The Seventh Heaven by Naguib Mahfouz Read Free Book Online Page A

“But what should I do if they call upon my spirit?”
    “You are free,” replied Abu. “It would not benefit your freedom to seek guidance from me.”
    The séance was convened, attended by Raouf’s mother, along with Rashida and her own mother. They appealed to Raouf beyond the veil of the Unseen—and he entered the darkened chamber.
    “Raouf greets you, mother,” he called, in a voice that all present could hear.
    “What happened to you, Raouf?” she said, sobbing at the confirmation that her son was dead.
    “Don’t be sad, mother,” he answered without hesitation. “I am happy. Only your sorrow grieves me. My greetings to you too, Rashida….”
    With that, he instantly rushed from the room.
10
    Raouf’s mother, Rashida, and her own mother returned from the séance, asking each other, “Why didn’t he reveal the secret of his murder?”
    “He was taken in the prime of his youth!” Raouf’s mother lamented, drying her tears.
    “Don’t sadden him with your mourning,” implored Rashida.
    “Who knows? Maybe he died in an accident,” her mother wondered.
    “But why didn’t he tell us how he died?” Raouf’s mother persisted.
    “That’s his secret, whatever it is!” insisted Rashida.
    The séances became Raouf’s mother’s sole consolation in life; she would go to them accompanied by bothRashida’s mother and Rashida. But in the final days before her exams, Rashida stopped taking part in them.
    On one of these nights, as she was at home studying on her own, Anous Qadri burst into the room. He had slunk up the open central stairwell of her building, then forced his way in. Raouf shouted at him to go back where he had come from, and not to take a single step toward her. But Anous attacked Rashida, stifling her voice by jamming his palm over her mouth.
    “You’re going to run after
me
from now on, you … you stubborn bitch!” he snarled.
    Then he began to brutally assault her, as she resisted as hard as she could, but to no avail.
    “I’m going to take you alive or dead!” he taunted her.
    Her hand groped for a pair of scissors on the table. With an insane strength, despite being pinned under his heavy weight, she plunged it into the side of his neck. He pressed upon her with vicious cruelty. Then his vitality ebbed away until he fell motionless upon her body, his warm blood pouring over her face and her torn blouse.
    She threw him off of her and he lay sprawled on the tattered carpet. Then she staggered to the window and shrieked at the top of her lungs.
11
    The people came running to the apartment, where they found Rashida like a demented murderess spattered with gore. They saw Anous’ body and started to scream, whileRashida curled into herself like a ball, murmuring, “He wanted to rape me….”
    If not for the arrival of the detective and the shaykh of the
hara,
then the news might have led Boss Qadri the Butcher to murder her on the spot.
    “My son—my only son!” he roared. “I will make the world burn!”
    “Everyone out now!” the officer ordered, as his assistants surrounded Rashida.
    “I will drink your blood,” said Qadri, aiming his storming rage at the girl.
    The news soon spread like wildfire through their quarter.
12
    Anous stared insensibly down at his body. Raouf came up to him, smiling, as the other looked at him and blurted, “Raouf, what brought you here?”
    “The same thing that brought you here,” he replied. “Come along with me quickly, far away from this room.”
    “And leave this behind?” Anous asked, still peering at his corpse.
    “That is your old robe. It won’t do you any good to wear it now!”
    “Have I … have I … ?” Anous stuttered.
    “Yes, you have departed the world, Anous.”
    He was silent for a while, then he said, referring to Rashida, “But she is innocent.”
    “I am aware of that,” Raouf assured him. “But you can’t save her—so come with me.”
    “I’m sorry for what I did to you,” said Anous.
    “Regret