Twisted Shadows

Chapter 2: Coded Reflections

A cold shiver ran deep down my spine as I stared at that blinking red dot through the reflection of the glass shelf. Houssam seemed completely absorbed in typing some codes on his keyboard, totally unaware that his screen's reflection was exposing him to me behind the crowds. The blinking area was the exact abandoned warehouses on the outskirts of Ghouta—the very place where the police had found my sister Raghad's car smashed and abandoned two days ago.

I took a deep, long breath to regain my natural composure as a pharmacist who was used to handling critical situations with a cautious calm. I remembered my nature, which was characterized by patience and deliberation; a rushed confrontation right now with a man who possessed such power and ambiguity could destroy all threads of truth and end my life and my sister's before we even began. I had to play the game by its dark rules.

- "Houssam.. do you visit that area often for your current restoration projects?" I asked him in a thoroughly feigned, casual tone, moving slowly toward him while holding a warm cup of tea to break the barrier of silence and tension.

He suddenly raised his head, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of caution in his eyes, which vanished quickly behind his usual smile. He closed the lid of his laptop with deliberate slowness, then took the cup from me and placed it on the side table.

- "Which area do you mean, my love?" he asked in a very calm tone, as if testing the extent of my knowledge.

- "The outskirts of the city.. where they found Raghad's car. I was just thinking.. if you noticed any strange movement there due to your work in old buildings," I answered, my eyes micro-focusing on his features to screen for any abnormal expression.

Houssam sighed and approached me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder in an attempt to pour fake reassurance into my heart:

- "Kinda, please do not occupy your mind with these dark illusions. I only work in the city center, and that area is abandoned and dangerous. The police are handling the matter, and we just have to wait. Let's close the pharmacy now and return home; the time is late, and the rain is getting heavier in Damascus."

I nodded my head in agreement and pretended to surrender to his request, but inside me, the drums of psychological war had already been beaten.