He answered: "Not just your father... He took your mother with him... They thought they were going on a short trip and would return... That's why they left you when you were two years old... and said they would be back after a few days... But the days turned into months, and the months into years, and years passed and they didn't return... and the whole town knew they died in an accident... and everyone thanked God that you weren't with them and were saved from that accident... but the truth is they went down to the basement."
Then he sighed and continued:
"I never blamed them for that... I used to tell myself, 'Didn't you also go down to the basement and how proud you felt!'... but the difference is that God saved me.
Then he looked at Khaled:
"That's why I'll never be upset if you also go down to the basement... even if I know that decision might distance you from me... but you must be sure that you're going down for yourself... not going down for a false reason you've put in your mind, like for Mona...
And he walked away, taking a few steps, giving Khaled his back:
"When you decide, tell me... because I know someone has a lot to tell you about the basement..."
After that, Khaled left and didn't go to work as he did every day.
Instead, he headed to meet Mona after she called him and requested a meeting at a place inside Mansoura University where they always met.
On his way, he couldn't stop thinking about his grandfather's words to him and whether he wanted to go down to the basement out of love for Mona or out of love for adventure.
Then he remembered his grandfather's talk about his parents, whom he knew nothing about.
He had always found himself with his grandfather and never saw a single picture of his father or mother.
No one helped him imagine them except for some words from some relatives... They said he was tall like his father, almost the same height as his , who was over 180 centimeters tall, as they used to say, and with his broad shoulders and strong features.
These were things they said he resembled his father in... As for his mother's relatives, they always told him that his dark hair and constant smile bore a constant resemblance between him and his mother...
After that, he returned to think about that man whom his grandfather told him had a lot to say about the basement... and this name he heard for the first time... "Fawrik Basement"... His thoughts were occupied until he reached the place he was going to meet Mona.
He found her waiting for him with her distinctive veil and multiple colors, and her dark cloak that he always teased her about, telling her he felt pessimistic when she met him wearing that cloak.
So he looked at her with a mocking smile, but she didn't smile as usual, and she said:
"I'm sorry for what my dad did to you for the eighth time..."
He laughed,
"No, I'm used to it... I've already been embarrassed in the town anyway... People say I've broken the record of being rejected... and I should enter the Guinness World Records for it."
He said those words to pull her out of the sadness he found her in, but in vain.
She continued,
"I used to think like you, that my dad wanted someone different... but unfortunately, my dad changed suddenly..."
Khaled was astonished,
"What do you mean he changed?!"
She replied,
"There's a doctor who proposed to my dad to marry me... and of course I was sure my dad would refuse... but I was surprised he agreed...
So he exclaimed,
"What... he agreed?!"
"Yes, he agreed and insisted on me marrying him." Some tears fell from her eyes as Khaled was stunned.
She continued,
"I tried to talk to him about my love for you... and he slapped me in the face... and said he knows what's best for me... and that my future is guaranteed with the doctor... and that I'll struggle with you..."
Mona was speaking, and her words were mixed with her tears, and Khaled listened to her, not believing what he was hearing.
What did this crazy father want? He told him he wanted his daughter to marry someone unique... but it seems he wanted anyone but Khaled... Me... Did the love of those years go to waste overnight?!...
He never loved anyone in his life as much as he loved her... and why didn't she object to her father's decision?! Did she give in out of fear of his anger?!...
All these questions swirled in his mind while she was speaking, until she asked him to leave so she wouldn't be late returning home... It was as if she was avoiding meeting him...
So he smiled sarcastically, gesturing for her to leave without saying anything... It was the first time he let her leave alone... and he sat in his place watching her leave, as if it was the last time he would see her, and he was choked with the tightness he felt... It was the first time he felt defeated with her…
A feeling he had never experienced before... He didn't notice it when he proposed to her and he was rejected eight times... He knew there was something called hope even if he proposed to her a hundred times until her father accepted...
He remembered enduring people's stares at him, and their ridicule when he told them he would marry her someday, and it would be a love story immortalized by history...
He thought he was a fool when he asked her once to marry him without speaking to her father, and she refused, and their feud lasted a long time until he apologized to her again...
But he was even more foolish now... She would agree to marry that doctor just as her father did... Perhaps she wanted to meet him this time just to satisfy her conscience, nothing more...
That's how he described it to himself... the love of years melting away like a piece of ice in a few seconds, until his distraction was interrupted by the ringing of his phone... and when he answered, he found his boss scolding him for his absence; he couldn't control his nerves, and told him he wouldn't work for him again... and immediately hang up the phone...
After that, he returned to his hometown... walking its streets with his head down... feeling the taste of defeat in his throat...
He didn't want to talk to anyone... until he reached his house, entered his room, and looked at its walls covered with those papers he always hung... marriage proposals to Mona and his rejection eight times, and he stood in front of each paper individually, looking at it and mocking himself... and laughing out loud as if he had gone mad, then he tore them all up, and sat on the floor of the room with his head in his hands... lost in his thoughts again until he got up and went to his grandfather's room...
He found him finished with his prayers... So he asked him, "You told me someone has a lot to say about the basement... who is this man and where can I find him?"
So his grandfather smiled calmly, "Have you made up your mind?"
"Yes... I want to go down to the basement."
"For Mona?!"
Khaled controlled himself, "Mona has completely slipped away from me... and I've completely given up on her... and my job too
... I've decided to go down."
Then he continued,
"I have to find one thing in my life that I can tell my future kids about... I want to feel like a hero just once in front of myself... My sense of failure is killing me..."
So his grandfather asked him, "Aren't you afraid you'll end up like your father and mother?"
He answered him,
"Believe me, the only thing I was afraid of was leaving you alone, but as long as you're encouraging me, there's no fear in my heart..."
So his grandfather smiled,
"And the jinn... and the ghosts... and that it's haunted?"
"Do you think I'll find a ghost tougher than humans? I've already decided I'm going down, you're right when you said Mona isn't the reason... on the contrary, after Mona slipped away from me, my love for going down increased even more than before... Maybe I'll find in the
basement, the memory that will make me forget the humiliation of six years for myself..."
Then he asked his grandfather, "Who is this man... and where can I find him?"
So his grandfather smiled,
"Don't worry... he heard everything we said... and he probably made sure that you really want to go down to the basement..."
Khaled looked at his grandfather in astonishment, as if he didn't understand anything when an old man entered the room, close in age to his grandfather... and immediately his grandfather spoke and pointed to the old man,
"Let me introduce you to the madman of the basement... You surely know him... Mustafa Aslan!"
Khaled looked at him, "Yes, of course... Mustafa!"
Then his grandfather continued, "Mustafa was the first one to think of going down to the basement fifty years ago... and we called him the madman of the basement... and he always said he had information that no one knew about the basement, and he was waiting for the day someone decides to go down... after your father and mother didn't return..."
Then he left them to continue their conversation alone...