The Night After Eid

It was the night after Eid in Huvadhoo. The family visits, the food and the laughter were over, and around midnight a boy was walking home alone.

As he passed the mosque, he saw an old woman sitting quietly near the steps. She wore white, and her head was lowered. She was humming something strange. He thought she might be someone's grandmother, so he walked past without looking at her.

Then she said his name. She used his childhood nickname, the one only his late grandmother had ever used.

He stopped and turned back. She was standing now, still facing down. She said, "It's time to go home. You shouldn't be out tonight. We're walking too."

He ran and did not look back.

The next morning he told the elders. They didn't even look surprised. The night after Eid, they said, the jinn return. They walk past the mosque too.

To this day he never walks that road alone.