Burning Coals

“Where to?” The skinny taxi driver asked as he looked at Malak in the mirror. “Come on, I don’t have time for the likes of you, do I?”

She looked at him perplexed, not knowing what to say. I don’t even know where I am! And I still can’t remember how did I get here.

“The seaside,” She said the first thing came to her mind. “just get me to the seaside.”

She just wanted to get as far as she could from this place.

The driver didn’t bother to reply, started the car and started moving as he looked at Malak’s face in the mirror with suspicious two eyes. He must think that I am not going to pay him because of how I look. She always hated this.

Not knowing how much it’s going to cost since it was her first time to be in a taxi, she took some money out of the wallet she had in her hands.

“Here, is this enough?” Malak handed him the money and hoped that this would make him leave her be.

Malak was used to be mistreated from almost everyone. It was one of the things that made her hate this world she lived in. She looked back to the wallet to check what was in it. She found the doctor’s ID, some credit cards and a good amount of money. It’s not like he’s going to miss it. Malak told herself. They wanted to kill me! They deserve what happened to them.

A chill went through her back as she remembered their faces and how terrifying it was seeing their burnt eyes and their disfigured jaws. But what happen to them?! How can someone become like that? Did someone do this to them?

Malak was abruptly drawn away from her thoughts when the car stopped suddenly as the driver slammed the brakes pedal and she was thrown forward. The driver shouted something at another car and started moving again.

“They should fix this goddamn power outage already, shouldn’t they?” The driver said to Malak as if he was almost shouting at her. “We can’t see a damn thing in this darkness! Can we?”

Malak felt puzzled as she looked around. She could barely see because of all the lights. What is he talking about? it’s too bright to see anything.

“What power outage?” She asked as she looked at him in the front mirror.

“What power outage?” The driver said, surprised. “The power that has been cut off to the entire city for two days now. What’s the matter with you, don’t you see? It’s dark everywhere. We can hardly see with the cars’ headlights and even the cars weren’t working yesterday. Were they?”

Malak was so confused that she couldn’t utter a single word and couldn’t get her thoughts together. She thought of what the doctor and the woman have said before about her being blind. She suddenly recalled how did they picked her up and took her to that place. It felt more like a dream than a memory; they came back with their red car and picked her up, and Malak could see nothing. Then the doctor checked her eyes and said that she has gone blind due to hitting her head hard.

“It can’t be,” She said as if she was talking to herself. “I see lights … lights everywhere.”

“What?” The driver asked. “You said something, didn’t you?”

Malak had a thousand thought going through her mind, that she didn’t even hear him.

When I first woke up after I passed out on the street I couldn’t see anything, then the doctor said that I went blind even though I could see despite all the lights. What does this mean? Can it be that the driver is lying to me? Are they all lying to me?!

“What do you mean it’s dark everywhere?” Malak asked nervously as she leant forward and looked at him in the mirror. “I can only see lights all around me!”

The driver was taken back as he looked her in the eyes. He felt like he couldn’t bear an eye contact with her.

“It’s … it’s been almost two days now since the power outage started.” He said, sounding startled. “How come you don’t see it? Is something wrong with your eyes?”

“Two days ago?” Malak asked eagerly, almost shouting. “Was it around midnight?!” 

“Yes, yes,” he said, getting more and more agitated by the second, as Malak looked at him. “It was around midnight, two days ago and it was raining, wasn’t it?”

Malak’s eyes felt like they’re not under her control as they were fixated on his eyes like they were physically connected to them.

This was about the same time I was almost hit by the car and hit my head on the street! She thought as she felt more and more nervous. It’s almost the same time when I saw that strange shimmering wave in the sky! Does this have anything to do with what’s happening? Did I cause all of this?! It can’t be!

She felt her blood boiling in her veins as she felt a mix of feelings. Confusion, fear, anger and many more due to all her unanswered questions.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!” The driver all of a sudden started screaming like a madman and jumped in his seat. “Stop it, please! My eyes! Make it stop, make it stop, will you!!”

Malak snapped back frightened by his screaming.

“What? What’s wrong?!” she asked, alarmed and startled. Make what stop?! She glimpsed his eyes in the mirror, it was red like fire. His hands were off the steering wheel and his fingers trying madly to take off his eyes as if they were burning coals in his face. The car swayed rapidly to the right and went off the road. Malak tried to move quickly and hold the steering wheel. She was able to hold it and started to swirl it to the left, but she was slammed hard to the car roof and back to the floor as the car finally crashed into the nearest tree at the side of the road.