It started a month ago.
It was a hot evening, and Malik picked up a can of Vimto from the local corner market. He pet the shop cat on the way out, stopping just outside the threshold to pop open his soda and take a sip. As he brought the can down from his lips, he spotted a dark figure standing on the other side of the road as cars whizzed by. Even in the dark, Malik could see the hints of blonde, the gold, the glint of lamplight illuminating a smirking grin. He froze. Not again, not again, not again-
The cat yowled behind him, and Malik jumped in a panic to look, his heart beating out of his chest. His head whipped back around to the figure across the road. It was gone. But it was just the beginning.
Two weeks later, Malik was a hookah bar, deep in the heart of downtown Cairo, smoking with his band mate Ahsan in the enclosed courtyard. They gossiped in hushed voices about the other handsome young men around them, who were all too busy in their own groups to notice the taboo conversation. Out the corner of his eye he spotted a familiar-shaped dark figure walking along the other side of the fence. Before he knew it, he'd dropped his mouthpiece to the ground and ran to the courtyard gate. He fumbled with the lock, before finally opening it and bursting through. He looked all around, frantically, but couldn't spot the man he was sure he'd seen. Ahsan yelled from behind him, "What the fuck was that, man??" referring to Malik running away so suddenly.
Malik knew exactly what- who that was.
It continued in increasing frequency. In the hallways of the arts center. On his way to practice. While pumping gas. He'd almost wrecked his motorcycle several times, swearing he saw the figure crossing the road. Malik's anxiety was through the roof. His performances were being affected. His siblings were starting notice. His friends definitely noticed, and were asking too many questions.
He found himself walking to the corner store again. His eyes kept darting around. He'd avoided this place since this first incident but his other band mate, Saira, had smoked too much weed and had the munchies. Near-midnight store run it was.
It was impossible, he thought to himself. His darker half couldn't be back. He was banished, and even if he was back, how could he appear in his own body? It was nonsense. He scratched the shop cat's head again as he exited, snacks in hand, and whispered, "You'll protect me, won't you, mau?" Cats were good luck to his ancestors after all.
The cat yowled under his hand and darted off into the depths of the now-closing store. Malik immediately spun to look at the spot across the road where he'd first spotted the figure. He didn't need to look far.
His darker half was standing right in front of him.
starter for @scarsofra
