Behind A Smile

"Who the hell were you speaking to, on phone just now?!" He asked, his voice laced with fury and distrust.

She flinched at the tone of his voice, the phone clattering to the floor. Her lips quivered in a violent manner and her body began to tremble tremendously, like someone drenched in rain and had caught a cold. "I... I'm -" she attempted to explain herself, but was caught off by a resounding slap on her left cheek.

Pain surged into her body from the impact of the monstrous contact against her cheek. Even without seeing it, she knew his palm would have definitely left its ugly print on her.

She mustered all the patience she could and stopped herself from retaliating or even shedding a tear in his presence. He was not worth her tears at all, but in another viewpoint, she couldn't blame him for the way he was currently treating her. It was all her fault. She caused everything upon herself.

If only she knew the type of a person he was...

If only she could turn back the hands of time, she would. If only wishes were horses but it was never going to happen. She was stuck with him forever and she had absolutely no one to blame, but herself. No one else.

Momentarily, she shut her eyes and when she reopened them, she spoke with a clear and unaffected voice. "I was on phone with my friend, Khadijah." She responded, tersely. She fathomed there was no point in being verbose with him - He was not worth it and moreover, it was useless.

"Your friend?" He roared and balled his hands into fists.

She remained unmoved in spite of how furious he seemed. She refused to succumb to him. She refused to be weak in front of him, because she was not a weak person. She was strong and she would prove it to herself. "Yes," she stated, the single word heavy with defiance.

"Did I or did I not warn you against mingling with those stupid, useless, gossiping friends of yours?" He questioned, his time condescending, as if addressing a disobedient child. The fact that he had absolutely no regards left for her, didn't surprise her. He had lost all a long time ago.

Everything he said, fell on deaf ears, as she cut him dead.

Her action only infuriated him more. It was one of the few things that infuriated him more than anything else, and she relished the silent rebellion.

"Are you deaf? " He boomed, but got no reply still. With gnashed teeth, he continued; "It seems to me you're testing my patience" he growled, a low threat. "Wait right here, I'll be back." He stormed past her; his heavy footsteps echoing on the stairs as he ascended.

She knew exactly what he went to get, but she didn't feel the urge to run away from his wrath, for she was already used to it. There was nothing he could do to scare her anymore more than he already had. She had already witnessed all of the monstrosity in him. There was nothing left. None at all.

Her mind drifted to the moment when it all started-on a fateful day. On their first anniversary...

He descended the stairs, a humorless chuckle escaping his lips. "So you're still actually here? Are you daring me right now?" His gaze bore into hers in a menacing manner.

No longer afraid of him like she used to be, she scoffed. She was prepared for whatever he had in stock for her. It wasn't new after all. She awaited the feel of his leather belt against her body.

One second...

Two seconds...

Three seconds...

And just as she anticipated, she felt an excruciating pain on her arm, then on her back.

Like someone possessed by an evil spirit, he didn't stop hitting her with the belt, until he was satisfied with the amount of blood oozing out of her split skin and the ugly marks left on them.

In as much as she didn't want to give in to the pain, she couldn't bear the torture anymore. A lone tear escaped her eye, then another and then more. She failed miserably in keeping her promise of never allowing him see a single tear of hers anymore. She lost to him-to the beast.

He pushed her to the floor and continued his assault.

The agonizing sounds of the belt hitting her skin echoed through the wall of the mansion.

Crouching beside her, a cruel smile played on his lips as he lifted her chin with a finger. "Next time," he began, his voice laced with venom. "You listen. You obey. Leaving her bruised and broken, he walked away, the master of his twisted domain.

She folded herself in a ball and wrapped her arms around her folded knees. Her chapped lips quivered nonstop. She bit her lower lip, in an attempt to prevent herself from bursting into sobs. She preferred to endure the pain silently. After all, she caused it upon herself. Maybe-just maybe she was being punished for all her for all of her wrongdoings in the past. She was left with no choice, but to bear his brutality in silence.

Her gaze darted to her phone which began to buzz loudly on the floor. She quickly picked it up. "Thank God, he didn't remember to break this." She muttered to herself and suddenly recalled a time he caught her talking to Khadijah on phone. He got really infuriated to the extent of throwing her phone against the wall and making it shatter into many pieces. She was surprised when he returned home the next day with brand new phone and handed it to her. She spurned the thought from her mind and scooted to a corner to receive the call, but it ended right before she could.

Checking the caller ID, she realized it was her friend, the next-door neighbor, Khadijah. She was about to return the call, but Khadijah beat her to it.

"Assalamu alaykum," came the neighbor's voice from the other side of the phone.

Taking in a deep breath to steady herself, the neighbor's voice filled her ear again, this time, panicked. "Hello? Are you there?"

"Wa'alaykum salam," she finally replied in a subdued voice, because she didn't want her voice to break mid-sentence and for her friend to predict the sadness in her voice. The last thing she needed was her friend knowing the truth that the monster she married wasn't the protector he was supposed to be.

"Are you alright?" Concern laced her voice.

"Of course, I'm alright." she forced a smile, even though she knew Khadijah wouldn't be able to see it. It was as if she was speaking to herself- Reassuring herself that she was alright and everything would turn out right in the future. It was a phase that she strongly believed would pass.

"Are you sure? You can tell me anything. Is your husband—"

The lump in her throat tightened. "Thanks for your concern, but like I said, I'm alright." She rasped, the words a bitter pill.

"Alright then..." She hesitated. "I was just wondering why you ended the call while we were still talking."

"I..." She wanted to make up an excuse, but the words got stuck in her throat and the world around her blurred.

"Are you still there?"

She could hear Khadijah's voice from what seemed like a distance, but her words had become incoherent. They floated and dissipated in the air.

The phone slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor. Before she could comprehend what was happening, darkness claimed her, a temporary escape from the hellhole she was living in.

The last thing she registered before oblivion, was her neighbor's panicked shouts. "Zynah! Zynah!! Zynah!!!"

Zynah, was her name!