《Bitter Sweet | ✔》{19} Internal Demons
Advertisement
I could hear Ibrahim's silent cries from my room. It didn't matter how tired or how groggy I felt, I could still hear his distress from a mile away. His silent sobs seemed to shake the enormous house, hitting every corner of the room and filling the halls with despair. The heartbreaking screams haunted him in his slumber, refusing to let his soul rest.
Walking down the dark hallway, I felt chills run up my spine as I neared his room, feeling shadows loom over me. I sensed his pain, his horror, his struggle against the unknown. His mind tormented fragments against memories, breaking the thin line between peace and destruction. My feet took me closer to his door until I stood in front of it, my mind in a haze.
Pushing it open, I stepped inside, allowing the cold air to caress my body. Ibrahim tossed and turned in his sleep, his arms flailing in front of him as he mumbled incoherently. Lines traced the creases on his forehead, his jaw clenched and his body visibly shivered. My heart lurched for him, it felt his sorrow, sinking deeper into my mind.
I slowly walked to the empty space beside him, sitting down on the soft mattress, and reaching out to him. I brought his body close to my warmth, praying that there could be some way to wake Ibrahim from his nightmare. Gently shaking his tense shoulder, I leaned close to Ibrahim's ear.
"Shh," I whispered, "it's only a bad dream. It's not real."
Unconsciously, his hand gripped the fabric of my pajama bottoms, holding onto me for his dear life. His eyes were shut, his lips trembling, and I ran my fingers over his forehead, smoothing the harsh creases. I could feel his rapid heart beat that pounded against his chest, his veins pulsing within his rigid body.
"Ibrahim!" I yelled.
His eyes shot open, terror lacing through his pupils and widening as he scanned the room in panic. Without realizing it, tears began to form and they slowly dripped down his cheeks. The pain of the past was killing him internally, but he didn't seem to realize it. He buried himself in work just to avoid his emotional stress.
"T-Tasneem?"
I gently smiled, "I'm here."
He placed his head on my lap, wrapping his strong arms around me. His body shook, his eyes leaking everything that he ever hid from people, all the secrets, the mysteries, and the lies that he was told. I gently rubbed his back, making small circles with my fingertips. Ibrahim tightened his grip.
Advertisement
"I can't take it a-anymore. It hurts s-so much," he choked out.
"I know, shh, it'll all get better soon."
A silence stretched between us. I heard his shallow breaths and his quiet sniffles. His body felt cold, almost frozen, and I knew the culprit was his nightmares. If there was anything I wanted the most in the world, it was to keep those monsters away from my husband. I wanted to shield him from all those painful memories, to protect him from himself.
Slowly, his body relaxed under my touch. I kept my movements slow and controlled, trying my best to soothe him in a way he never was before. Although we had been married for a short amount of time, I noticed things that many often overlooked.
Ibrahim and I weren't like most couples, we were unique in our own way. I didn't feel a stereotypical love for him, there was the emotional connection between us. His pain was my anguish, his tears were my sorrows, his smiles were my breath of air, his laughter was my enjoyment. We were two souls bonded together by the grace of Allah.
My husband's deep voice broke me away from my thoughts. "I used to laugh at Damon for saying he was in love."
"What?"
"I used to tease him and everyone else who claimed happiness from being married. I thought it was all a joke. It felt like a twisted joke. Maybe the whole time, I was just blind," he confessed as he sat up beside me. His eyes were red and puffy, his nose had a tint of pink, and his cheeks were flushed. A look of sadness entered his dark eyes. "I haven't been able to sleep properly in nine years. I kept thinking back to that one painful day that ruined my life. It never leaves me, Tasneem. I tried for years, seeking all the help I could, and it never left me at night."
I reached out to him, my palms caressing his cheek as I shifted closer. He placed his hand on top of mine, holding my hand there as he leaned into my touch. The scars on his arms were visible in the soft moonlight, making him appear stronger in every sense. The jagged lines hid the dark truth in them.
"It's funny," he softly chuckled as tears formed in his eyes. "I've lived so much of my life in a disguise, unable to open up to anyone. I've kept these secrets in my heart since the day it happened. The world had never been kind to me, Tasneem, but I tried to keep believing, trusting Allah to save me one day."
Advertisement
Dropping his hand, muscular arms encased me to his body. I gasped at the impact, but said nothing, knowing that Ibrahim was trying to let me into his heart. He was trying to confess, to tell me a subject of importance. His hot breath touched my exposed neck, nuzzling his nose against the soft skin, thus making my cheeks burn a crimson color.
"Every day was a war, a battle against myself. Everyday was a struggle to just wake up and live another day. Everyday was a torture, knowing that I had to keep being patient, keep trying in order to see results. I had to be strong for Bashir. My parents' last wish was for me to take care of him," he whispered, brokenly. He pulled away, holding me in his arms and looking into my eyes with a raw intensity. "My little brother needed me. I couldn't abandon him when he had no one left. He had no mother or father to remember. He only had grandparents and an older brother who tried to run away from everything."
"Ibrahim-"
He placed a finger to my lips, giving me a reassuring smile that he rarely wore. "Then you came along," he said, softly. "Never in my life did I think I would get married. I never believed in romance. I thought it was for the weak-minded. I created an empire around myself, but I had no queen to rule with me."
His words, they made a palace before my eyes, giving me everything that I ever wished to hear from my significant other. His poetic verses kept replaying into the back of my mind like a record. The way he gazed down at me made me feel like I was the only girl in the world, who stood at the top of his empire. I felt as if it was the first time we met again, my heart falling apart from the level of honesty that his voice portrayed.
He inhaled a deep breath, mentally giving himself courage to speak the next few words. "When I'm around you," he murmured, "it feels like I'm safe from everything. You chase my monsters away, you've stuck by me through every type of hell that I've given you. Sometimes, I wonder if I even deserve you."
"Don't say that," I breathed. "You deserve the world and more, Ibrahim. You deserve to be loved."
"If you knew what I did, you wouldn't feel the same."
"That's a lie and you know it," I fiercely stated. "The past does not define you, the past does not get to dictate your life, the past does not complete you. The future is in your hands, Ibrahim. Stop dwelling on the unchangeable, look to a brighter day. Change the future and live in the present."
He leaned his forehead against my own, closing his eyes as a faint smile touched the corners of his lips. "Would you believe me if I told you that you are my future?"
"Perhaps," I teased. "Would you believe me if I told you that you are my present?"
He chuckled deeply. "I'd believe you even if you told me a million times."
The playful atmosphere shifted, turning into a much more serious one. At night, we were allowed to be ourselves because no one saw the hidden monsters in us except a husband and wife. They knew each other's flaws and strengths. A loving couple supported each other through everything, giving the reassurance they always needed. That was what Allah intended when He created the beautiful bonds between a man and wife. They completed each other like a missing puzzle piece.
Dating and the immoral pursuit of a man and woman was forbidden in order to protect the purity between a couple. Islam protected believers by keeping them shielded from the tainted romances that aired on television where only physical desire was shown.
"Do you feel that?" asked Ibrahim in a voice so quiet I almost didn't hear him.
"Feel what?"
He took my hand into his calloused one, pressing my palm to his chest. "That," he whispered, "is what you do to me."
In that dark night, something beautiful happened. A connection so deep that not even the strongest blades could break it, a love so pure that it made bystanders shiver from the light, a couple so lost until they met each other. That was the greatest blessing Allah had given.
"Stay with me."
I pulled away from him, tilting my head. "Just for tonight?"
"Forever."
I smiled, I could never say no to that, not even if I tried.
Advertisement
Once I was a plain princess
when I was a little girl my brilliant older sister wrote a romantic play and gave me the role of the plain royal princess who was in love with the male lead but after a pitiful struggle to win his heart, she killed herself. twelve years after playing that role I died in my own birthday party, next thing, I was the fifteen year old princess confessing her love to him. Cover credit: Young Girl Reading, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1770
8 208Babysitting The Bad Boy
{#1 in teenagers}{#2 in fiction} {#2 in popular} "You better not tell anyone about this." "Aw why not? I'm sure your fandom of desperate girls would love to know that their precious prince charming needs a babysitter." I smile innocently back at his death glare. "I'm serious, nerd. I could make your life hell." ------------------------------------------------------------Marnie Jones is an ordinary 11th grader. Her only intentions are to get good grades and save money for college with her babysitting job. Everything is going to plan. Until she gets a job babysitting the high school bad boy, Zeke Blakely. The two come from complete different social groups, and Marnie automatically hates Zeke and his big ego and cocky attitude.He's a player. He's dangerous. He's reckless. She's safe with an overthinking problem. As the two are seen hanging around school together, attention gets drawn to Marnie. Which she hates. But she also catches the eye of a handsome jock, too. And why, you ask, does a 17 year old boy need a babysitter? You'll have to read to find out. WARNING: contains vulgar language and mature scenes.
8 289An Italian's Virgin Escort (IRS Book 1)
"You, my dear, are just a tissue with my brand name on it. Only I can use you and throw as I want." He whispered harshly holding my neck tightly and biting my cheek with so much desire, like an animal he is."P-ple-ase leav-e m-me. ple-" I cried and begged him to leave me but that only heightened his desire for me and crashed his lips on mine in to a rough kiss.Sienna Thomas is a 20 year old sweet and intelligent girl who is thriving for a change of life keeping a big secret from the world. But to outside world she is known as sienna Miller. Her life is a book of problems until she meets Leonardo Bianchi, the root cause for her problems unknowingly.Leonardo Bianchi is Multi-billionaire who is rude, snobby and arrogant. Life is the cost to pay if something or someone goes against him. But that's until a petite young girl flips his life upside down with her innocence.Why is Leonardo blamed for Sienna's problems?Does she know that he is the root cause for her pitiful life?
8 124Her highness loves the comfortable life
And so after my death i reincarnated in the body of her highness Alesha Von Castillon know for being arrogant, selfish, wicked, and has a obsessive love from his highness Ezekiel De Vautch. What a cliche. She is so pitiful she always crave for love to his highness but didn't reciprocate. 'Why didn't she give-up? Is she blind? And there's this things of being humuliated by everyone because of how she dress and do her make-up she looklikes a clown' tsk She married the crownprince at the tender age of 15 and fell inlove to him at first site of his coming-age-ceremony and for becoming successful at the age of 20. But the problem is he didn't love her but hostile to her and has a thing with the daughter of the baron lady Mia Cruise. She is a cute lady that gets in trouble because of her white lotus appearance that wants the men to protect her. That made all the ladies in the capital hate her but cannot touch her because she has a powerful backer her older brother Dwayne Cruise. That has protect the country along with the crown prince and will get the title of a marquis worthy of his loyalty to the throne. 'Well no worries i own this body now hahahaha it's good to be alive hahahaha well we do have same personality im a wicked person too hahahaha.' Get ready life i am coming......NOTE:THE COVER PHOTO IS NOT MINE.
8 145The Prime Minister's Beloved Wife
Transmigrated into an ancient novel, the modern fashion designer Bai Yu Yan suddenly became the wife of the Prime Minister. However, regardless of her position, her ending was but a tragic death. "Death? Ha!", Bai Yu Yan scoffed as she packed her bag to become the master of her own fate. "Wife, this lord has already warmed the bed for you. You dare run after eating this lord's tofu?", a certain lord stripped himself and closed the bedroom door. ...In a world where survival was her only goal, love came knocking on her door. Although he was her husband, he would soon meet his fated one. But why does this man look so handsome in her design? Bai Yu Yan looked at fate on one hand and her heart on the other. Which one will she choose? Start: 12th April 2020 [Original Story] [Cover credit: @buruberipeach]
8 107The Tyrant King's Queen
A tyrant king conquers a kingdom so he can get married to her forgotten princess. People expect a marriage filled with strife and everything but none of that happens. Instead he treats her right, worships her and kisses the very ground she walks on. Why is that? People wonder. The reason is quite simple. Years ago, the same princess had saved his life from the bitter hands of death when he was betrayed by his half brother, the crown prince of Madonia.Highest ranking.1 in forgotten Princess 10/10/20221 in Royaltycore 30/10/20221 in Historical 13/11/20221 in Historicalromance 18/11/20221 in dreamlandbooks 20/11/2022
8 397