Asiya was in the kitchen cooking a meal of spaghetti when she heard a silent, ominous sound. A moment later, she switched off the central air conditioner; and heard the sound more loudly from Saudah's room. She then left the kitchen and peeped quietly through the door's knob only to see a big, black snake almost as thick as a child's arm and perhaps a yard longer.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Asiya's terrified shriek broke the serenity of the day and Saudah's twilight state. Saudah was suddenly startled out of sleep and saw the snake rearing its head in her direction.

"Help! Help! Help! Snake! Mummy, Snake!" She cried out in horror. Hajia Balkisu, who had also been awakened to Asiya's hysteria, quickly went the way of Saudah's room and pushed the door open. She then saw a big black snake raring its head in Saudah's direction. It was the one in vapor shape, and it had been with her for almost half an hour. The bed was still lumpy with the pillow she had tucked under the blankets. The room was drab. The weather was cold. The digital clock was blinking. It was three O'clock at noon. Hajia Balkisu was terrified to see a snake occupy a bed with a human being. She suddenly cried out.

"La ilaa ha illah! What is this?"

Saudah saw both her mother and sister were both as frightened as she was. She was sobbing hysterically, holding tightly to herself across her own wrapped breasts.

"You this snake?" Shouted Asiya, addressing the strange animal, "leave this house now if you belong to the demonic species of the jinn, else we shall kill you, but if you are what you claim to be, an ordinary snake from the world of animals, then wait and we shall kill you," she said, while their mother shivered and trembled. The sight of that snake sent a fright to her spine. She quickly sent for the Malam.

"Go and call him for me, tell him to rush down, that there is a serious problem here!" She told one of their maids.

"For the second time, I warn you this snake to leave our house and return to your fellow jinn if you're one of them; but if not, then we shall treat you as a dangerous animal," Asiya warned the second time. She was about making the third warning when the snake, as though it had yielded, made to leave. It shifted its direction from Saudah and climbed down the bed, obviously taking to Asiya's warning. Hajia saw it coming and she ran for cover.

"It's coming! It's coming!" She screamed again as the snake quietly slithered across the threshold, leaving for the sitting room. At that exact moment, Malam arrived and Hajia's heart slowed down its beat. With Malam's presence, she seemed brave and confident now to confront the horror.

"We saw it on Saudah's bed," she said, trying to explain to the Malam; but at that challenging moment, her explanation was ignored.

With almost a reflex movement behind the snake, Malam picked up two sticks, and, as Asiya saw him pin the snake to the floor, she shouted "don't kill the snake! Don't kill it! Don't..." But before she could repeat it, Malam pinned the snake with one of the sticks, while savagely hitting it with the other. The snake jerked, writhed, and is finally dead. Thus, Malam had killed the repulsive creature. The vapor shaped invincible one, that had just put on the image of a snake to play with Saudah, had been murdered by him.

Malam turned to face the small crowd of rescuers including Saudah's father and elder brother with an aura of pride. His pride was, however, short-lived as he suddenly felt a leaden weight in his legs and a burning sensation inside his skull. His head roared with crawling waves and his limbs were hot like an ember of fire. Within a few seconds of this experience, he fell down and convulsed repeatedly. His squeals suddenly ceased, as he finally fell into loss of consciousness.

"Malam! Malam! Malam!" Shouted Hajia. The fright returned to her spine. She trembled. She sobbed. "Malam, what is wrong with you?" She asked again, but Malam could not respond. He was, indeed, in that state, totally oblivious of his surrounding.

"Didn't I warn him not to kill the snake?" Asiya said regrettably "...and now, he is suffering the consequences of his action. We create problems for ourselves by not taking to the sunnah of the holy prophet Muhammad. Didn't he warn us to ask questions three times repeatedly before killing any snake?" She said, asking no one in particular; and nobody was attentive either. Everybody, including Saudah, was indeed crying, wailing (excluding her father and elder brother) over Malam's subconsciously living body, lying powerlessly on the floor.

"Who sent for him? Why wasn't I called from the start? Now, look at what had happened!"  The father shouted angrily.

"I did," Hajia answered while sobbing. "I was scared, ever since yesterday, I haven't been myself. You can't blame me for being scared, you know."

"This isn't the right time to argue. We must think of what to do fast."

"Play the holy Qur'an!" Asiya said quickly.

Malam still laid on the floor, subconsciously.

*

Two hours later, Malam was awake but was sweating furiously. He had been quite ever since he had regained consciousness, all he does was look around from one person to another.

Finally, he settled his gaze on Saudah and smiled. "He has been conquered. The demon will not be of any disturbance to you anymore. I fought so well, but it was worth it!"

From Saudah to every other single member of her family, they all looked at him weirdly before her father finally said. "Are you okay? Do you feel pains? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, nothing at all. Everything is okay now. Like I said, I have conquered the demon now, and your daughter is free."

But the most confusing part of all that was that, even as the Malam was saying those words, he didn't seem fully convinced with himself or what he was saying. Rather, he was shaking from head to toe.

But, who are they to deny the words or a scholar like him. If he said he had gotten rid of the demon, then he had definitely done that!