Crowded, busy, noisy. It's been a long while since she had been to the market. She would not be there if it were not for her best friend. The niece fetched and brought her there, saying her aunt wanted to see her. It's something urgent and important.
Standing by the alleyway, the marketplace seemed normal. It's buzzing with people - buyers, sellers, passersby, and such. The friend's niece walks fast and is already far ahead. Although she didn't feel like following, she had to. She paced quickly, passing by stall after stall of merchandise.
Strangely, people seem to notice her and would suddenly pause or stop what they were doing and look at her as if she were a different breed. "Awkward..." she thought, and continued to walk toward the section where the friend's niece had taken.
She caught up with her in one of the shops by the corner. "Wait here, Tita. Aunt J will come to meet you soon," she said, and quickly left before she could say something.
The shop owner offered her a seat and cautiously chatted with her while a man (probably the owner's husband) silently arranged their goods on the shelves, glancing at them now and then.
It was as if hours had passed, yet her friend was nowhere in sight. "So unlikely of her. She was never late," she thought, looking around, hoping she would appear in front of her. Then she noticed there were a couple of shopping bags beside her, each tagged with her initials.
"Did I buy all of these?" She was surprised and confused at the same time. "Yes, you said you wanted all of them," the woman said, amused. Something felt strange. Why doesn't she remember buying them? She knew she hadn't introduced herself to anyone in the shop!
She thought she should call her friend first and deal with the bags later. That's when she realized her sling bag was gone. "Ma'am, have you seen my purse?" she politely asked the shop owner. "Nope. You were not carrying a bag when you arrived," the woman said.
"No, I had a black leather bag with me, with a long sling," she insisted. She turned around and noticed the man behind the counter had suddenly hidden his face, but the golden trinket she had on the sling of her bag caught her eye. "So, you are trying to hide it from me, huh?" she mumbled under her breath and walked closer.
"Can I have my bag, please?" she asked calmly, but the man didn't budge from the corner.
"Lady, get out of here this instant, and never show your face again! The police are coming!" The woman butted angrily, and with a threatening voice. "I will, but I want my purse first," she replied. The woman tried to force her out.
With all her strength, she pushed the woman away, grabbed a pair of scissors from the display, and ran toward the man who was hiding her bag. In a quick moment, she subdued him, twisting his arm.
"I want my bag back, or I'll punch a hole in your skull," she demanded. She was angry and was determined to do anything to get her things back. "Here, take it, but please don't hurt me," a girly, shaky voice came out of the man's mouth. She nearly burst into laughter.
So she quickly pulled her purse and walked backwards, not taking her eyes off the man she had just shaken. Just when she was by the shop's door, the police came. "Take her, she threatened to kill us," the woman reported. But the police gave way when they saw her, as if they had seen a ghost or something.
"That was unexpected," she murmured and quickly left the shop, looking for the way out of that f*ckin' market.
"There you are, I've been looking for you for hours. You were not picking up my call," her husband said, running toward her with a worried look.
"I don't know what happened. It was as if I had been hypnotized or placed under a dark spell. When I came to my senses, the shop owner said I had gone crazy and bought many things from her store, and then I found out my purse was gone and her gay helper was hiding it," she explained lengthily.
"Let's get out of here." Her husband took her hand, and they ran toward the exit. Just when they were to get through the gate, a strange woman blocked their way, saying they should go back. Sensing danger, she kicked the woman's leg and yelled, "May God protect us on our way home!"
They escaped.
And then she woke up, breathing heavily and feeling exhausted. What a nightmare that was! She reached for her phone and checked the time. It was 3:33 am. She was to take a screenshot, but she pressed the wrong buttons, and the screen went black. When she turned it back on, the clock read 3:34. She couldn't sleep after that.
Lead image by Jakub Zerdzicki via pexels. 10072025/21:53ph
