Fog

Chapter 2: Reflection of Shadows

After the session with Yassin ended, Mariam remained seated at her desk, surrounded by the heavy silence that settled after his departure. The room was small, its walls white and bare of any decoration, as if she preferred to keep her personal space free of anything that could distract her. But now, neither the walls nor the simple furniture were enough to prevent the chaos swirling inside her mind.

Yassin’s words still echoed in her ears. “I think I’m losing my mind.” It wasn’t a new phrase to Mariam; she had heard it countless times from patients suffering from mental or psychological disorders. Yet this time, it was different. There was something familiar in his voice and in his facial expressions when he said it. It wasn’t just a passing sentence; it carried a depth akin to drowning in a sea of darkness.

Mariam lifted her head and looked out of the window overlooking the busy street. Cars sped by, people hurried along, each lost in their own affairs, oblivious to what was happening behind these silent walls. Mariam felt a deep sense of alienation, as though the outside world was entirely different from the one she inhabited inside. Yassin had planted a seed of doubt, questions, and perhaps fear within her.

Slowly rising from her chair, Mariam decided to leave the clinic for some fresh air. She knew staying here would only increase her sense of suffocation. She opened the clinic door, leaving behind the quiet office strewn with papers, and headed to the café next door. She liked sitting there between sessions, where she could breathe in fresh air and watch people without getting caught up in personal conversations with them.

She sat in her usual corner, where she could observe the street without being noticed. She ordered a cup of coffee and stared at her phone, trying to shake off the unsettling thoughts that were haunting her. Emails were piling up in her inbox, mostly from patients requesting new appointments or colleagues asking about reports. She flipped through the messages indifferently until she stopped at an unexpected one.

The message was from Leila, her former colleague and friend, whom she hadn’t heard from in years. “Hello Mariam, it’s been a long time. I recently heard about you from some friends and decided to send you this email. Would you like to meet soon? I have some news that might interest you. I hope we can catch up.”

Mariam raised her eyebrows in surprise. Leila? She hadn’t expected to hear from her after all these years. Mariam and Leila’s friendship had begun strong during their university years, but something happened that caused them to drift apart. There was a particular incident... Mariam didn’t want to recall it now. Despite this, she felt that this message could be an opportunity to reconnect and perhaps understand what had happened between them. She quickly replied, agreeing to meet, and they set a time to meet that evening.

### 1

That evening, Mariam headed to the café Leila had chosen for their meeting. It was located near the Nile, the kind of quiet café frequented by intellectuals and artists who came to write their thoughts or discuss their works. Upon arriving, she found Leila sitting in a corner, sipping a cup of tea and quietly gazing at the river.

Mariam approached slowly, and Leila, noticing her, smiled cautiously. As Mariam sat down, she felt as if time had taken her back. Despite the years, Leila still looked much the same, with her long dark hair and delicate features that exuded a poised calm. Yet, in her eyes, there was something mysterious, as though she carried more secrets than she revealed.

“Hello, Mariam,” Leila said softly. “I know I disappeared for a while, but I had to step away for a bit to sort out my life.”

“Hello, Leila. It’s okay, life sometimes takes us in different directions,” Mariam replied, feeling a bit tense. She wasn’t sure what to say, but she sensed that there was something hidden behind this meeting.

The conversation between them started off slow and superficial at first, talking about their careers and old friends. But Mariam couldn’t shake the feeling that Leila was trying to steer the conversation toward something specific.

“Mariam, you know... I’ve always felt there was something mysterious about you,” Leila said suddenly, tilting her head slightly as she watched Mariam intently.

“What do you mean?” Mariam asked, somewhat puzzled.

“I mean, you’ve always been surrounded by shadows, as if something is chasing you,” Leila said slowly, as if thinking through each word before speaking. “Don’t you feel that?”

Mariam felt a shiver run through her body. She hadn’t expected the subject to be brought up so directly. Did Leila see something she herself hadn’t noticed? Was she aware of those shadows that surrounded her, the ones Mariam had either ignored or denied?

“I don’t understand what you’re getting at, Leila. Is there something specific you want to say?” Mariam asked in a low voice, though her internal tension was rising.

“Maybe Yassin is the key to understanding that,” Leila said, her eyes glinting. “That patient you’re dealing with now... I feel like his story is somehow connected to yours.”

Mariam froze in place, as if time had stopped for a moment. How did Leila know about Yassin? She hadn’t told her anything about him, hadn’t mentioned him in their conversation. Thoughts raced through her mind, trying to make sense of what was happening. “How do you know about Yassin?” she asked, her voice tense.

Leila smiled calmly, as if she had expected the question. “Let’s just say I’ve been watching. There are many things happening around us, Mariam. More than we realize. Yassin is not just a patient, is he?”

Fear began to creep into Mariam’s heart. What did Leila know? Why did she seem to be hinting at something bigger than what appeared on the surface? Was she trying to warn her or guide her toward something hidden? There was a deep sense that this meeting wasn’t just a casual reunion between old friends but carried with it new questions and potential answers that Mariam wasn’t yet ready to hear.

Mariam couldn’t respond immediately. It felt like everything in that moment was moving in slow motion, as if she were living in a strange cinematic scene where things seemed clear but also distant. She watched Leila as she sipped her tea slowly, while the questions swirled endlessly in her mind.

“What do you mean Yassin isn’t just a patient?” Mariam finally asked, trying to maintain her calm despite her inner turmoil.

“I can’t tell you everything right now, but you’ll know soon,” Leila replied in a cryptic tone. “There are connections between us and others that we don’t always understand at first. But in time, things will reveal themselves.”

Mariam felt the conversation growing more mysterious with every word. She knew that Leila wasn’t saying everything she knew, and perhaps there was a good reason for that. But the one thing she was sure of at that moment was that her life was about to take an unexpected turn.

### 2

The next day, Mariam returned to the clinic feeling heavier than before. She sat at her desk and looked at Yassin’s file in front of her. This patient had been different from the start, but now she was beginning to realize that something deeper was happening behind the scenes.

Mariam started to sift through the papers in his file, trying to find any details that might help her understand the strange connection Leila had hinted at. The papers were filled with notes from previous therapy sessions: Yassin’s talk about his strange dreams, about places and people he didn’t know but felt he had lived with. What worried her even more was that these places seemed familiar to her as well. How could there be a connection between what Yassin saw and what she saw? She wasn’t yet ready to believe it, but her inner feeling was pushing her toward further investigation.

She called her colleague, Dr. Ahmed, who was known for his deep knowledge of analytical psychology and the strange phenomena related to the subconscious mind. When Ahmed entered the office, he seemed intrigued by what Mariam had to say, as she rarely asked for his help directly.

“Ahmed, I need your opinion on something that might sound very strange,” Mariam began nervously, feeling that she needed to soften the impact of what she was about to say.

Ahmed looked at her seriously, waiting for her to continue.

“There’s a patient named Yassin. He talks about very strange dreams and places he doesn’t know. The problem is... I’m seeing almost the same dreams. Or at least, his dreams resemble what I’m seeing in my own. Do you think that’s possible?” Mariam asked, watching Ahmed’s reaction.

He leaned back in his chair, surprised but not dismissive of the idea. “You’re saying that you’re both sharing the same dreams?” he asked thoughtfully, as if trying to grasp what she was saying.

“Yes. I can’t explain it, but it’s real. I feel like there’s an unexplained connection between us.”

Ahmed took a deep breath before saying, “This is not common, but it’s not impossible either. There are theories in psychology that suggest the subconscious mind can communicate with other minds if there’s a deep psychological resonance between individuals. You two might have shared experiences that opened up this unseen connection. But what led you to think this way?”

Mariam hesitated for a moment before recounting the meeting with Leila and her talk about the “shadows” surrounding her, and Leila’s mysterious knowledge about Yassin. Ahmed listened attentively, not interrupting her until she finished speaking.

"What Leila says might hint at something from the past, something you might have forgotten or tried to bury. There are unconscious links that might appear through dreams. Perhaps you need to look into your past, and maybe into Yassin's past as well," Ahmed said seriously.

"But how can I do that?" Maryam asked, feeling helpless.

"Sometimes, a dream is more than just a fantasy. It might be a gateway to memories or experiences we didn't fully understand at the time. I suggest you review these dreams with Yassin in more detail. Try to discover what might be behind these dreams and whether there were real experiences you shared without realizing it."

Maryam felt a bit of relief. She knew that this matter wouldn't be easy, but at least now she had a plan to search for answers. She had to delve deeper into Yassin's dreams, and perhaps into her own dreams, to understand what was happening.

### 3

In the next session with Yassin, Maryam decided to be more honest. Yassin was sitting on the sofa, looking as tired as usual, but he was ready to talk. Maryam sat opposite him, feeling that there was something heavy in the air between them. Something had changed in their relationship, making things more complicated.

"Yassin, I want to talk to you about something that might sound a bit strange," Maryam began cautiously. "You mentioned in the previous session that you have strange dreams and feel like you live in other worlds. But what I didn't tell you is that I see the same dreams."

That sentence was enough to completely change Yassin's expression. He looked at her with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What do you mean? Do you see what I see?" he asked, his voice filled with amazement and concern.

"I don't know exactly, but the dreams you described seem unsettlingly familiar to me. I feel that there is something connecting us, something beyond the therapy sessions."

Yassin was silent for a moment, as if trying to process what was said. Then he spoke slowly: "I felt that. I felt like you understood what I'm going through, but I didn't think it went this far."

Maryam began to feel a bit of fear. She hadn't expected Yassin to react this way. She thought it was just a feeling or coincidence, but now she realized that something bigger was happening. "Do you know anything about your past, Yassin?" Maryam asked, trying to understand things more deeply.

"Sometimes I remember things, but they are vague. I remember places I don't know and people I haven't met before. But I can't say they are real memories."

This response only added to Maryam's confusion. How could they share the same dreams without knowing each other before? Could these dreams be the result of a shared experience in the past, or was it something much deeper?

"I think we need to investigate more into your past and mine as well," Maryam said, thinking aloud. "Maybe there's something we've forgotten or tried to ignore."

Yassin felt his anxiety increase, but he knew that Maryam might be the key to understanding what was happening to him. There was no one else he could trust like her. "I'm ready to help you, Maryam. If you want to investigate, I'll be with you."

Maryam smiled slightly, feeling that they had taken a new step in this mysterious path. She didn't know where this search would lead them, but she felt she was on the verge of discovering something significant.

### 4

As Maryam delved into her thoughts about her past and her relationship with Yassin, she remembered a particular incident from her childhood. An incident she had buried deep in her memory for years. She was eight years old when she experienced a strange event in her small village.

She was playing with some children near the forest when she felt something strange pulling her toward the depths of the forest. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like an invisible call drawing her toward something. When she followed this call and entered the forest, she suddenly felt she was not alone. There was a strange presence, something dark and frightening, yet somehow familiar.

She couldn't remember all the details of the incident, but she recalled losing consciousness in the forest. When she woke up, her mother was standing over her with a face full of worry and fear. Maryam had not spoken about this incident to anyone since that day, and her mother had never mentioned it again.

Perhaps that incident was the key to understanding what was happening now.