You, my Punishment (Islamic Story)

Chapter 35

"Sahra, can you open the door?" Rabia asked me. We were cooking together and I think I had never had fun like that before. We baked a cake and Aneel was stealing from the batter the whole time. It got me angry so after a while I slapped him with the spatula that had batter on it which made him angry so he walked out scowling and played with Leyla.

"Of course" I said and made my way over to the door. When I opened it, I saw a man. I smiled at him but he didn't do anything back.

"Who are you?" He asked. I couldn't even response.

"Yahya" I heard Aneel's voice from behind me. They looked at each other with a serious expression and I could see that they didn't like each other.

"What are you doing here?" Aneel spat out. I hold Aneel's arm to calm him down. He looked at me for a seconds before taking a deep breath, only for me to hear. I saw Rabia coming towards us.

"Who is i- oh, Yahya" she said nodding.

"Why is he here? How does he know your place?" Aneel hissed at Rabia.

"Aneel stop it, he has the right to see Leyla" she said. That made Aneel angrier.

"I don't care! The lawyer said that he can't come near you and especially not to your house! How c-" Rabia didn't even let him finish.

"We made a deal, okay? We got divorced but it is still his child. He can see her whenever he wants. Stay out of my business" she yelled back. That was when Aneel started to yell stuff in Turkish. Leyla started walking towards us but Aneel pushed me towards her before she could see her father.

"Take her to her room" he said and I grabbed Leyla's hand, taking her to her room.

"What is going on?" she asked in Arabic. I just shook my head.

"Show me your drawings like you promised" I told her with excitement. Her face changed to happy and she quickly went to her drawer and took out a big notebook. She was showing me all her drawings and I acted like I was paying attention but I was more listening to the voice that was talking to me. 'Children are the precious things. They take what they see. As a parent, you have the responsibility to raise your child good. Islamically good. You have to teach them Allah. You have to teach them the Qur'an. You have to make sure that they follow our Prophet's (pbuh) way. That they will be as kind as he was, that they will respect older and younger. That they will help the poor and rich. That they would stand up for animals. That they would never turn around their backs for someone. That they would never judge. And that they have to love everyone and show everyone how grateful, strong, and kind Allah is' I smiled and it looked like I smiled at Leyla but deep down I was smiling because I liked the words of what the voice said. A few minutes later, Aneel came in and hugged Leyla for a few seconds before he looked at me. He moved his head, signing that I should get out and I did, with him following behind me. I turned around in the hallway, crossing my arms.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him. He nodded, before looking me in the eyes.

"He is gone, but still, be careful" he said and then started to walk towards the living room. I followed him and Rabia was sitting on the couch with her face in her hands. Aneel went straight towards the room but I stood in front of Rabia.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded but didn't move.

"I mean, I don't really know what to say but you can talk to me" I said. I never knew how to comfort people since I had never seen that in my life but I really wanted to make sure that she was okay. She patted the space next to her and I sat down.

"Yahya and I divorced because he only wanted money from me after a while. My parents are rich and sometimes I feel like the only reason he married me was for that. I am sure he is a great and safe person, that's why he still get to see Leyla. Leyla loves her dad. She has the right to see him, no matter what I went through. Aneel.. Aneel is just being mean to me about it. He is mad that I let Leyla see her dad, since he hates Yahya. I just- I just wished my brother would be a little more understanding without saying all these things. He doesn't know how much it hurts" she let out, letting a single tear flow. She then laughed and wiped it away.

"Sorry, it was a small argument but everything just gathered up and it became too much" she said, standing up.

"Go sleep, its late" she said before walking to the kitchen. I walked over to the room, seeing Aneel laying on the bed with his phone in his hand. He didn't look up at me and I sat down next to him.

"Apologize to your sister" I blurted out. He looked at me and rolled his eyes before he looked at his phone again.

"Aneel" I said, trying to get his attention. He didn't look at me when I said his name.

"Sahra, close that subject or I will be saying things you don't want to hear" he said and I knew that he was still angry. I decided not to push it and just lied down next to him.

"What are we going to do? Rabia has to know. We can't stay here like forever" I said quietly after a while. I was thinking of the reason how we came here and how we were going to get out of here. He looked away for a seconds before he turned towards me.

"I don't know. I really don't. The only thing I know is that I will do anything to stop them from doing something" he said and looked back at his phone. I smiled a bit, trusting him.  I stood up to change into my pajamas and went out of the bathroom after I did. I lied down under the covers but turned and moved towards the edge, far away from him. I didn't want to come over as more than we already were. He turned the light off and I felt him move a bit. The tension in the air was heavy and I knew that he was stressed. I could hear his fast heartbeat and he had this weird expression on his face. I didn't know what came over me but I grabbed my courage and turned around. I scooted closer and wrapped my arm around his waist and buried my face in his back. I tried to comfort him and make sure that he was feeling a little more peace. He didn't do anything. He didn't move nor did he push me away. I closed my eyes, feeling like I had accomplished something. I just felt like he enjoyed it a little because everyone was always expecting so much from him and he was giving them nothing but harshness. When you get to him in his weakest moments, like now, he would welcome it with open arms. It was then that I felt him squeeze my hand with two fingers for a second. That made me smile and I closed my eyes, taking in his scent.

I couldn't breathe. It was like someone had grabbed my neck and just hold it tight. I opened my eyes and everything was black. Of course, it was night. I coughed a few times and got up. That's when the smell hit me. Fire..

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Final Editing Done (25-10-2016)