UNFURLING FATE.

Baby steps.

Third person.

Madinah walked into her home around three pm, she took her time cooking dinner and sat in the sitting room waiting for him to return from Maghreb since it was late by the time sh finished.

The minute he walked through the door, he started making his way to the staircase. She quickly got up and got to the staircase before him, General stopped and stared blankly at her,

Madinah did the only thing she knew how, the only thing she could think of that would purge a reaction out of him, she burst out crying.

It took a few seconds for him to react, he brought his hand to her face, "why are you crying?"

She slowly looked up at him, wiping at her crocodile tears, "I am worried about you." She told him, she cringed as she did all of this but it was required, if truly like daddy said General had mental health issues that have been triggered,

He is probably not thinking rationally, he is in a shell. She noticed when he was having the panic attack and crying, he still wiped her tears, it proved to her that in some way they affected him.

"I'm okay, stop crying." The deep baritone of his voice caused her heart to swell. Everything about him currently was unlike she'd ever imagined. Her enigma of a husband now seemed so fragile, so broken, it broke her heart.

Especially after knowing now just how much he'd endured to turn into the stoney man she always insulted in her mind.

"You're not. You don't even eat food or drink water."

He continued to stare at her and said nothing, so she spoke up again, "will you eat with me?"

It took over two minutes, but then he nodded his head. He started walking to the dining table and she quickly followed after him, once they sat down, she served them both the food and started to eat.

General ate almost all of the food, madinahs joy could not be contained. For the first time in days, she finally smiled.

But then she brought up something that changed both of the moods for the worst, "General do you think you need to see your psychiatrist to talk about what happened? I can call him."

His hand that was holding a cup of water paused, he looked at her like she'd poisoned him, "You think I'm crazy?"

"What? No, but.."

"I don't need you interfering in my matters maryaam, I don't need you playing housewife or gossiping about me with my father."

He figured she probably heard about his psychiatrist from daddy, ofcourse daddy told her he was crazy.

"But I am your wife! whether you like it or not." General stared at maryaam like she'd grown a second head. She chose now of all times to have a mouth and stand up for herself?

He glared hotly at her and got up from the dining room, walking to his room and shutting the door behind him. He went straight to the bathroom and performed ablution, then laid out a prayer mat and started to pray,

Maryaam had offended him because he truly thought he was going crazy, and it particularly irritated him that he now had someone in his personal space who noticed as well. The only things that took his mind off things were prayer and gym, lots and lots of them.

Things he had gone to great lengths to bury were bubbling up again, it took great strength from him not to smash his head in to drown out his thoughts. He knew he needed treatment again, but having to relive those memories to him was so much worse than what he was going through now. The nightmares were back, after years, they were back in full force. He locked his door most of the time because he didn't want maryaam witnessing him like that again, he didn't want to be a danger to her.