The Moon Dancer

Chapter 17

Ruhya's body was completely frozen.

There was someone in her room and they were lifting the covers over her legs.

Ruhya's throat swelled up as she struggled to keep her cries in. Two hands gently stroked her leg. A chill went down Ruhya's spine despite the warmth emitting from the hands. She wanted to scream, but her mouth refused to make a sound.

The Fear squeezed Ruhya, and several memories from the brothel jabbed themselves into her mind. She struggled to breathe as panic and fear continued to choke her. Maybe it would be better to try and go back to sleep, to shut her eyes and pretend nothing was happening. If she doesn't acknowledge it, then it didn't happen...right?

NO!

Something in Ruhya seemed to jolt her. The Fear screamed to keep her in its clutches, but Ruhya fought to shove it away. Her life at the brothel was long gone, she wasn't that scared little girl anymore. 

Quickly Ruhya grabbed the closest thing next to her and threw it at whoever was touching her. 

"Ow! What the fuck!?" Shouted a familiar voice as an empty glass cup hit them. The glass made a loud noise as it bounced to the floor and shattered. 

Ruhya felt sick. She didn't want to believe it, but there was no mistaking who the voice belonged to. Even if her eyes were covered, her ears were not, and they would not deceive her.

"Stay away from me, Judar."

"That really hurt, you got me right on the shoulder. I thought you were sleeping." Judar complained as he groaned in pain.

Ruhya couldn't speak. Several emotions passed through her and formed a painful lump in her throat.

Hurt. Fear. Anger. Shock. Sorrow. They spun in her mind until Ruhya finally decided on anger.

"H-how dare you."

"What?"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Ruhya shouted viciously. She grabbed her pillows and threw them at Judar with as much force as she could muster. Ruhya began to thrash around, hoping Judar was close enough so she could hit him. 

"Calm down! You're going to hurt yourself!" Judar exclaimed as he ran over and tried to hold down Ruhya's flailing arms.

His attempt to calm her down only caused her outburst to increase in intensity. Ruhya thrashed her entire body to try and get away from Judar, she swung her head and snapped her teeth at him. 

Judar struggled to restrain her and barely managed to avoid being headbutted and bitten. 

Eventually, Ruhya ran out of energy, her swings becoming slower and weaker. She lay limp in Judar's arms and began to cry.

"Get away from me." Ruhya whimpered as she weakly pushed against Judar. Pain wracked her entire body. Her ribs were in terrible pain, and each sob only made the pain spike up. 

Judar let go of Ruhya and stepped away from the bed. He wasn't sure what had made her go crazy, but he knew he never wanted her like that again. It was like her body was on full survival mode, every part fighting on instinct. 

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I can't believe you have the audacity to ask me what's wrong." Ruhya spat out venomously. She held her last pillow against her chest to act as a protective barrier.  She wanted to throw something at Judar as he made a sound of confusion.

"I don't- oh." Judar said, his voice lowering to a whisper as he finally understood the situation.

"Leave me alone."