The Broken Tale

Captive

Song: The Truth Untold by BTS

Layla quietly set the clean dishes in their places, one stacked on top of the other in organized piles, she was careful to make as little noise as possible. Ali was sitting at the table, going through a bunch of files while she picked up the remnants of dinner.
"What happened to that coffee, Layla?" He asked.
"I'm bringing it."
She quickly poured the hot coffee into a mug and set it down for him. He continued flipping through pages of texts without looking up at her. Layla sighed and sat down at the table by his side without making a sound. She looked down at the violet cuts and bruises on her arms, their violet outlines were starting to fade back into her skin.
"You've been so quiet lately." Ali said, still enveloped in his papers.
Layla shrugged, "Have I?"
"Yes, you have."
"I haven't noticed."
Ali chuckled a little to himself, "So it's true what they said."
"Huh?"
"My father used to say that the best way to slap some sense into any woman is to keep her locked up for a week and f-"
"It's been a month, Ali." Layla interrupted, "So yes. Anyone would become passive if they've been locked in a house for a month with no human interaction."
He looked up at her with playful eyes and an amused smile on her face.
"I don't count as human interaction?"
Layla fidgeted with her hands, "One person alone and just at night?"
Ali shrugged and went back to his papers.
"You haven't asked how Brian has been this while month."
Layla bit her lip at the mention of his name. Her heart clenched with searing pain as if someone had put salt on her already open and never healing wound. But she ignored it anyway.
"Why would I?" Layla asked in fake indifference, "He's just a friend who tried to help me while you were-"
"That's enough." He cut in firmly.
Layla chewed her lower lip, knowing she had pushed her boundaries too far.
"I'm sorry."
"How's your back?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Fine. It doesn't hurt as much anymore."
"I'm glad." He replied, "You get more excersize at home than you do when you're out."
"When you confiscated my phone and books, I really have nothing else to do but clean."
He smirked to himself and looked up from the papers.
"You want your phone back, huh?"
Layla didn't reply, she looked down at her hands, expecting it to be a rhetorical question he was asking to mock her.
"Answer me."
"What?"
"I asked you a question." He repeated, "Do you want your phone back?"
Layla hesitated. Was this just another excuse for him to beat and humiliate her? But she knew if she stated silent, it would end badly as well. She craved human interaction, needed and lived for the day she could wake up to a simple text from her friends. So with little other choice, she nodded slowly.
"I want words, Layla."
"Y-Yes...please."
She shut her eyes, expecting his hand to be flung across her face as it was almost everyday this past month.
But nothing.
She was shocked, it felt almost surreal when she opened her eyes to see him staring at her calmly.
"Alright then." He said, he pulled out her phone from his pocket and set it down on the table Infront of her, "Have it back."
Layla's widened eyes darted between him and the phone in disbelief.
"Won't you take it?"
Layla was still unsure of his intentions. Ali had spent the better part of the past month playing tricks like this on her only as an excuse to beat and assault her at every turn. But this time, with her reward being dangling infront of her, she could not resist. She picked up the phone with hesitation, expecting him to take a turn and start hitting her but he never did. His eyes just followed her hand with an unchanging grin.
"Thank you." She said in almost a whisper.
"Look, Layla." He said in strange calmness, "If you ask me, I think even a pig would've learned its lesson by now so I don't think there's any reason to keep you captive like this anymore."
"Wait...what? Wh-What do you mean?"
"You heard me."
"What? Why are you releasing me?"
He laughed, "Sorry my bad. I thought you'd want to released."
"No! I do- it's just-"
"I've always liked obedient and submissive but not dead and boring." He interrupted, "And keeping you caged up only sucks humanity out of you, Layla, and that's not what I want for my wife."