The woman turned and glared at me.
"Yes, harem. You'll be going there as a servant to the newest concubine of the Sultan, don't get too excited yet" the woman answered, and flung her wrist off of my grip. I was completely petrified by those words that, I couldn't ask any questions or say anything.
"From what I can see, you do not have a bruise, even the doctor confirmed you are in perfect health, all you just needed was to wake up. So all we just have to do is to get you to look presentable" the woman continued. She didn't even take a look at my shocked face, she just dashed out of the room.
"Is this some kind of prank?" I thought to myself. And just as I tried to think of possible answers to my question, the woman came back in, only that this time, she wasn't alone. She had come in with three other girls, all of them wore solemn looks on their faces, each holding something of some sort.
"These three would help get you ready" the woman simply said and left the room almost immediately. I took a proper look at the girls and noticed one of them held a mirror. She held it towards me, but I noticed the figure I saw in it was quite strange. I bent down a bit to take a closer look, but then I realized the reflection on the mirror wasn't mine.
"Am I dreaming? I hope it's is what I think it is" I panicked, as I hurriedly placed my palms all over my face. I saw the motion and frequency by which my palms moved all over my face reflect on this strange face staring back at me in the mirror. Everything dawned on me when I touched my two eyes, then I knew I wasn't a joke, I was in someone else's body! I gasped, collapsing onto the floor.
"Fatiha are you okay?" one of the girls asked.
"How did I get here? How on earth did I get here?" I asked, searching the faces of the young ladies for answers. They themselves seemed as worried and as confused as I was.
"Ehhh, don't you remember falling off the balcony two days ago?" one of them asked me.
"No no no, you all are getting it wrong. I-I-I I'm not Fatiha, I'm Jade. I live in Miami and the last thing I remember is hitting my head and falling in a pool" I tried to explain, but the girls still looked at me as though I had lost it.
"Oh poor thing, she must have hurt her head pretty badly after that fall" the lady who stood with the mirror remarked, clicking her tongue and shaking her head slowly. I wanted to say another word, but I decided against it. What else was I going to say? When I don't even look like myself. But at the same time, I needed to know where I was, perhaps, I could get help.
"Ehhhm excuse me ladies, but where am I exactly? I asked.
"You are at lord Al-Hussain's residence" the first lady answered.
"Al what? Who's that?" I asked. At this point, the looks on their faces wasn't just confusion, it they were trying to stop themselves from bursting into laughter.
"Sister, you really do not remember?" The lady with the mirror asked. I shook my head in response. She let out a sigh before she began to talk.
"Lord Al-Hussain is the general of the Sultan of this great empire". I paused for a minute to absorb the information. Did she just say empire?
"Sister, which city are we in again?" I asked.
"Istanbul" the lady with the mirror answered swiftly. My eyeballs began to expand in my eyes sockets after I heard this answer.
"Wow, I'm in Turkey?" I muttered to myself, smiling sheepishly in excitement.
"Ehmmm, sister, what do you mean by you "are in a Turkey"?" one of the ladies who stood at the end asked.
"This country is Turkey right?" I asked after I had studied the look of their faces. They didn't seem to apprehend whatever I had just said. The lady with the mirror shook her head again before lifting her eyes to the partially cemented ceiling.
"Ya Allah, have mercy" she muttered.
"Please answer me, I beg of you all. I just woke up" I pleaded.
"This great empire is known throughout the lands and across the seas as the Ottoman empire. The greatest and the most prosperous of all lands" the lady in the middle answered, her face lighting up with so much admiration for her country. On the other hand, I was distraught. I wasn't just in Turkey, I was in old Turkey.
"Let's get you ready immediately, we do not want to keep the new concubine waiting" the lady with the mirror said. I had no words for her, I just didn't know how to wrap my head around anything. I stood up, letting them do whatever they had to do. I paid no attention at all to what they were doing, my mind just wandered.
"What about my court hearing? How on earth did I get teleported? Am I dead in the US? Did my body vanish? Did I….?"
"Raise your left leg" the voice interrupted my thoughts. I did as I was told.
"If I'm being honest, I envy you Fatiha. You are going to work in the palace, how I wish I got opportunity " the first lady said. She was the person fastening a dark brown Aladdin-styled trouser on my waist. The second lady wiped my face with a damp rag of some sort, it spelled like mint.
"It's funny you wanted to jump off to your death by the news" the second lady remarked. I smiled nervously, a loose funny looking shirt was dumped on my body, which I had to button up. A scarf was wrapped around my head before a veil was worn on top of my head, covering my face and stopping at my shoulder. The third lady brought the mirror over, and I took another glance at myself. I was almost forced to admitting that I looked like Mia Khalifa, my eyes were just a bit narrower, that's all.
"Her face should be covered too, we do not want to cause a ruckus due to her presence" the lady with the mirror remarked and the rest concurred. Before I knew it, my eyes were the only things I could see in the mirror. I was made to get up, and led out of the small room. The corridors were a bit dark, but it didn't take long for us to be out of the building. I was met with a sight I had never seen in my life, except in probably magazines or movies. Everything was different, from the buildings to the surroundings and down to the men who carried heavy loads on their heads and the women who carried water pots on their heads away or to the wells located at each end of the large surrounding. I noticed a horse positioned just a few meters from where I stood with the other three ladies. Another horse, with a man sitting on it's back was just beside the first horse. Out of nowhere, the chubby lady appeared, and the other three ladies quickly disappeared.
"Abdul will get you to the palace in no time, you'll ride with him on the other horse" she said, pointing at the brown horse that was just besides man.
"Uhmm, I don't know how to ride a horse" I muttered. The woman gave me a glare for a few seconds before she dragged me by my wrist, and walked over to the man on the horse.
"Abdul, please guide this maiden. She does not know how to ride a horse" the woman pleaded.
"You know she cannot ride with me, it's haram" Abdul responded.
"I'm not asking you to ride the same horse with her. I just ask you guide her, you know what to do" the woman pleaded again. Abdul grunted, probably he wasn't expecting this kind of stress. He jumped down from his horse and walked over to me.
"Now place your foot here" he instructed. I placed my two hands over on the saddle to give myself support of some sort.
"No no no young lady, not like that" Abdul said. "Just place your feet on that firmly, I'll help you up". I placed my right feet on it, and before I could blink, Abdul grabbed me on my waist and lifted me. Instinctively, I crossed my left leg over and sat on the saddle. The chubby woman thanked him and immediately turned to me afterwards.
"Remember all you were taught, and don't be reckless" the woman said. I simply nodded, I had no idea of whatever she was talking about and I didn't want to ask, I looked crazy enough already. Abdul jumped on his horse and turned to me.
"Grab the reins tight, and don't flap it for any reason else, we might have a disaster on the streets of Istanbul. And the price of me being sold might not make up for that loss" he remarked. He giggled, but I didn't find it funny. He began to ride and stroke my horse gently. My horse followed him, and we began the trip to the royal palace.