"What's going on, Menna?"
"Don't come closer. Sit down quietly. And take off your shoes."
Reda smiled and said: "Alright…"
Menna: "I know you're not Rami. You're Reda. You faked your identity. I don't know why."
Reda: "To get close to you, Menna."
She was silent for a moment, then said: "Listen, I'll tell you what happened. And you'll have the right to reply."
---
Flashback
After Reda left, Menna just wanted to rest from everything that happened in Alexandria.
But someone called out:
"Miss Menna!"
She looked back.
"I'm Mazen. I need to ask you something."
Menna, tired: "What?"
"I need Reda's address."
Menna, confused: "Who is Reda?"
Mazen looked confused too: "The one who was just with you."
Menna: "His name is Rami."
Mazen: "His friend said the same. But his real name is Reda. He was in the orphanage with me. I've been watching him to be sure."
Menna, shocked: "If you've been watching him, why are you asking for the address?"
Mazen: "I wanted to expose him, but in a gentle way."
Menna: "Stop messing around and tell me everything. His name is Rami."
Mazen: "I know you won't believe me."
(He pulled out some papers.)
"This is his orphanage file. And this is a photo of his ID. I got it when he came to the orphanage to get his middle school certificate."
Menna: "Middle school? He's in college!"
Mazen: "He's pretending to be someone else—someone named Rami."
Menna, shaking her head in shock: "But how is that even possible?"
Mazen laughed: "That's the least of what he can do. Many people in the orphanage almost killed him. He was kicked out.
He used to obsessively watch people he liked. He once put a phone in someone's room to record them while they slept, claiming it helped him learn from people."
Menna, nearly exploding: "What else?"
Mazen: "I heard that when he's done 'studying' someone, he kills them. He says people are just books. When you're done, you throw them away."
Menna remembered his story and how he always talked about books and pain.
Menna: "Was there a nurse?"
Mazen: "Yes. He was crazy about her. When she left, he lost his mind."
Menna, trying to stay composed: "Why are you telling me all this?"
Mazen, angry: "To keep you away from that monster. He almost killed my brother. He might even be watching you while you sleep.
He enjoys killing. He could be the one who killed Riham too."
Menna rushed home, shocked.
She went to her room, threw books all over the floor, flipped the place upside down—until she found a tiny camera hidden inside one of the books, facing the whole room.
Menna, terrified: "He saw me in every way… even when I was changing clothes.
He's insane. He needs to be stopped."
"I have no real proof. And even if I went to the police, he's a man—he'll handle it.
So I'll take care of him myself before he ruins me or does anything else."
"I've never seen anyone kill like that. He really is insane."
---
Back to Present
Reda closed his eyes and opened them again.
"What do you want, Menna?"
Menna: "I want you to answer one question… truthfully."
(She started crying.)
"Did you kill Riham?"
Reda, coldly and calmly: "Yes. I did kill her."
Menna cried harder: "You're a monster… you're not human."
That word triggered Reda deeply—it brought back memories.
Menna: "Why?"
Reda, speaking honestly for the first time:
"Because you all force me to.
I give people love, and they leave me alone.
I loved my mother—I tried to protect her. What happened? She abandoned me.
My dad called me a monster.
Miss Narmeen, the nurse I saw as a mother, left me too."
His tears grew stronger.
"Everyone leaves me, even though I give them love, try to protect them, make them comfortable…
Why doesn't anyone accept me?
Do I not deserve love?
What's wrong with me?"
Menna started to feel sympathy—but her decision was firm.
Menna: "Maybe you're right. But that's no excuse for murder.
Killing just because you're scared of being left behind—that's stupid."
Reda buried his face into the floor and cried harder.
"I know I'm wrong. But this is how my brain protects me.
You're the only one who was able to calm this mechanism.
You're the only one I didn't want to throw away—
I wanted to keep your book on the shelf, where it belongs.
But still… the curse continues. Everyone leaves me."
Menna raised her gun before her heart softened.
She aimed it at him.
Reda grew angry.
He slammed his pocket with his fist—
A hidden metal ball fell from the ceiling and struck Menna on the head.
She fainted.
Reda: "Sorry, Menna.
I knew someone was in my apartment by the door handle.
So I brought the remote control Mr. Shaker used to trap me—saying it would make me stronger. Damn him. But it worked."
---
Just like he did with Majed…
He did the same to Menna, sadly.
He killed her.
Burned the body.
---
Reda, in his mind:
"I finally realize I'm not made to live with people.
I'm done. I have no more energy to find someone who loves me or accepts me.
I don't want to learn from humans anymore."
Like Mr. Shaker told him before he died:
"Your place, Reda, is the White Room.
You're not fit for this world.
Your place, until you die, is that white room."
Reda cried.
"I'll give in to your words, Shaker.
I tried to prove you wrong—but I failed."
The ghosts of the past began to haunt him.
He imagined his father standing in front of him:
"I'm sorry, Dad… but you were right.
I am a monster.
I tried to prove otherwise—but I failed."
He saw his mother:
"You were right too, Mom.
The best decision was to stay away from me.
You deserve a normal life—not one with a freak like me."
He tried to stop crying—but couldn't.
He saw Riham:
"You were the kindest person I've ever met.
I thought you'd never leave me.
The worst thing I did was kill you—
Just because your 'role' in my life ended.
I'm sorry."
He saw the nurse:
"You had the right to live your life,
not adopt someone as broken and stupid as me."
And finally, he saw Menna:
"You gave me a unique experience I'll never forget.
I'm sorry for being sick and foolish."
"I truly deserve to die here—
in the White Room—
to die mentally,
facing the ghosts of the past every single day."
"Even Rami—the one I pretended to be—
It was just to convince myself that the killer was Rami, not the real Reda.
But even that failed.
I started killing more after Rami left… and Reda remained."
"I failed at everything.
So now…
I'll just keep apologizing to all of you—every day—
until I die in this room."
---
Later…
Majed, Menna, Riham…
Didn't you notice the last person they all met…
Was Rami?
"Yeah, you're right, Ramadan."
"Rami is either a curse that brings death…
Or death itself—devouring them one by one."
---
(The End)