Collapse into me.

Just once.

I promise

You'll never have to

Fall again

{Unknown}

_____

Gone. Gone were all the taunting smirks. What now remained was a cold and firm line across his lips. He seemed to be communicating with me, his eyes speaking a hundred different consequences to my reply.

"No" I managed to choke out in a whisper of my voice. The Imaam was shocked to say the least and I knew then I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. By refusing the devil.

It was eerily quiet and I didn't dare look up. But then the silence was deafening, playing with my emotions, so eventually I did. Rafael's gaze seemed to be digging into me as if burning lasers. Then a smile adorned his features, sickening.

"Leave us" he'd ordered to the Imaam, whom in return stayed put. "Listen, son, you cannot force an answer upon this young lady-" he began but was immediately shut up once Rafael faced him. Even he knew better than to annoy this man, Laila, and he probably didn't even know what he did for a living.

I was too scared to speak, as I'd already gone against the one thing he told me not to. But my answer was so much more important than his stupid command. As a Muslim women, I was free to marry any man of my will!

"I said get out. I will call you in when you're needed" he seethed. The Imaam nodded fearfully, gulping as he did so. He looked at me momentarily, a look of pity washing over his face before he walked away. Once the door was shut, Rafael wasted no time in grilling me.

"What did you say?" He questioned calmly, yet I could detect the layer of anger. He was exceptional at hiding how he felt. But I was equally as good at observation.

"I said no" I exclaimed quietly. He nodded more to himself, walking around infront of me as if deciding what to do next. "You can't do this Rafael. Please, spare me this once!" I pleaded as he continued to pace around. His actions seemed restless as he did so.

"Listen here Laila" he began, his hands clasped around the arm resters of the sofa which I currently occupied. I moved myself away from his proximity, staring at him with wide eyes. "I'm giving you one last chance, otherwise you won't like the consequence" he'd stated calmly, his eyes wild.

"But this isn't fair!" I shouted, tears welling in my eyes. "This isn't fair at all! I didn't even want to get married so young to begin with especially not with someone like you" I cried in frustration. I covered my face with my hands, not being able to face the world.

I didn't want to see how angry he became, because I know one look at his terrifying face, and I'd have no choice but to submit.

"If that's what you want" he hummed, pushing himself away from me. I breathed out relieved. This seemed easier than what I'd thought, yet I had a feeling this was not it.

I looked up at his frame, to see him on the phone. He placed it next to his ear and immediately started yelling in rapid Spanish to someone. He made motion to hang up, but as soon as his eyes landed on me, he made sure to place the phone back against his ear. A prideful smile took over his features, as he began in a low voice, this time in English.

"José, for the residents of number ten craftord road, make sure to give them a painless death and I'll pay you generously" and then he shut the phone as my life collapsed before my eyes. That was the address of my parents house!

The tears from before increased the more I thought of my families dead body flashing in my mind. Guilt. I felt extreme guilt, but more than that I felt like a murderer.

"Rafael! No please don't kill my family" I practically begged jumping off of the sofa in no time and standing before him. I grasped his shirt in between my hands, trying to rattle some sense into him. Why oh why, god!

Meanwhile he could care less about the tears in my eyes or the fear he drowned my mind in. He looked indifferent.

"Oh Laila" he sighed looking down at me. "If only you'd listened to me. This is your punishment. You see, I didn't want it to end up like this, but to gain something you must lose something. For your freedom, you lost your entire family and it was all your fault" his eyes were dead set on mine. Each word of his held truth. Gosh Laila! Was it so hard to say a three lettered word?!

A sob escaped my mouth upon the sudden realisation that I was indeed to blame. I pulled away from him. I needed to go back home. I cannot be here right now.

Wiping Away my tears seemed to be useless as new ones graced my eyes. Everything seemed blurry. Not only visually but also mentally as I walked to the doors. They were locked instantly upon the demons voice. Never did I want to curse upon advanced technology as I did now.

"Open this door. I need to go back! M-my family are in danger please, Rafael. Let me go!" I bellowed not caring if he was to kill me right now. I'd lost everything anyway so what was the reason for living.

He Ignored me and instead went to go sit on the sofa. Calmly, he took out a cigarette from his pocket and instantly lighted it up. Throwing away the lighter carelessly, he leaned back into the sofa, his ankle across his knee and motioned me forward with his finger.

I stood fixed. I couldn't move. I didn't want to go anywhere else except to my parents. I could still save them, yes! I could. It wouldn't take long to reach England, I'm sure.

His hair, which he'd been restraining back whilst pacing around defied his actions, as they littered across his forehead. He looked all the more dangerous. With one last attempt at keeping they away from his face he pushed them back, but the stubborn ones remained. Across his hard eyes.

In that moment, whilst he'd caught my attention, he exclaimed an "open", to which the door behind me unlocked. I wasted no time in turning around, however his next words unsettled me deeply, just before I could open the gates to freedom.

"If you go now Laila, just know I will not be responsible for you or your families safety, you still have time to listen and gree whilst you've got the chance" w-what? What did he mean?

M-my families safety?

"You can save them by marrying me, my dear. But of course, I cannot force you into this, you can decide for yourself. The clock is ticking" and indeed it was, something I hasn't realised before.

With each passing second, the tick tock made no mistake in reminding me of my doom. If I fell forward I'd break my teeth, and if I fell backwards, I'd break my back. Yet the answer was as clear as daylight.

I still had time to save my family. Turning around, I whispered the poisonous words. "I agree" I looked down for the remaining time, as more tears erupted. A large ball of misery lodged in my throat, wanting to break loose. It was hurting too much!

"You agree to what?"

Why was he making this hard. As if saying those words wasn't hard enough, he wanted to make me face my cruel reality?! With my eyes tightly shut, I breathed in a large amount of air which was a bad idea as my throat literally begged to release a cry of misery.

But I held it back as I spat the next words. "I-i agree t-to marry-ying you"

In the next moment, he was on call and soon, the Imaam walked in. He was unsure of what was going on at first especially since he eyed me standing next to the door with a teearful face.

Moments passed and before I know it, I was sat down whilst the Imaam read out the vows for the second time. "Do you, Laila Bakhash, daughter of Rasheed Bakhash, agree to marry Rafael Cenzo Ray with the accordance of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him"

I heaved in a difficult breath, my resolute crumbling before my eyes. I glanced at the old maid, who seemed to be sharing the same pain as I was. She didn't seem happy at all. Yet here she was stood before me as my witness.

"Qubool hai. Qubool Hai. Qubool hai" and with that the tears began again, despite how much I didn't want to cry infront of anyone right now. Nothing was going my way. Nothing!

"Mashallah congratulations to you two" the Imaam stated standing up. I kept my head down throughout the entire exchange. From Rafael escorting the Imaam out to the maid exiting, to only us two present in the room.

"Why are you upset, Mrs Laila Cenzo Rey. You should be pleased you saved your families lives" he taunted, wiping away a tear with his rough thumb. I physically recoiled away from his touch, disgusted. He made no motion of being offended. In fact, he seemed elated.

"Now come, wife. It's been a long day for you. I'm sure you need to rest"

"You did this all on purpose didn't you?" I asked, looking him dead in the eyes. If he seemed to know what I was talking about his poker face gave nothing away. My insides were raging with fury! How dare he try to mess with my mind and get me to marry him. Gosh all I seemed to be doing now adays was crying and more crying. Suck it up Laila.

But it was useless as the truth began to unfold before my eyes. He didn't call anyone to cancel harming my family as soon as I agreed "You didn't order to kill my family did you Rafael? This was all your sick plan to get me to say yes wasn't it?!" I cried in fury.

Tears burned my eyes as I realised everything. Regret. A tonne of regret held me down from thinking clearly.

"Come. You need sleep" he said in a hard voice, not wanting to retaliate.

"To hell with your commands and orders. From now on, I will not give into any of your words. I hate you!" I raged and practically stormed away from this hell of a moment.

Gone were all my dreams and future. How would I ever go back to normalcy especially since it'd been snatched away from me so brutally. God was a witness to the growing pain in my heart. Gosh, this was not supposed to happen at all, ya Allah. So why. Why?

I did not know how many hours had passed, but when my gaze landed on the darkness of the sky, It was then I grasped how much time I'd spent in my head. I didn't bother with the hospital today, but I did send a message to the Mukhtar's that I would be home tomorrow.

Rafael made it his mission to keep me trapped in this room, and in that moment, I couldn't help but curse him. They say in Islam that when a curse is released into the world, it clashes against heaven, if it's not accepted there, then the curse returns to the world and comes down to target the one it was for.

I was told many times by my mum to never curse someone, despite never have done so in my life, but in this instance, I didn't care to stop. Because only Allah knew how I was feeling, and surely, only his just rule would prevail.

___