Yes, This is My Country

Then my eyes opened immediately.

There was darkness again, but I could see a slight hint of vivid dark red. I couldn’t see myself until I moved my hands, which I could only see through some red light.

“Zahir?”

My head moves slightly to the left to see the girl yet again. Or what I thought looked like her anyway, because her voice was coming from a generally kind of scary silhouette where her messy head was barely visible against the faint red light. “Are you awake?” said the gentle voice in the direction of silvery red eyes.

“Ugh…” was all I managed as I slump back into where I was. I’m tired, the light is pretty freaky… why am I still up? What is happening? Where even am I?

I felt something rustle my hair.

“You should really get some more sleep. Here, have some more…”

For some reason I felt something touch my lips… a cup? I cough, nearly choke at the strange taste of water… bitter. But also not that bitter at the same time... I focus more on the aroma, a flowery smell, when something else seemed to come to mind… thoughts? No… wait, that’s right…

“Heh... haah... We made it…”

The girl and I had been breathing pretty heavily by the time we reached some kind of safe space.  We had run up the road for some time after escaping the field of marigolds. 

“Hey… hah… a-are you alright?” she asked within gasps. I don't think my breathing was as heavy as hers. The most I had were some small breaths, but I think I mainly heard loud thumping.

“Th-thank you… hah… for uh, saving me… I’m really sorry, I… well, I can’t… hah… really explain… but I really do appreciate it… you didn’t know anything about me, but still… I don’t even know your name…”

I look up for a bit before I decided to talk to her for once.

“It’s Zahir.”

“Zahir…” she repeats, as if to process it even through her lack of energy. “That’s a nice name… it really is strange, you seem like you really could have been from around here, but… hah… haah…”

I think things went blurry as I then heard a thump.

"H-hey! Are you okay?"

I didn’t realize that I had fallen back asleep until I opened my eyes to the sound of tinkling bells. There was that pale greenish blue sky again—not as harsh as it was before, but enough that I was able to see fine without blinking several times. Maybe it’s because I am not outside this time.

I remain at my spot on the floor. I guess I was too tired from all that excitement yesterday to notice just how drab the house really is. Other than the large blanket-like bedsheet I had been sleeping on, the whole place was just plain dark gray, from the bricks and few wall decorations that were mainly for storage and cooking use, to the few furniture and the floor itself. The window around the kitchen area proudly showers the green sky’s light in, and whatever curtain I could have expected over it was probably used for the exit, being the only thing that could even resemble a door.

The room I am currently in—a combination of a living room, some shoddily arranged sleeping arrangements, and maybe a kitchen with way too many pots, pans, and baskets—seems to be the only room of the house. Well, at least, something seems normal. Might not be like home in a Big Apple apartment, but I remember some places looking like this... like maybe my parents’ old house in Bangladesh in the pictures they used to show me.

Wait… I do still remember something! My home, my parents, how things usually are supposed to be… my favorite spot by my computer in my room... but why can’t I remember much else?

“Oh! Good morning, Zahir!”

Beyond the curtained archway was that girl’s voice… what was her name again? Did I ever hear her name, actually? I feel like I should know it, especially since she knows mine…

“Good morning,” I manage.

“Oh, good,” she says in relief, opening the curtain more fully and revealing a smile my way. “You’re finally up and talking. How was the tea yesterday?”

“It was, um, fine, I guess.”

“Great! I see that it helped you rest last night too.”

Was that what that water was?

The girl walks in through the curtains and offers her hand to me. I get up just fine though and ignore her hand, which prompts her to point out where she came from. “We should both get ready to head out,” she said. “There’s much work to do.”

“But there’s nobody here,” I say as I look around the drab walls. “Wouldn’t it be better if someone stayed behind to watch the house?”

“You might have a point… but nothing’s ever happened while either of us are out. We should be fine.”

We walk out the curtained exit. "We’re"? I guess it does make sense that someone else would be living with her, maybe her parents, but it seems they’re out regularly enough that she’s used to this. The state of the kitchen did look a little too still, as if most of the pots and pans in their scrambled areas were left alone, I guess.

Like the inside, the outside of the house also looked decently familiar, with a bit of a straightforward clearing with some flowers towards the road we ran through. It really did feel like the few times my parents would take me with them to their home country to visit every now and then, except with a lack of much anything else like chickens and noisy kids and bird poop on the ground. I follow the girl to a small bicycle-type vehicle not far from the door—a rickshaw, another common sight from those distant-relatives-reunion trips. It looked more like a traveling cart than a light taxi-type rickshaw though, with some pots and stuff hauled to it… must be the work she was talking about.

The girl turns around to me and points somewhere towards the house. “Uh-uh-uh,” she shakes her head, “Bathroom first! Doesn’t your ma tell you to do that first thing, too?”

Lady, don’t be my mom, damnit…

I resign anyway. “You can also brush your teeth there,” she hollers as I turn around and walk away. To be honest, I didn’t think there would even be toothpaste in a place like this, but then again, even a similar place back in my world there was still some kind of toothbrush to use, and I guess the girl’s teeth wasn’t noticeably dirty or anything.

To the right of the house was a small hut. Oh boy… a rural Bangladeshi style bathroom… living as an American kid did not make these fun for me on those old country trips. But I soon found out that this world seems to blow those things out of the water…

“You alright there?” the girl says to me when I come out some time later. I didn’t know what to say as I walk up to her. “Is… is something the matter?”

“……t-there’s no toilet paper… and yet it’s like you have a bidet in there…”

“Huh?” she looks at me funny as she gets up onto the rickshaw’s driver seat. “Don’t they have water spirits to help clean up and also brush your teeth back where you’re from? Honestly, I'm surprised we even have some in our home... what’s a bidet, anyway?”

Again, I have no words.

“Can’t imagine what kind of place you were from, not having something so convenient,” she laughs. “Come on, Zahir! Hop on.” She pats the back seat, gesturing at what's usually the patron seat of the rickshaw. It feels really weird to see a girl on the front seat… I mean, I’ve only ever seen guys ride these things. But what else am I going to do in this place?

We continue going up the road we used yesterday. There really seemed to be no end to these marigold fields. There were less of them now than when the girl found me, but still plenty enough to make them out pretty easily among the grass. We pass by these plants much faster than before; the girl's pedaling is surprisingly not that much faster than her pace was before. These grasslands really do look like some movies I've seen before...

“Ah, I’m sorry...”

“Huh?” We had been riding for a bit in silence.

The girl turns her head a bit to the right, one of her messy braids swaying to the left to match. “There was quite a bit of a diversion yesterday… I kept rambling on and on about everything, and I’m still probably a stranger to you, huh? Going around with me like this, probably not even knowing how you got here in this land… it must be too much.”

Sounds like she’s going on and on right now. What’s she apologizing for? Sure, maybe she dragged me around and the house really wasn’t much, and… well, whatever happened yesterday… I look around the road to distract myself. Why am I having such a hard time remembering anything? What am I doing here out in the middle of nowhere?

"I'm sorry I couldn't do much for you at home."

Middle of nowhere… that dream, what that voice said… about being summoned......

“...you really were tired yesterday… I hope the place was comfortable, at least.”

This heat… I want to go home.

“…Hello?”

This pond… I want to go back to doing nothing…

“Zahir?”

“Huh? Oh, uh…” I snap back to the girl in front of me.

“You were being quiet again.” Her voice sounded a little down. Then she looks up and sighs. “Oh, clouds… oh no, it’s hot too, hope it doesn’t rain on my things… I wish the sun would come back soon.”

Wish…

“I know ma says to be grateful for what we get, but maybe some sun would make you feel better too.”

My phone vibrates.

Again, what now? I check to find a new message, one that looks more like a text this time.

“Hello, wish received. Initiating sunlight…”

Do I really—

The girl pedals some more, beyond the pond and more fields having cattails and other plants of some kind. It really wasn't that long before the clouds started to clear.

“Oh wow, this is great!” The girl’s voice seems to perk up at the sight, almost like she was about to laugh.

Do I really have to do this, goddess?

“It feels a bit better too…”

I guess the girl was right about that. The air did feel a bit less heavy, less humid maybe. My phone vibrates again—another text message.

“Success, wish granted. Nice to meet you, Zahir.”

Is this going to happen every time?

“Oh, right,” the girl says as she slightly faces towards me again. “Forgot, I’m sorry... my name is Farhana. Maybe not as nice as your name, but... well, anyway…”

She shook her head quickly before turning back at the road. She takes another sigh, one longer and calmer than the one before.

"Welcome to my country, Zahir!"

With her more upbeat attitude, her pedaling gets a bit faster. Soon we get less flowers on either side of the road and more of the water I saw earlier. There's a bit of a railing replacing the grass bordering the road now, and I can see some stuff in the distance, nothing like the house we were in before... with what seems to be some boats on the water approaching, it looks like we might be headed towards a port town.

So this is your world, huh?