Written by: Salim Ahmadi
Have you ever seen a dream come true? To wake up and find yourself still in a nightmare? Believe me... not all doors open to light, and some paths, once taken, will never return you to who you were before. In this story, I will not present you with just a horror story, but rather the experience of "Saleem," an ordinary young man who did not expect to find himself in a world between life and death, between reality and madness, between the world of humans and others who are only seen by those who are destined to see them.
The wedding took place in an old house, and all the guests were short and balding men. I was the groom. But who do you think the bride was? The bride was the same girl I had seen a few minutes earlier. The problem was that I couldn't see her face as we sat side by side. The guests were acting strangely; some were ululating, some were dancing, and others were lying on the floor and behaving in incomprehensible ways. I couldn't make sense of any of it until someone approached me and put his hand on the turban he was wearing, trying to remove it. I was excited to find out who this person was, but at that moment, disaster struck.
Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings. Salim spent many nights living his life quietly and peacefully, but one night, everything changed. He began to see things he did not understand and hear voices from unknown sources. What happened to him is what we will learn through the events of this story. A very important note: this story is extremely terrifying and contains details that may not be suitable for some readers. As for horror story lovers, believe me, it will be one of the most enjoyable and best stories you will ever read.
Before we begin, don't forget to click the Like button, as many who follow the stories forget to do so. Also, those who have not yet subscribed to the channel are invited to join us. I would like to tell you something important: on Thursday, 2 October, two weeks from now, I will be at the Riyadh International Book Fair, where you can meet me, take photos and get your books signed. I will be there for the first three days, and if the turnout is good, I will extend my stay. For those who want to follow the details, you can follow me on my Instagram and Snapchat accounts to find out the location of the exhibition and other details.
Now, prepare yourselves, set the mood, fortify yourselves, and repeat after me: "In the name of Allah, I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created." Let us begin the story.
I am Salim, a simple young man, born into a family of eight, and I was the middle child. I have three brothers older than me and two younger than me. My life was simple and peaceful at first. I would go out to play with my friends in the neighbourhood, and everything was fine.
But after graduating from high school and entering university, my life changed. My applications for the majors I loved were rejected, and I was accepted into majors I did not want, including Islamic studies, while I wanted to major in physical education, which is the field I love. My friend Jawad, who is two years older than me, advised me to focus on my first year and achieve a high grade point average so that I could later transfer to my desired major. Indeed, I did my best and succeeded in achieving a very high grade point average, which enabled me to transfer to the major I loved.
The problem now was that physical education was not available in my province, so I had to move to another province, about 350 kilometres away, where I had no knowledge of the province and none of my friends were studying there. Despite all this, I did not give up on my dream. I prayed Istikharah and accepted to move there to study.
When the second semester began, I took my old, worn-out car and headed for the new province. It was a dark night, and the road was rough. I was afraid the car would break down in a deserted place. I made it through the first 150 kilometres safely, but at the next 150 kilometres, I noticed something strange: a small child sitting on a rock, head bowed, hugging his legs. I got out of the car and asked him what was wrong, and he raised his head and spoke in a deep voice, as if he were an old man despite his young age, saying, "Go away." I felt very afraid at that moment and hurried away.
As the speed increased, the car broke down due to overheating and stopped in the middle of the dark road, surrounded by rocks. There were no passers-by and no road signs. After lengthy attempts to repair the car, a short man appeared, wearing a shawl covering his face, his eyes wide open without blinking. He introduced himself as "Abu Jandal" and offered to help me by towing my car on his truck to a small village called "Um al-Jama'im".
The village was almost deserted, but Abu Jandal completed the task and took me to the road leading to the new governorate. During the journey, I saw a girl standing by the side of the road, covered in a cloak, and I felt a severe chill in my limbs. Despite all these strange events, I continued walking until I reached the province, where the new university building was small and resembled a regular school, with no student accommodation.
There, I met another student named Obaid, who came from the main branch of the university and was in a situation very similar to mine. We agreed to live together during our studies and coordinate our daily lives in the new province.
I had to stay in that province, so Obaid and I decided to live together. After we finished lunch, we started writing down the phone numbers posted on signs that said things like "Apartment for rent" or "Room for rent." We called the owners one by one, but unfortunately, they all refused to rent to single people and only accepted families. We were confused: where should we go? Where should we live?
We found no solution other than to search for ourselves. We entered some of the old neighbourhoods in that province and asked passers-by. Suddenly, we saw an Asian worker sitting alone in front of one of the old houses, looking strange. We stopped and greeted him and asked him if there was any accommodation available for single people. He replied immediately that he knew a suitable place and that one of his friends lived there. I asked him about the location, and he began to describe the way to us.
We walked in the direction he described until we left the province completely, as if we were walking in the opposite direction from the university. It was a long way, but we had no other choice, so we decided to try it and see if the accommodation suited us.
When we arrived there, we were surprised to find that the place resembled an old factory, with rooms like barracks, as are usually used to house workers. The place seemed deserted, with no shops, no petrol station, and no sign of life around it. Obaid asked hesitantly, "This place doesn't seem suitable. Let's leave." But I said to him, "Since we're here, let's just take a look."
Obaid shouted loudly, waved his hands, and honked the car horn, but no one answered. The atmosphere was eerily quiet. As we silently observed the rooms, the car door on my side suddenly opened! I turned around in alarm to see a worker with a pale face, broken teeth, and an unbearable stench. He said he was in charge of the place and that his colleague had told him we were coming. This made me suspicious: how did he get the news so quickly?
The worker showed us to the rooms, which numbered about five. We entered them one by one and found them to be suitable: relatively clean, with mattresses, blankets and working air conditioners. The rent was very low, so we agreed immediately.
We then returned to the governorate to pick up my car, which I had left at the station, and then went back to our accommodation. We were exhausted, so we went into the room and fell asleep. I woke up at 8 p.m. and found that Obaid was not with me. I went out to look for him and did not see his car either. The strangest thing was that we had forgotten to exchange phone numbers! I tried to reassure myself, saying that perhaps he had been forced to leave due to some circumstance, so I sat at the door of the room waiting for him.
The place was unnaturally quiet. It was a dark factory, with nothing moving except for a dim light coming from the worker's room. I waited a long time until I gave up and went back into the room to rest. As soon as I laid my head down, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw no one. I closed it, and there was another knock. That's when I realised that what was happening was real and not an illusion.
This time, I opened the door steadily and looked towards the factory entrance. I saw a well-dressed man standing there motionless, staring directly at me. It wasn't normal. I felt the blood freeze in my veins.
I hurried to the worker's room. I knocked on the door, and it opened easily, but the room was completely empty, with no furniture or appliances, as if no one had ever lived there. Then I realised I was in danger.
I hurried back to my room, grabbed my phone and car keys, and fled. Near the factory gate, the man suddenly disappeared as if he had never been there.
I arrived at the station in a state of panic. A Yemeni worker who worked there saw me, approached me and asked me how I was. When I told him what had happened, he said in astonishment:
“Hey, man! That factory has been abandoned for over twenty years. No one lives there!”
Then I realised the magnitude of what I had gotten myself into, and that Obeid had only fled after seeing something no one could bear. I spent that night in nearby accommodation that the Yemeni worker had shown me, and I had great difficulty sleeping.
Since that day, I have been suffering from constant headaches and numbness in my limbs, as if something from that place is still haunting me.
I was sitting in my room when I heard loud footsteps coming from the corridor connecting the rooms. At first, I didn't open the door, thinking it was one of the workers, but after a few minutes I said to myself, "Impossible, the workers are usually asleep at this time." I felt both curious and anxious, so I decided to slowly open the door to see where the sound was coming from.
As soon as I opened the door, I inhaled a strong and strange scent, one I had never smelled before, and my desire to know more prompted me to go out and walk down the corridor. The corridor was long, with rooms on either side and an open ceiling, so you could see the sky directly above you. As I walked, I felt someone peeking out from behind one of the doors, then quickly disappearing.
I approached cautiously, and suddenly a girl of about eighteen appeared in front of me, fully adorned, wearing high heels, her perfume wafting the scent of oud. I was shocked and froze in my tracks, but the girl walked down the corridor with strange, unnaturally wide steps, then disappeared behind the rooms and I never saw her again.
The strange thing is that as soon as she disappeared, I felt the tremors, lethargy and headaches I had been suffering from subside. Despite my great fear when I saw her, I felt a strange sense of relief after she left.
After that, I went back to my room and tried to sleep, but I had a strange nightmare: I was at a wedding in an old house, and all the guests were short and bald, and I was the groom. The bride was the same girl I had seen earlier, but I couldn't see her face. The guests were behaving strangely; some were ululating, some were dancing, and others were lying on the floor. Suddenly, one of them approached me and put his hand on the veil covering his face, and then I woke up from the nightmare.
As soon as I woke up, I smelled the same perfume, and it filled the entire room. The door was open even though I had closed it before going to sleep, and the electricity suddenly went out. I felt extremely frightened at that moment and could no longer bear it.
I called my friend Jawad late at night and told him everything that had happened to me, from the road where my car broke down, to the nightmare and the scent of perfume, and even the mysterious girl. He was scared too, but he tried to reassure me, saying that what I was feeling was somewhat normal because I was far from my family and under a lot of stress. He added that he had had the same experience when he was away from his family.
With all these strange events, I began to recall images of the dwarves in the nightmare, their strange looks, and I remembered how I saw the girl with Abu Jandal outside, and wondered about his relationship with her. I felt that everything was strangely intertwined, and that what was happening to me was not normal at all.
The next day, as I sat at my door before dawn, something inexplicable happened: I heard the call to prayer, and suddenly it was as if the world had changed. I saw intense darkness, and in the middle of it a red light. When I approached the light, I found the same girl sitting in the middle of it. Around me were the workers I knew, looking at me in a way I could not explain. Some of them were asking for forgiveness, and some were saying, "There is no power and no strength except with Allah."
At that moment, I realised that what was happening to me was no coincidence, that I had entered a mysterious world full of strange events and vivid nightmares, and that everyone around me, from the girl to the workers and Abu Jandal, was connected in some way to what was happening to me. I no longer knew what to do or how to behave.
After everything that had happened to me, I felt extremely panicked and lost control of myself. I shouted at the workers around me like a madman, asking them what was happening to me, trying to understand what was going on. Suddenly, a Sudanese worker came up to me. He seemed committed, with pleasant features and a dignified face. He reached out his hand to me, pulled me up from the ground, and said calmly, "Get up and come with me."
We started walking together, and he asked me my name, my age, and why I was in this area. I told him everything about myself, and it was clear that he was trying to calm me down from the shock and trembling I was experiencing. I was shaking inside as if my body was frozen from the extremities, even though the temperature around me was normal.
He told me his name was Ibrahim, and he wanted to take me to the mosque to pray Fajr. To be honest with you, I was very negligent in my prayers, to the extent that weeks and months would pass without me praying a single rak'ah. Even when I was with my family, I would only pray to be seen by my father, and often without wudu and without real intention.
Ibrahim took me to the mosque, taught me how to perform ablution, and I prayed Fajr with him in congregation. After the prayer, we sat together, and he began to ask me more about my life and my neglect of prayer. I learned from him that my commitment to prayer was the key to solving the strange things that were happening to me. He advised me to continue praying for a long time and assured me that everything would improve when I committed to it.
After that moment, I committed myself to prayer and felt an inner peace that I had not felt in a long time. Four days passed, and they were some of the best days of my life, until the weekend came and I went to visit my family to reassure them about my situation. During my visit, my father gave me his new car to use instead of the old one. I spent two enjoyable days with them, then returned to the province where I study.
But the fear did not leave me. On the way to university, I felt that the strange situations might repeat themselves. Suddenly, the same man I had seen earlier at the gate of the old factory appeared in front of me. He was standing in the middle of the road, and the reflection of the car's headlights allowed me to partially recognise him, but his features were blurred, as if they had been erased. I felt extremely terrified, so I clung to my faith, cried out to God for protection, and continued on my way. Suddenly, the man disappeared as if he had never been there in the first place.
Then, I saw the same mysterious girl standing by the tree, as if she were attached to it. I realised that the road was haunted and that events were repeating themselves. I quickly stepped on the gas until I reached the village of Um al-Jama'im, which had been abandoned for years. I saw that the only old man's house was inhabited, while the rest of the houses were empty.
In the province, I had the idea of using my father's car to work in the popular market on Saturdays to earn some money, and I started transporting elderly people who needed to move their sheep or goods. On one of my trips, I came across an elderly woman sitting at the entrance to the market, looking tired and weighed down by the burdens of life. I helped her carry her things, and when I took her hand, I felt something strange; her hand was rough, like a man's hand, yet I did not hurt her and she was not hurt.
The old woman got into the car with me, and we began our journey. She described the route to me in a strange way, repeating the turns and mysterious passages. Throughout the journey, I noticed her sharp eyesight. Although her right eye was defective, her other eye was very keen, able to see everything.
I arrived at the village, stopped at the last house, delivered the items, and suddenly the boy I had seen earlier on the dark road appeared in front of me, carrying the bags himself. I was shocked. How did this boy know I was here? And why did he appear every time? His gaze was strange, as if his neck was twisted, but I didn't stop. I pressed the remote and quickly moved away from the place, keeping a safe distance. The only inhabited house was that of the old woman I had just dropped off.
On my way back, I passed through a dark road where most of the streetlights were broken. Suddenly, I saw a couple standing under a working streetlight, waving their hands as if they needed help. I stopped for them and learned that they wanted a ride to the same village where the old man had gotten off, but they didn't speak. They were silent throughout the trip, and I was overwhelmed with confusion about everything that was happening.
After they got into the car with me, the man sat in front of me and the woman sat behind me. I glanced in the rear-view mirror and was surprised to see the woman staring at me with red eyes, shooting out strange sparks. Fear overwhelmed me, and the trembling I had felt earlier returned even stronger, to the point that I could not control the steering wheel. They sat motionless, staring ahead as if frozen.
We finally arrived at the village, and the man told me to go to the last house there. It was clear that this was the house of the old woman I had dropped off at the market earlier. The car stopped, and I was unable to take anything from them, not even the money. The man said to me with a stern look: "I told you, you only have your white face." I asked him, "What do you mean?" He replied, "Get out and come with me to the house. You only have your white face."
The moment I entered the house, I was shocked. The house was full of life, with boys and girls playing, and an old woman sitting on the floor kneading dough in an old tray. Everyone in the house was silent, no one spoke, as if they were living in a different world. The man took me to the living room, sat me down, and brought me a cup of very hot tea. I drank the tea despite the intense heat, and felt as if my throat was burning from the heat, until I fainted briefly.
When I woke up, I found no furniture in the room, and the house seemed completely deserted, as if it had not been inhabited for years. Suddenly, I began to hear the sound of women singing and drums beating, their voices approaching and surrounding me. Children began laughing and dancing in a strange way, and they took me to sit in a chair in the middle of the courtyard, as if I were part of a mysterious ritual.
At that moment, I saw the girl who had been tied to the tree a few days earlier sitting next to me, and I knew that everything I had seen before was not a dream. Then I saw someone near my face, lifting the cover from his face, and it was Abu Jandal. His face was horribly disfigured, as if he had suffered first-degree burns, and I knew then that the area was surrounded by jinn and that the whole event was part of a terrifying plan to lure me in.
I tried to get up, but I felt dizzy and extremely weak, as if I were stuck to the ground. Then, after a long time, I woke up to sunlight and found myself in the same house, but this time it was completely devoid of life, as if everything that had happened had been a trick by the jinn. I tried to leave, but the door was locked, the house had been abandoned for decades, and the car I had left at the door had disappeared.
I walked on my own two feet, exhausted, down a narrow, dark road between intermittent lampposts, and I could hear children laughing, women singing, and drums beating, accompanying me every step of the way. As I approached the main road, the same man and woman I had seen before appeared in front of me, waving their hands as if they knew I would pass by. I walked past them, and suddenly they disappeared as if they had never been there.
I was completely exhausted, and I threw myself on the ground until a car passed by and noticed my condition. The driver got out to help me. I recognised his voice as Ibrahim, the Sudanese worker who had helped me before. He carried me to the car, gave me water, and slowly my energy began to return.
When we arrived at the hospital, they took me for tests, and the doctor told me that the university had reported me missing after I had been absent for a whole week, and that the dean of the faculty had contacted my parents to find out what had happened to me. It was then that I realised that everything I had been through over the past 24 hours was real, full of terror and mystery, and not a dream as I had thought.
After my father discovered that I had disappeared, he did not know exactly where I was. He immediately mobilised and began searching everywhere for me, but found no trace of me. He was then forced to report it to the police, who began investigating and searching for two whole weeks, but to no avail. Thank God, I was finally able to return, but I was in very poor health and seriously ill.
At the hospital, my father, mother and brothers arrived four hours later, and they were all crying over my condition. I was shocked by the speed of events. The officer in charge arrived with security personnel and began asking me about my location and my car, and I described everything that had happened to me in detail. Ibrahim, the Sudanese worker who had accompanied me earlier, was there and explained everything to them, so the officer said that I was probably under the influence of a love spell.
After hearing this, my father was shocked, and Ibrahim began to explain to him that the reason was my weak faith and irregular prayers, which allowed the jinn to possess me. The place where I had been before, the room in the factory, was the starting point, where the incidents began that day. Ibrahim explained how the jinn paved the way to lure me from the beginning, starting with the unknown road, the appearance of the boy who followed me, and finally the house where I was imprisoned.
Even Abu Jandal, who helped me, believes that Ibrahim may be part of the jinn, but he cannot confirm this. All the events, including the appearance of the girl tied to the tree, the woman I encountered, and even the old woman who took me to the village, were part of the jinn's plan to lure me in. Even the village of "Um al-Jama'im" that I visited, Sana, and everyone I encountered there were not human beings. It has been abandoned for more than .
After returning to my home province, the symptoms of fatigue began to return, with constant headaches and sometimes laughing for no reason. My father decided to take me to a sheikh to treat the matter. We all sat with the sheikh, and while he was reading the Qur'an, I began to see the same sounds and phenomena that I had seen on my wedding night: drums, ululations, and children's laughter, but this time they were burning in flames and gradually disappearing.
The jinn who was possessed by me refused to leave me, and the girl next to me screamed and resisted the fire until she evaporated and turned to ashes. After this event, I felt relieved and convinced that I had been freed from the influence of the jinn, even though the sheikh assured me that I might not be able to have children because of the harm he had caused.
The sheikh gave me precise instructions: to rub olive oil on my body every day, drink water, and read the entire Surah Al-Baqarah aloud in my room. I followed these instructions for a month, and, praise be to God, my personality changed completely. I became consistent in my prayers, and my life improved greatly.
As for my studies, I postponed an entire semester and requested a transfer from the university where these events took place, returning to my home province. I studied Islamic studies, memorised the Holy Qur'an, and am now a teacher of religious subjects and imam of the neighbourhood mosque. I have been married for five years. I have not yet been blessed with a child, and I hope you will pray for me in this regard.
As for the slave boy I knew at university, I was unable to find him, as if the earth had swallowed him up. Only God knows his whereabouts. My advice to everyone is that it is very important to be content with God's decree and destiny. Even things that seem small often bring great good. My story is a living example of this, as the terrifying experience I went through was the reason I was guided towards goodness and guidance.
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