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GASLIGHT AVENUE: BASED ON A TRUE HUMMUS STORY

Chapter 1: A Legend Not a Fairy Tale

Rumor has it she never made her husband a hot meal, so she got hit by a bus.

Nada Chehade

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created via DAL.E

The first time I remember being gaslit, I was nine years old. My teita, was sitting on the edge of my bed, telling me the fascinating tale of the ghoul for the thousandth time, and like every time, I was disappointed with the ending. My naivety would have me listening tentatively until the finish line in hopes she would bedazzle the ending — just once — but it never happened. After all, it was a legend, not a fairytale.

According to Mesopotamian mythology, a ghoul is an evil creature who lurks in the burial grounds of a faraway land — a half-man, half-beast concoction with pointy claws, hoofs, and three tiny hairs on his head. You don’t want to bump into this monster; they say he can take the form of any animal, usually a hyena, to lure his prey into the wastelands and feed off their souls. This shape-shifting trickster will have you signing your freedom away over a temporary illusion, only for you to wake up in his cave chained to a life of perpetual servitude.

The ghouls had all kinds of preferences when seeking out their victims; they sought out the most vulnerable with weaknesses to exploit, like…

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