What came back

The man she buried is back and knocking.

Her eyes gazed through the peephole half in amazement and half well, in distress. He wore the same clean and polished suit just like the day of his funeral—fortunately open-casket or she may have not recognised him—the same black hair which was previously gelled back but now a riot with some dirt. 

The biggest question however, what did he want with her? 

She hardly knew the man, she was only present at the funeral as the funeral director had personally asked her to help as they were short staffed. 

The man knocked again, and she could hear him grunting on the other side of the door. Her knees gave out as she began to fully process the situation.

A booming voice then came through “I’m sorry, I know you’ll be scared. But please, I have no where else to go and they’re after me.” 

She clutched her legs, digging her overgrown nails into her thighs. She lifted herself back up to stare through the peephole, this time she saw the man wiping his eyes and looking behind him. She reached for the door handle almost instinctively as she saw the distressed man. The woman paused, drew a shallow breath, and looked at the man, there was every chance he was lying, that he was not who she thought, but there was also every chance that he was in danger. That he could be hurt. And she wouldn’t—no she couldn’t—forgive herself if she left him out there. So, she turned the key and unlocked the door.

A swift breeze came as the door squeaked open, the man turned his head, tears in his coffee-stained eyes. There was an awkward pause as they looked at each other. They had met before, before he supposedly died briefly always just in passing. A small town causes a lot of those small interactions. 

“Karina—yes?” The man said in a whisper, his booming voice now less threatening as Karina viewed the delicate nature of the man. 

“Yes, that is I, I mean yes that’s me sorry.” Karina spoke quickly and with no intent.

“Please, could you let me in?” 

Without speaking a word, she moved away from the entrance allowing her visitor to enter. The man was tall; he nearly hit his head off her low-down roof. She closed the door behind him and looked at him expectantly. He sighed and gathered his composure, wiping his eyes and such. 

“I am Ali Haddad; I am 43 years old and of current times. Alive.” Ali spoke as if he had not just been in tears pleading to enter a random woman’s house for safety.

“I told you I was in danger, that is true. But for your safety, I cannot tell you why or how.”  He straightened his suit.

Karina looked him up and down slightly offended she hadn’t been given a proper explanation.

“Okay well, like a week ago I volunteered to help bury you. I know it was you; I saw your face in the casket. In the images hung around the venue and the essence of your face in your children who came. What are you doing,” Karina clicked her tongue “Alive?” She spoke with confidence she didn’t have and leaned back slowly hoping there was a wall behind her, luckily for her, there was.

Ali sighed and crouched falling to the floor, a look of defeat in his face. 

“The funeral was planned; me and the funeral director are friends. It was all a rouse to fake my death. The funeral director, Ahmed, he randomly asked you to help—yes? Some excuse about lack of workers or something I expect. That was planned.” He said exasperated from seemingly just crouching. “We picked unqualified individuals who wouldn’t ask questions, the burial was extremely unprofessional, the casket wasn’t even locked, and I was buried very shallow. I was able to stay in for an hour before Ahmed came and dug me up. We picked a day it would rain, not just for melodramatics.” He chuckled bitterly. “But also because my family, despite mourning me, would never stand in the rain. They’re so predictable.” He looked odd to the side, to Karina’s kitchen but probably imaging his own family standing there.

“Okay so, you faked your death and all that okay. But why are you here? At my house? Why not go to Ahmeds?” Karina spoke quickly tiring her voice. 

“Ahmed’s not home, originally that was the plan. I’ve been on the streets the past three nights evading suspicion and gathering a few belongings. We planned to meet at his place but.” Ali voice suddenly broke. Karina saw his bite his bottom lip and stifle a cry. She bent down to his level dropping what she would consider her “cool demeanour” to try and sympathise with the man. 

“I think they got him.” He managed to whimper out before bursting into a cry. 

Karina looked solemnly at the man, she felt as if she were in a fever dream much less reality. She jogged to the other room and grabbed kitchen roll to offer to the man. Through his tears he thanked her. She gave a small endearing smile. 

After a while when Ali had begun to calm down Karina continued her questions, this time more softly worried as to hurt him.

“What about your family? Will whoever’s after you not hurt them?” 

“No, they wouldn’t. They will only hurt those who they specifically believe to be against them. Me and Ahmed were to run away together, but…” he trailed off. Karina put a hand on his shoulder in support. He looked up startled and began to tear up again.

“I’m sorry I came to your home, I’ve seen you walk home before I live the next street over and I just couldn’t face my family after all this. They would never forgive me, and I don’t want to look them in the eye after I’ve put all this hurt upon them.” Ali sniffed using the Christmas-decorated kitchen roll to dry his eyes. 

Karina sighed, unsure of how to handle all this information. On one hand, he was an endangered man, mourning this friend and the death of his past self. But on the other hand, what the hell was she supposed to do about it? She doesn’t have it in her to just abandon him but at the same time was she in danger? 

“What can I do?” The words trickled out her mouth before she thought them.

“Pardon?” The man stuttered.

“What can I do to help?” Karina brought her face up and looked him in the eye. A gleam of something in there, something Ali didn’t recognise. 

“I need to look different, clothes, hair-dye anything, I have money if you need. I can get a bus in the morning, and I’ll be on my way.” Ali spoke quickly stumbling over his words and reaching for his wallet in his dirty back pocket. 

Karina had almost forgotten the time she looked at her watch on the wrist, one of the fancy ones which tracked the calories and heart rate and everything. She opened it to find her heart rate at 120bpm and that it was 3am. 

“We’ll need to get you out of town as fast as possible.” She began speaking with confidence she didn’t feel. “I have hair bleaching products in the bathroom and my ex left practically his whole wardrobe and razors to shave the stubble off your beard.” She picked herself up and offered a hand to the guest. “That’s if we’re going all the way through with this.”

Ali looked up at her, as if he didn’t believe her words, but he grabbed her hand to help himself up and nodded. 

Firstly, they decided to tackle his hair, Ali had naturally black hair, his hair was grey in surprisingly few areas considering in his age. Karina had never dyed her own hair but had helped bleach her friends after a party. This, she considered to be enough experience. Ali used Karina’s hair clips to divide his hair into sections whilst Karina used the last of the products putting them into a bowl to mix. She applied the product onto his hair in with complete focus. There was silence between them which was deafening. 

Once the last of the product had been applied, she fell back sitting on the edge of the bath whilst Ali stared in the mirror. 

“Karina?” 

“Yeah?”

“Why did you choose to help me, to even open the door and hear me out?”

The words spilled out like mini daggers onto her head. She looked down pondering. 

“You said you in danger, I did doubt you. I did second guess myself.” She paused searching for the right words. “And, I guess, I have nothing else to do, if you came in and threatened me and tried to hurt me, I don’t think it would affect my life much. I don’t have any family. If I died no children would come to my funeral to weep, barely any friends competent enough to help plan it anyways.” Karina looked down at her socks. “I guess it’s not that I trusted you, it’s just that I didn’t care what the outcome was. If you need help, great I can try my hardest, if you didn’t. Well.” 

Ali turned to look at her, he pitied her but was also somewhat jealous. In his situation he has been forced to abandon his family, his wife, his children, his mother. His friends mourned his artificial loss. 

“You make it sound as if you don’t value yourself.” He said with consideration.

Karina chuckled to herself. “Maybe. But it doesn’t matter right now. I think I’m having the most interesting night of my life.” She looked up at him with a forced cheesy smile, catching his ofd guard and forcing him to laugh. 

Afterwards Karina put on some gloves and washed his in the sink. Which caused quite a commotion. She proceeded to bring him into the living room as she gathered her ex's clothes from her bedroom. During this time Ali sat on her couch. Thinking about so many things he may as well not have been thinking at all. He looked out the window, at the night sky. He wondered is his wife was awake, looking at the moon which he too was looking at. 

Karina came downstairs with piles of shirt and trousers in a range of colours and cleanliness. 

“I’m not too sure about your size but my ex wore a lot of oversized things so most things should probably work.” She said as she handed Ali the pile. She gestured towards the bathroom to get dressed.

After around 30 minutes Ali reentered the living room in cargos and a stained black hoodie. In that time Karina has made them both coffee as to help with the lack of sleep. Ali stood there awkwardly. Karina eyed him up and down, his bleached hair had turned out orange which was jarring in contrast with his brown skin. His stubble had been shaved, and his new crude clothes were miles away from the way she had seen him at the funeral. He looked far from appropriate or good, but he looked different and that was all that he needed. 

“I think this will work.” She said standing up offering him his now cold coffee. 

Ali sipped it, he didn’t like coffee with milk—or coffee that was cold—but was grateful for the first cup he’d had in a week. 

“The first bus out of town leaves at 6:00, it’t currently 5:43.” Karina said glancing up from her watch. 

They looked at each other in a comfortable silence. Something which would have been bewildering only a couple hours ago. 

“Will you make a new family?” Karina asked.

“No, nothing can replace my loved ones.” He responded putting his hand through his hair.

The bus stop was directly across the street from Karina’s small apartment; Karina knew its exact schedule from watching it most mornings. It would arrive at exactly 6:00am, stay for 5 minutes then leave to go to the next town. 

“I have a daughter.” Ali said abruptly after sitting for moments in silence. “She’s about your age, she’s… kind and competent. I think you would like her.” Karina looked over at him, slightly puzzled. Ali stepped back into the bathroom for a moment where his suit was folded up and grabbed something from one of the pockets.

“Take this to her, whenever you see her, she slipped this into one of my pockets at the funeral. Say it fell out or something.” He held out his hand revealing a small keyring. It had the words engraved ‘I’ll love you Aaliyah.’ 

Karina had a tear in her eye acknowledging his intentions. 

“I couldn’t possibly, this is the last token from your family-“she was cut off.

“You deserve to have someone who helps you the way you have helped me today. Aaliyah is kind and I know that you two will get along well. Consider it my thank you for your kindness.” Ali spoke as he put the keychain into Karina’s hand. 

Karina looked up at him in gratitude, yet still unsure of his plan. 

An engine could be heard from outside, they both looked out. The bus had arrived. Ali quickly went and gathered his things he left in the bathroom and put his coffee mug on the couch carefully. Karina went to the front door, realising she has never locked it as she opened it. Ali shuffled beside her, and they both stood outside. They looked at each other and paused. Unsure of what to make of the moment. Ali bowed his head; Karina did too copying his mannerisms. They both understood the others feelings though no words were spoken. And Ali walked with purpose to the bus and got on. Karina watched from her doorstep as the bus pulled away. Exactly at 6:05am, like every other day. She looked down at the keychain. Aaliyah repeating in her mind.