part 1: [https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/zuqd39/the\_tale\_of\_almatahee/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=ios\_app&utm\_name=iossmf](https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/zuqd39/the_tale_of_almatahee/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
As we strayed further and further from the city, the clouds in the sky seemed to grow thicker. It was a late autumn afternoon, and the bone-chilling air made its way into the car’s ventilation.
“So, Fahad,” I said, trying to break the silence “when did you get your driving license? I remember how you told us you struggled finding space for the driving exam”
Fahad remained quiet for a few seconds.
“Oops,” he said.
So there we were, driving to an abandoned compound and probably school in the middle of nowhere, and the one driving *MY* car has no experience whatsoever driving. As we reach the outskirts of the city, I heard Fahad exclaim “Black kites!” Before looking around him with absolutely zero attention paid on the road. Each turn he took caused every object in the car to bounce up, bang against the roof, then violently drop. I could’ve sworn my car was tilting on its side with each turn the man took. I looked outside the window to see what the fuss was about, and I saw about sixty gigantic birds all across the power lines. They were literally floating, flying above the road without a single flap of their wings. They were brown? Black? I wasn’t sure. They were the last form of life we saw and with them being gone, we were all alone driving off-road
The sun’s edge had begun to touch the horizon, and the sky began to take on all shades of orange and purple, further emphasised by the thick clouds.
“Alright, here’s the plan,” began Fahad, his mind focused on everything except driving, “we’re going to keep heading to the location and once night falls we’ll camp for the night. We have no location services and navigating by memory in complete darkness will doom us.”
The trip was quiet and the feeling I would use to describe it was sombre. Nobody spoke, almost as if there was a unanimous resignation as the memories and questions resurfaced to greet us. I began second guessing my decision to come here, on one side this could be our chance to find something, but on the other, was it just worth the effort and danger? Fahad began to increase the speed, and at this point I could feel the car leap with every small pebble of sand that would be rolled under its wheels.
Todd began cursing at Fahad. “Slow the damn car down! White even let you behind the wheel?”
Fahad swivelled his waist around, letting go off the steering wheel completely.
“How about we spend the night in the middle of nowhere, jackass?” He retorted
“So your solution to getting to the destination on time is to have us all die?!”
“If that’s what you want,” said Fahad. He stepped as hard as he could on the gas, and the marker on the speedometer began to fly to the right. Every dent on the ground caused the car to shake violently, and Fahad *still* had his back turned to the steering wheel as he hurled a string of slurs against Todd. Todd returned the curses, and soon began the threats
“I’m going to cave in that brainless skull of yours” Todd said
“Try doing that and I’ll make you know what the soles of my boots taste like,” Fahad retorted. Fahad was reckless but one thing I knew damn well about him was that he always wanted to stand his ground. Even if he knew that it was the worst possible decision in such a situation nothing seemed worse to him was cowering after he escalates it.
“Can the two of you shut up?” Levi interjected, spreading the pressure between three people. “None of you should be anywhere near the steering wheel, Todd your arguing is going to get us killed and Fahad, you don’t even have a damned license!”
“Even without a license I can stil-“
“FAHAD” Jason screamed. “LOOK IN FRONT OF YOU”
I could only imagine the pain in his lungs and the possible damage done to his vocal cords in these agonising phrases.
In front of was a huge pile of boulders. The car was driving at its full speed and with each blink of my eye they doubled in size. Fahad looked blankly at the boulders, and I kept yelling his name. He had completely zoned out and within any moment I imagined the loud crash that would fill my ears for the split second before all went black.
“FAHAD” I heard, screams but I don’t know from who because everyone had been yelling. I felt everything slow down, as the seconds dragged on longer but the rocks increased in size just as fast as they would normally. I decided to do something, something that I didn’t know wether would save us from this or would be the last thing I’d ever do in my life. I raised my arm up and punched Fahad, not as hard as I could but still not a soft punch. My fist landed between his eye and his upper jaw. Suddenly Fahad snapped. He turned to look at me, confused that I punched him then turned to face forwards and flinched. It had taken him five seconds to realise the sight before him, but God, dear God these were the longest five seconds that I would ever experience in my life
Fahad gripped the steering wheel and turned it so violently his arms ended up crossing each other.
You know the feeling when you’re on a plane and the pilot turns to one side? You know, when you could literally feel your body moving and when you look out the window and you can see the wing of the plane going down as it tilts?
I felt my body move to the right, almost suspended at a horizontal position. I looked out the window and all I saw was the ground, right in my face. The car tilted back onto its side and when it landed the whole vehicle was greeted with a deafening crash. I didn’t feel the car seat below me and my head touched the roof before my locked seatbelt pulled me back. I felt the strap latch hard onto my chest, almost as if someone had kicked me hard in the ribcage.
I clutched my chest in pain as Fahad steered the car back on track, and this time he was more focused on the road. He drove fast, but not at exaggerated speeds as he raced against the darkening sky. It was a race, the race to
*Almatahee*
The purples and oranges that adorned the sky began to fade as the sun disappeared completely under the horizon, and we were left with the intimidating silhouettes of the darkening clouds.
“So, how close are we?” Asked Levi.
“We’ve still got a long way, but the night has already begun to fall on us.”Fahad replied “Let’s get out and camp for the night.” Fahad gradually slowed the car to a stop, the first rational decision I have seen him perform while behind the wheel. I had honestly expected him to slam the brakes at full speed.
We dismounted, emptying the trailers. Though Fahad led the process, we stayed away and refrained from talking to him. Say what you want, but none of us appreciated him nearly reducing us to a clump of ground beef stuck inside a crumpled car.
As Todd carried the cooler above his shoulder and passed Fahad, he shot him a furious look.
“What’s wrong with him” he whispered with a smile, slightly elbowing me
“Him?” I said. “He wasn’t the one driving the car to the grave while cussing out his buddy.”
Fahad raised an eyebrow. He genuinely seemed confused by what I was saying.
“You know, when you were arguing with Todd?”
Fahad stood silent for a few seconds
“I didn’t argue with Todd,” he said. It wasn’t like he was justifying himself or even denying it. He genuinely sounded like he had no idea what was asking him. Levi overheard conversation
“What did you mean, didn’t argue?” He said. “You spent more time thinking about which insult you’d hurl his way than actually driving.”
Fahad looked at us with authentic dumbfounded-ness
“What insults? What are you talking about? All I remember was when we were driving at the power lines with the black kites then we were about to hit the Rock.”
I wanted to believe he was lying. I wanted to believe he was just too ashamed to admit he started a whole argument with Todd over a concern about the group’s safety. But it’s just not right, he genuinely sounded confused. Not a single stutter, not a single expression of worry, nor feigning confusion with exaggerated actions. He genuinely sounded like he had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know if I wanted to pursue the conversation any further, I just wanted to drop it and pretend nothing happened yesterday
Fahad started the fire, igniting a hut of large log splinters on a metal tray designed for the purpose of campfires. Soon enough, the flame was the only thing guiding our vision, as the sky had fallen dark and with nothing left but a moon and stars blanketed by the clouds we were good as blind.
We are two sandgrouses that night, and though we felt somewhat uncomfortable with being out in the dark, the night passed safely. Before we slept in the trailers, we had a last conversation.
“As you can see, there are four beds, and five of us.” He began. “And I…”He began unzipping his backpack and after fumbling for a couple seconds, he pulled out an air rifle, neatly folded.
“Is that an air rifle?” Jason interrupted. “Aren’t they for hunting birds?”
Fahad nodded
“Wait,” said Levi. “An air rifle? For hunting birds? So you’re telling me your hobby is birdwatching but you shoot them too? I though you cared about birds.”
Fahad said nothing, and instead gave Levi a shrug
“Anyways where was I?” He continued. “Oh yes, and I, will be standing guard throughout the night.
We headed to the trailer with the beds, and we then went to sleep. There was nothing eventful this night, except for the occasional banter between me and the group.
The next morning came and when I stepped out I was greeted with the unusual but expected sight of Fahad, deep asleep with the rifle loosely clutched in his arms. You could literally take the rifle from his hands and he wouldn’t even flinch. If this is what our “guard” looked like them we were a group of dead men. Todd paced aggressively towards Fahad and yelled until he woke up
“I, and literally everyone here, shouldn’t have trusted you with “standing guard” ” he told Fahad condescendingly
“Huh?” Fahad said groggily
“What if some bandits barged in while you were “standing guard” and slit our throats for the five dinars in my wallet?” Todd asked
Fahad got up to his feet, ignoring his sleep inertia momentarily
“You know what?” He said as he let the heat of the moment envelop him “I don’t care if that happens. We’re already dead men”
“Enough! The two of you,” I interjected.
Todd turned to face me. He was fuming and behind his eyes boiled a sense of anger and distrust.
“So you commend his persistent negligence,” he almost muttered
“No,” Levi said. “We just want you both to shut up”
Todd marched towards him, and stood mere centimetres from Levi. He towered over him, and was much more heavily built.
“Hm would you say that again”
Levi paused for a moment.
“I want *you* to shut *your* mouth.”
Todd was taken aback by Levi’s defiance. He tried to hide his shock, as when he bossed us around he never expected any pushback. He took a step forwards, and used both his arms to shove Levi. He lost footing, landing on the ground. He, however maintained his composure and did not fold to Todd’s intimidation. Jason sprinted and confronted Todd
“Look man that’s the last thing we need now.” He began
“The last thing we need is a negligent clown that held our li-“
“THE LAST THING WE NEED NOW” Jason repeated, interrupting Todd. “Is for this to go on. We’re literally in the middle of God knows where, and if we fall to this infighting *WE FALL*. You don’t have a choice. Either you put up with his ridiculous antics or isolate yourself in literal demon territory.”
Todd couldn’t respond. As upset as he was by Fahad had done, he knew Jason was right. The day went on, and luckily the morning’s scuffle seemed to have simmered, but Levi was still understandably upset about Todd’s aggression against him. We were able to locate a nearby abandoned village in the afternoon, and assuming that it was the legendary location that clouded our childhood, we all had the urge to visit.
“Look at this place” Todd told us, gesturing at the rundown buildings. “Let’s go there, the mystery is close as ever to being solved,”
Fahad insisted the place was not Almatahee, but we just didn’t trust the guy anymore
“No offence,” said Jason, “but I’m no longer going to believe anything you say. Aside from being the only one who knows the way back you’ve just been a liability and a huge risk.” Fahad was at his boiling point.
“You couldn’t East from west here yet you think this is the place?” He said. “I’m only coming along to see the looks on your faces when you see how wrong you were”
Ignoring his demands, we went to the place. It was about a ten minute’s walk from our “fortress” It bore a striking resemblance to Almatahee. There was the dirt road, incomplete buildings, and unfurnished rooms. However as we examined the details, Fahad’s words began to reflect on us as they had been the truth. There was no graffiti on the walls, no clothes or tools, no evidence of human contact whatsoever and no evidence of our school, not a single brick. Fahad looked at us smugly as we found out he was right after all.
“I wonder what this place is for,” Jason said, trying not to give in to the pressure Fahad applied to all of us.
“There’s no sign of life anywhere around, no markets no water what the hell could this be for?” I asked.
Fahad refused to say anything. I had a feeling he knew what these were but just didn’t want to tell us.
“Is this the right place, Fahad?” Todd asked him
“Go figure” Fahad said, snarking.
As we toured the village, we felt unwelcome. We were suddenly alerted by Todd to a crumbling building about ten metres away. We looked at it and we saw a jackass standing on the roof. However it didn’t resemble any normal donkey. Its back legs looked like they were attached facing the opposite direction and it’s front legs were bent all wrong. It was a sickening site and I averted the group’s gaze from it, telling them to ignore the “donkey”. We never brought it up again.
We gathered at what would be the “town center” and began discussing our thoughts, without Fahad of course.
“Do you think this is an abandoned village or just a forgotten construction project?” Todd asked
“It just feels off seeing quasi-advanced buildings in the middle of literally nowhere, there’s no life for miles and miles” Jason said.
“It looks a lot like what we saw at Almatahee, but it didn’t have the big central building with all the chains and it’s much smaller too,” I added.
We recounted the events of what happened in the morning, and eventually we touched down on the incident with Todd and Levi
“I really, really don’t appreciate what you did to me earlier today,” Levi told him
“Oh, why don’t you be a man and suck it up.” Todd said. I looked at Jason and he considered intervening, but at this point he just couldn’t bother anymore
“Why are you like this?” Levi yelled at him. “You think you’re tough,”
“That’s because I am,” Todd said, folding his arms.
“Todd you’re such a piece of garbage,” he said, his increasing frustration began to make itself obvious to us
“You’ve always been a wimp,” Todd told him, “you’re not a *real* man”
“Who are you to say that,” he yelled, fighting back tears of frustration
“Aww, did I hurt your feelings,” Todd said mockingly, “only *women* cry!”
“I hate you Todd, I’ve always fucking hated you” cursed Levi, he left the town hall, presumably to go back to our trailers.
As dusk approached, I noticed Todd kicking at the pebbles that lined the road. Like Fahad, neither me nor Jason had been interested in talking to him after his antics, while Levi went to God knows where.
Out of sheer boredom, Todd picked up a rock and tossed it. My gut found itself tied in a knot when I saw what happened next.
You know how the ball bounces when it hits the wall right? That’s exactly what happened with the rock he threw. But, how do I say this the rock hit *NOTHING*. It was, it was like he picked it up and threw it and it bounced off nothing. Me and Fahad were witnesses to this and I could feel the numbing chills at the base of my head once more, while Todd looked confused and Jason was simply not looking to see it happen
“The hell happened?” He said, almost to himself
“I think,” Fahad said, the first words he said all day. “That you might’ve provoked one of them.”
Fahad’s words communicated everything. Their almost faint tone communicated frustration, anger, bitterness, fear, dread, and most importantly they were a command for us
To get the fuck out of here.
We sprinted at full speed, just like we did so many years ago on that dreaded night. I remember how I said that I swore I though I heard footsteps behind us. This time, *this* time I heard them damn well. Even though the sprint was shorter, even though we could literally see our trailers I still felt an incredible wave of fear. Jason was the first to reach the trailer, followed by Todd, then me, then Fahad. As we stepped in, we noticed Levi wasn’t there. We were too afraid to check the other trailer, and I turned to close the door. As I turned to close it, I caught a glimpse of Levi limping towards our trailer.
“Levi!” I yelled out, hyperventilating
“I twisted my ankle” he cried back, his voice marred by the exhaustion of his undoubtedly agonising journey back. When he finally got here, I closed and bolted the door. We had all made it
Levi stumbled and sat on one of the water coolers.
“Is your foot alright? Do you want me to check up on it?” Todd asked, his concern very slightly noticeable in his voice. I felt Todd wanted to reconcile with Levi, but he felt too ashamed to bring up the topic
“No, no, I should be fine. It’s just a sprain…” he said.
“Hold on, I’ll get you some water,” he said, reaching for the other cooler.
We rested for about an hour, trying to get our thoughts together.
“The hell went on?” Jason finally asked
“We were out in the town center,” Fahad began explaining. “Todd picked up a rock an-“ Fahad was rudely interrupted by a loud *bang* on the outside of the trailer.
“The hell?” He shouted.
Almost in response, a loud scream from outside. It sounded like a man screaming his lungs out, almost in pain. But as human as it sounded we knew damn well that what awaited outside was anything but. A few minutes later, we were also taken off guard by the same bang. Five hours later, and the assault on our trailer seemed to have ended. We felt it was safe to talk again, and we gathered around Levi.
“How’d you get hurt?” Jason asked him
“I was-I-I was out at the back of the village and then I saw a figure. I saw you running but when I followed you I spr-ained my ankle when it slipped of the rock”. I felt chills, this time running down the entirety of my spine. He still sounded very, very tired
“Thank you f-foah waeting for me” he said, almost laboriously.
“Levi?” Todd asked, concerned. “Your voice man, you alright?”
“He sounds like he’s having a stroke,” Jason whispered. We tried to get him to talk more. I heard being hydrated could improve recovery from a stroke. I got up to get Levi a cup of water, but as I turned around I was greeted with the sight of Fahad pointing his rifle directly at me. I instinctively raised my hands. He moved to the left, pointing his rifle at the others. They soon realised and turned to face him.
“Fahad, what the hell,” Todd whispered.
“Move out of the way, all of you,” he commanded, ignoring Todd’s question. “Except you…” he said, pointing the rifle at Levi’s throat. We followed suit. Nobody wanted to disobey the madman with a gun now. He stood between us and Levi.
“So, “Levi”…” he said assertively, shaking his head when saying “levi” to express quotation marks. “Take off your shoes.”
Levi looked at him, confused. He sat there looking for an answer but when he tried to say it he could only unintelligibly stammer
“I SAID TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!” Fahad yelled.
Again, no response. Without looking back, Fahad began commanding us again.
“Go to the other trailers, I’ll take care of *it*”
As Jason and I walked out of the trailer I heard Todd arguing with Fahad on wether to stay and how it was the “manly” thing to do. We ran to the trailer and when we got in we bolted the door. We heard the banging of metal and we heard Fahad somewhat murmuring. Not so loud as to be understood but we could still recognise his voice. A few seconds later, we heard soft knocking on the door.
“It’s me, Todd” he said, in a clear but shaken voice. We let him in without hesitation.
The banging only got louder, and we could hear Fahad screaming phrases we simply couldn’t understand as the crumpling of metal got louder.
“What’s going on over there?”
Todd struggled to speak. I have never seen the expression of fear so blatant in his eyes. Amidst Fahad’s chants and the trailer that I assumed was being ripped to pieces, Todd finally got his thoughts in order
“F-Fahad stood between me and “Levi”…” he said, clearly stammering. I heard him whisper something and then, and then-“
Todd tried to continue, but the familiar sensation of barbed wires constricting the throat interrupted him.
“And then-“ he repeated, this time almost choking as his voice quivered. Todd’s eyes glistened as his vision was blurred by tears. His breath was shaky, and he tried hard to compose himself.
“And then I saw something grab his throat.” He finally managed to say.
“Did you see what happened to “Levi”?” Jason asked
“I-I caused all of this,” he said, trying all what was in his ability to suppress his sobs. I assumed he had misunderstood our question, but I just didn’t feel like correcting the man. “I took you there and,” He didn’t bother wiping the tears that trickled down his face. His eyes looked down in shame. “And we lost Levi and now Fahad’s being ripped to shreds”
Neither me or Jason knew what to say. This was the first time we’d see Todd cry. He sat on the bare trailer floor, leaning his head on his right wrist hiding his tear-stained face from us in shame as he let out his feelings for the first time in years. The banging was just as loud as it was moments ago, and Fahad’s chants grew into cries for help. They dragged on, and on. I remember at one point I was waiting for it to stop so that we knew that Fahad was put out out of his misery, but for the duration of the ordeal we could hear him scream and scream. About fifteen minutes later, I heard the familiar door of the trailer shut, and Fahad’s cries ceased. Half of the “fortress” had fallen and now our trailer, our sanctuary in this disaster of a desert was under siege. We were startled by three heavy knocks on the door. It didn’t sound like whoever knocked on them was knocking with his knuckles but instead with the side of his fist. At first we didn’t respond, not knowing if opening the door was the wise choice. The knocks grew more frantic
“Let me in it’s not going to be long until it figures out how to get out of there,” Cried out Fahad’s familiar, shaken voice. I reluctantly opened the door, and the drop I felt my heart perform was literal. Fahad was a mess, with both eyes black, deep across his neck and arms, a bleeding mouth, and a limp right hand. He walked in muttering in Arabic and refused to ever speak a *letter* about what went on in the other trailer. He fumbled in his backpack for a while, before taking out his Quran which he read in panic for the rest of the night. Todd silently wept for about an hour before starting to gather his composure. We sat on the same side as the window so that when looked through, none of us could be seen. Fourty minutes later, we heard a near-explosion come from the other trailer, then a deafening metal bang. We heard the laboured footsteps before a loud thud at the window resonated thought the trailer. Nobody dared look at it. Nobody dared speak through the night.
It was only when the sun finally peeked from the horizon where we felt safe walking out. Part of me, in fact most it, wanted us just to go home and forget any of this happened, but a part of me, a very small part of me still wanted to go on and conclude this mystery. It was only by evening that Fahad finally broke the silence.
“We’re going to Almatahee.” He declared. Normally I’d think he was a madman but now our situation was abysmal. Stranded in the desert, running low on resources and now parting with one of our friends. At this point we had nothing left to lose
“We’re going to solve this mystery,” I said
“And if we don’t,” Jason added
“We will be buried alongside it” Todd finally said.
Fahad laid a heavy branch on the fire. After several failed attempts at getting the thing to burn. When it finally caught fire he raised his now makeshift torch.
“A torch?” Todd asked, with a sneer “I see you’re trying to be fancy”
“Why not? If we’re going to go back to that damned place we might as well go all out” Fahad asked in return. “Follow me this time.”
We really were in no position to deny the command. We followed his flame, as we walked for hours. This time the moon was visible in the sky and the day was clear so we could almost see the buildings when we finally reach the location. We first saw our school, or more precisely what was left of it. The place was a ruin, with most of the buildings razed to the ground. I could see the familiar city lights in the distance. Of course, it wasn’t the school’s deserted remnants which we were after, but rather what stood behind it.
Almatahee stood in the darkness, identical to the day we first saw it. We walked closer and just like what was nearly a decade ago, I could feel the air growing thicker in my lungs. I felt a combination of nostalgia and fear as I approached the place. The atmosphere grew dreadening, and I could feel a great unease descend on us. Fahad was the first to step in, holding the torch in his one good hand as we all marched to our destination: the big building at the middle of the road.
The unpaved road crunched beneath our shoes. We approached the large building in the centre and ignored all others. The great building in Almatahee had finally made itself visible to us
The heavy bolts, locks, and chains that once closed all access of this place from us had vanished, and the door lay wide open. It was almost as if they *wanted* us to come in. Fahad took an audible gulp and we stepped in. Like the other building we explored nearly a decade ago, the room was barren. Fahad raised his torch against one of the walls, and the wall was full of eyes graffitied onto it. Todd rubbed his hand against the paint, and this time it did not stick to his fingers.
As I paced around the room, I nearly plummeted to the ground as I accidentally stepped on a stair’s step.
“Fahad” I called, almost instinctively. He came over, along with Todd and Jason. There was a staircase hidden behind a wall at the very corner of the room. The hinges indicated a door was once there.
“Should we go down?” Todd asked
“I feel we’ll end up regretting it, but I just don’t care anymore,” said Jason.
Fahad led the descent down the stairs and we followed. When we reach the bottom, we were greeted by the odour of dust and metal before the sight illuminated by the torch. There were bones, bullet casings, and shirts strewn across the floor. Todd picked up one of the shirts, inspecting it. It was about the size of a child’s.
“That’s our school uniform…” he whispered.
“The hell is that doing here?” Jason said. Of course a question meant to be rhetorical, but as we explored the answer faded in more and more clearly.
Fahad made his way forwards, before stopping
When we followed to inspect what he was looking at, we saw a cage with an axe beside it. It was a small cage with thick bars, I could probably barely fit in it if I were to crouch tightly. Jason decided to walk further, before nearly tripping over something. Attracted by the loud clatter of steel, Fahad moved in, the flame’s light uncovering a metal bench covered in brown stains. As he moved the torch up, a shelf containing several skulls was revealed. Each skull had a single hole between its orbits.
“The fuck…” Todd managed to say. The expressions of terror and curiosity that plastered out faces were shrouded by the darkness. But most disturbingly, the answer to the mystery stood in the middle of the room. Fahad swivelled with his torch, and what was revealed answered the questions that plagued our minds since childhood, save for one:
*Why?*
A large white platform, engraved with curses and inverted prayers sat in the middle. Unlike everything else in that damn room, it had been scrubbed clean. It almost *shined* when the light of Fahad’s torch fell on it.
“What kind of magical shit is this” asked Todd
“This isn’t anything supernatural…” Fahad whispered, as the reality dawned on him.
“This is the work of man” Jason finally said.
We had returned to the trailer. At the cost of solving the mystery so many questions were left behind, none of them had answered. If this was the work of man, how does that explain what happened at the trailers at night? How does it explain what happened to Levi? How does it explain the deformed donkey we say on the roof of a town miles from any civilisation. How does it explain why our teachers were doing this in the God damned room in an “abandoned compound”.
And frankly, I didn’t want the answers to any of these questions. I just wanted to forget about the place and everything that occurred.
On the next morning, we spotted Levi walking around our trailer. The relief I felt was immeasurable. I could literally feel my shoulders lighten and my chest loosen when we found out he was alright.
“Levi!” Todd called out. “I thought they took you!”
There was no response. He was walking as if on autopilot, his eyes glued to the sky and his mouth wide open. Our relief vanished, in its place panic was reinstated as we realised he responded to nothing. Jason jumped out of the trailer and began to move him by the shoulders, like a farmer guiding his beast of burden.
Luckily we were able to guide him to our car as we prepared to leave the place for good. He sat on the car seat cluelessly looking up with his mouth agape. Within about an hour, he collapsed. After Fahad had returned everyone home, he took Levi to the hospital, explaining our story in a more “convincing” matter. Levi lay on a hospital for four more days, or more accurately, his last four days. He would never wake up. Doctors officially told us that the cause of his death as an aneurysm but we felt, and we *knew* they ere hiding something
We solved the mystery of Almatahee. One that occurred beneath our noses for *years* and we never noticed that the people who we were supposed to trust were the ones responsible. But as the years wore on, I asked myself, was it worth it? Was all the pain, anguish, despair, loss of life and mind worth it in the end? All for some dumb childhood mystery that doesn’t even matter anymore because those involved vanished off the face of the earth? The end to this mystery was not the ending we wanted, nor the one we deserved, but simply it was the one we got.