emergency brake glass, and reached for the handle ready to pull it, but before he could do so, Nasr pounced on him at the last moment, knocking him to the ground .
The assistant shouted in disapproval:
"What do you do?".
Nasr stood up shouting:
" You idiot, you almost killed us all; the train, it's coming from behind."
Indeed, the driver had been instructed to double his speed, and the train took off like a shot towards the oncoming detour, as he was told in the central operations room, until the train wheels caught the tongue of the detour, and it veered violently to the side. Everyone screamed in panic and the train driver looked terrified as he muttered verses from the Quran when he saw the train about to go off the track, but after a while the train wheels hugged the rail again to return the train to its track, and as soon as the last cars crossed the detour, the tongue of the rail returned to its original position. Here comes the driver's turn to suddenly pull the brakes, and Nasr's head hit the side of the train, then he fell to the ground amidst the screams of the passengers and the squeal of the sudden stop that continued for heavy moments before he suddenly shook again due to the sudden stop, and then complete silence prevailed.
Amidst the cries of an infant and the groans of the passengers in the train car, Nasr stood up on his feet.
He had barely glanced out the train window when he saw the other train passing like a bullet from their side. Tons of steel roaming unchecked, they remained that way until they reached that point on the horizon, before the wheels of the train malfunctioned, derailed, and the cars overturned one by one.
Then all hell broke loose.
From afar, Nasr had gotten out of the train to watch the other train burning, and many thoughts were running through his mind and gaining meaning now.
This disaster that Adam was about to face, Adam was right.
****
I was watching the developments of the accident on the TV in front of me. Now I knew why the man with the amputated arm had warned me. Those who died on the other train were the ones who died on the bridge in the other dimension, and they were going to die anyway no matter what we did. As for the passengers of Train 511 who survived, their time had not yet come. With that, Shawqi had done them a service and saved them through me.
It really seems that destinies are interconnected and what is done is done; there is no way to change destiny.
Halfway between me and the TV, out of nowhere, a person slowly began to materialize. I watched him in amazement until he appeared before me in his full form. It was Adam the look-alike, standing before me now in flesh and blood, with bandages covering the right half of his face, which had some deformities visible below it.
As for him, he looked at his hand, which gradually took shape, until the picture was complete.
Then he looked at me and said:
" So this is the other dimension."
He said it with a smile, then continued saying:
- "Did you miss me, Adam?"
I rushed to pick up the scalpel beside me, but he beat me to it and snatched it from my hand, pointing it in my face.
" No, it's my turn now, you've missed your chance."
The words were scattered and he interrupted me, saying:
" Yes, Safwat. I now owe him the favor of sending me here."
I said:
- "Safwat did this?"
He replied, saying:
" Yes, now that I've told you, let me finish what I came here for."
The security guard rushed in as a result of the commotion, and the look-alike hid behind me. Then he violently put the scalpel on my neck until blood flowed from it. Then the policeman shouted at me, saying:
"Take another step and I'll cut that neck off."
The policeman motioned for him to calm down, so the lookalike shouted:
" Drop your weapon on the ground and kick him over here."
The latter responded, and the lookalike leaned over to pick up the weapon and then threw the scalpel away .
" That's better. Now, the handcuffs. Quick, get the handcuff key."
The policeman did it reluctantly, then raised his hand up, then Nasr entered to see the scene , he was also in a pitiful state . He looked at me and then at the look-alike in astonishment, so I smiled and said:
- "Do you believe me now?"
The look-alike shouted at me to be quiet, then turned to Nasr and said firmly:
" You're a policeman too. Well, order your guys to pull back, or I'll kill him."
Nasr said cautiously:
- "Calm down, I'll do whatever you want."
The look-alike said:
- "Do what I want. Then I'll calm down. . . Come on."
He removed the handcuffs from my hands, then pulled me by my neck while the muzzle of the gun did not leave my head. We stayed like that until we left the hospital, and he took me into a car, handcuffed my hands again and said:
" We're alone now, let's have some fun, my friend."
Then drive at full speed.
On the way, after he was sure that no one was following him, he said:
" You have no one to blame but yourself; you put us in this. You had the option to ignore the whole thing and go on your way, but I won't blame you; it's just the stubborn genes we inherited from the drunkard, isn't it?"
I said to him calmly:
" What is your plan now? To kill me and then leave my body on the side of the road?"
He replied in disapproval, saying:
" Kill you? Of course not, my dear; don't you know that your life is the most precious thing to me?"
Yes, don't be surprised, your friend Safwat explained everything to me. So, we made a deal that he would hand you over to me, and in return I would keep quiet about his murderous activity which, by the way , I find brilliant.
What? Have you gone silent again? It seems that the curse still haunts you, my dear - everyone who has dealt with you, and inevitably sees you as a scoundrel - must be eliminated, even those you thought would help you. As for the plan, my friend, it is as follows:
Remember that cellar you honored me with a visit before? I will now build you a similar cellar worthy of you . First, I will cut out your tongue to ensure peace, for after all, I am a professional and do not like to work in a noisy manner. Then I will amputate your arms and then your feet, and I will make sure that what is left of you will live until we are both old and gray.
Yes, you will spend the rest of your miserable life in this dark cellar, watching me kill and dismember the people of your world, with a soul completely assured that no one will come after me; after all, to them here I am but a ghost. Isn't that right?
Yes, you, by your stupidity and your miserable heroic attempts, without knowing it, have now done me a service worthy of praise. So you will continue to wait for me from time to time to throw you a piece of bread like a street dog, so that you may learn the most important lesson for the rest of your life, which I will make sure will be long, boring and empty, which is not to stick your arrogant nose in matters that do not concern you. Huh? Your nose ! I guess I will start with that."
He laughed out loud, then sighed sarcastically:
"Admit it, my friend, you didn't expect this, did you?"
I said:
" No, that's exactly what I was planning."
Then I took out Zizi from under my clothes, and stuck the needle in his neck. He suddenly flinched, then fell on the steering wheel. The car tilted to the side of the road, so I tried to get it back on track with my handcuffed hands with all my strength, then I pulled the handbrake with my hand, so it spun around until it hit the road barrier, then stopped suddenly.
****
Where did we stop? Well, I remembered.
Raanan Square.
A man in his forties has just woken up from his slumber to find himself tightly strapped to a car seat on a train track and the death train looming on the horizon.
As I mentioned before, this fool was not me, but my double.
As for me, I was leaning against the car in my loose hospital gown a few steps away, lighting a cigarette.
When he woke up, I said, pointing to the tobacco box:
"I borrowed it from your car. Be careful ! These things will kill you."
The lookalike tried to escape the restraints in vain. What happened? How did he end up here?
I told him:
" Well, you must be exhausted wondering now."
I approached him until I was one step away from him, and said:
- "Let me tell you a story now."
I took him to the day Safwat visited me in the hospital.
Safwat now brandishes his weapon at me, so I say to him:
" You wouldn't do it; you don't kill anyone in this dimension; I know that."
He said:
" There is a beginning to everything, you are now in their grip, and sooner or later you will tell everyone our secret, and that is what I will not allow."
He cocked the gun on the black barrel in readiness, taking a few steps toward me, and I cried out pleadingly:
" Listen to me carefully, you want me dead, that's something we have in common, but not before I'm sure the bastard is dead."
He said:
" Then we're on good terms. If I kill you now, he'll die too. Right?"
He pulled my head, so I grabbed his arm and said quickly:
" What if I find a way? That guarantees this? I beg you, let me do it my way, I want to make sure for myself. This is the only way I can do it. Won't you fulfill someone's last wish on their deathbed? You're better than that, Safwat, I know that very well."
He was silent for a moment, looking at me with a penetrating look to try to digest the conversation. His grip loosened, then he continued in the same firm tone, saying:
" Suppose I left you, how would you do it? It seems to me now that you are not going anywhere."
I approached him until the chains pulled me closer, so I whispered to him, saying:
" Even if I find a way to get rid of this restriction, I have exhausted all my attempts. The property is gone, so I will ask you for one last favor."
He said in disapproval:
- "service?".
I replied saying:
" Can you bring someone from the other dimension here? I mean this device of yours, can you design a similar device in the other dimension?"
He nodded, then said:
" It's not easy, but it's not impossible either. Yes, I can do it."
I said to him:
- "Excellent, can you find this bastard?"
He replied, saying:
- "Yes, that's possible."
I looked at him in astonishment and admiration at the same time, and he said proudly:
" What? Did you think I was working alone?"
I shouted excitedly, saying:
- "You're the best, Safwat, do you know that?"
He replied sarcastically, saying:
" Yes, I know that."
I whispered to him seriously, saying:
" Well, here's the service: I want you to bring my doppelganger from the other dimension."
Safwat looked at me in surprise, so I said to him:
" I also want you to be sure that he will not return to his world until I have completed everything."
He looked at me for a long time, weighing the matter in his mind, then looked at the weapon in his hand before grabbing it by the muzzle, then placing it in my hand, saying:
" Well, this is your last chance, don't waste it, because I won't give it to you again."
When I finished telling my lookalike the story, his eyes were wide open; he had fallen into the trap that Safwat and I had set for him without even realizing it. So, I quietly blew out the smoke, then turned to him and said:
" And here you are, my friend, putting yourself in my grip and offering me your life without fuss, without incident, with all ease and smoothness, so that I can make you taste what you used to taste to your victims, handcuffed to a chair, helpless. You didn't expect this, did you? But I don't blame you; it's the genes of stupidity, the ones we inherited from the drunkard, isn't it?"
I looked at the train looming on the horizon and slowly backed away from it.
He started cursing and swearing, he started calling for help with desperate breaths, then he closed his eyes crying, I looked into his eyes which had become red like embers .
He screamed a scream that echoed throughout the place .
He started beating his hands and feet, trying to get rid of the restraints, but to no avail.
Then he suddenly calmed down and nothing remained but panting.
" I seem to have underestimated you too much," he said, then clenched his fist in despair and continued :
- "So this is the end, isn't it? "
I said :
" Believe me, I thought of all the possibilities, and I didn't see it any other way . "
He cried out:
" What are you doing, you're going to die too, didn't you think about that, you idiot? "
I puffed on the tobacco and said :
" We all die one day, my friend . "
He looked ahead at the train, then sighed with a trembling mouth .
- "Well then, take it from a dying man, you should cut down on smoking. Cigarettes will kill you."
I approached him and put the cigarette in his mouth. He sucked it with a trembling mouth and I said :
- "Trust me, I'm in a position now where I can smoke as much as I want."
He looked at me pleadingly :
" Don't I deserve forgiveness? Look at me; this face, this body, perhaps if you forgive me now you will forgive yourself, because I am you after all. Why should we die now? Don't you deserve to forgive yourself? "
I told him :
" You are right, sometimes we surprise ourselves with what we have to do, although what I am doing now means running after my end faster than this oncoming train, but still in my long miserable life I have never been more forgiving of myself than at this moment.
I am giving you a golden opportunity now . If you really want forgiveness, look to the sky, you are now in God's hands . "
I looked at the approaching train and slowly backed away from it. He said, his face turning red like blood from the stress, until he looked like he was going to explode :
"Forgiveness? What forgiveness are you talking about?! I have no forgiveness for what I did ... maybe mercy . "
Then he raised his eyes to the sky and cried out, closing his eyes :
" May God have mercy on us all ."
He surrendered to the arms of death that approached him and embraced him, so I said to him :
" Goodbye Adam. See you in the afterlife."
Moments before the shock, he filled his mouth with screams that were lost amidst the howling of the train, before chaos reigned and the raging beast toppled him, sending body parts flying everywhere.
I leaned against the car, watching the scene, satisfied with myself.
On the other hand, across the passing trains, four ghosts settled: Shawqi with the amputated arm, and next to him three people who had finally regained their human features, looking at me calmly with looks of satisfaction and gratitude in their eyes, before they slowly faded away and their image vanished as the last train carriage passed.
I looked beside me to find Nasr coming in panting. He looked at the scene in horror, then shouted, saying:
- "What did you do?".
I smiled, then answered him, saying:
" Calm down; don't you know they call me the Egyptian Wizard?"
Then I pointed to the remains and said:
" All this isn't real; it's a trick. Look."
At that time, the remains began to glow, announcing their return to the world they belonged to, until they slowly faded away, then disappeared from the scene.
Nasr turned to me and said in alarm:
" You did what you wanted, Adam. You killed him and returned him to his world? "
I threw the rest of the cigarette away, then said with a smile :
- "What worlds? I don't know what you're talking about? "
Nasr looked at me with a look of spite that soon turned to confusion when he saw that my nose was bleeding. Then my heartbeats began to increase violently, my forehead sweated, and I fell forcefully to the ground. I tried to get up, but my feet refused to respond. A lethargy spread through my joints and slowly rose up to the rest of my body.
Is this the end then? Welcome, I've been waiting for you for a long time.
In Nasr's arms, who was busy asking for help, I looked up at the sky, and comfort finally enveloped me, like the serenity I had missed in my mother's arms. Then I closed my eyes in surrender, muttering in a low voice:
" My mother's lullaby, I remember it now."
Then darkness enveloped me