WARNING: THIS CHAPTER MIGHT BE SENSITIVE!

"..Bare your soul to me, here I stand for you.
Stop crying your heart, days will come for you, for us..."
                
Janett Suhh-- In Silence

•••• •••• •••• ••••

Ya... Ya Adnan?" She asked stuttering, her eyes widened when from the moonlight illuminating the room, she noticed he was naked.

"sshhh..." He said quietly as his hand gently pulled her closer, she moved back from him, her heart beating fast.

"Wh... What are you doing?" She asked with a stutter. Amirah was sweating more now and she wanted this to be a bad dream, she also wanted to wake up from it already.

"Calm down, you'll enjoy it." His large palm grabbed her breast and she immediately pulled away with such force, it shocked them both.
Adnan gave her a deafening slap that muted her for few seconds before she let out a scream that was interrupted with another deafening slap, she let out a whimper as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Ya Adnan please, please don't do this."

"You'll enjoy this my little Mirah, you will."

His hands were rough on her, pulling her breasts, pinching her bum.

"Ya Adnan I beg of you, please stop... You're hurting me."

He wasn't listening to her, his breathing was heavier and his palm on her breast was pulling and squeezing at the same time, hurting her.

He tried pulling over her skirt, she held to it tighter with a plea on her lips, he snatched and tore the cotton material with ease leaving her in just her panties.

Amirah felt exposed and tried to cover up, she crossed her legs and kept on pleading with her brother.

His hands ran up her thighs, every touch of his was disgusted her and more tears ran down her face.

End of flashback...

"I tried to make him stop, I really did." She bursted into tears, curled herself up on the couch and buried her face into her knees. She ran her hands on her shoulder as if trying to pacify herself.

"I wanted him to stop, it was hurting, it was hurting a lot."

Tara stood up from her seat and walked up to her, she hesitated before touching Amirah on the back with the intent of pacifying her but Amirah's reaction was unexpected.

She immediately flinched and began screaming, "don't touch me! Don't touch me, get away from me!"

Tara moved back. "It's fine Amirah, it's fine, it's just me." But her screams didn't die down.

"Leave me alone! Please, please. It's hurting!"

Her breathing was becoming rapid and her chant was faster, Tara immediately noticed she was having a panic attack.

She had a moment of confusion, she didn't know if going closer to Amirah will worsen her situation or better it.

"Amirah it's fine, it's fine." She said moving slowly towards her.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" She kept repeating over and over again. Her breathing seemed forced and she was now sweating profusely despite the air conditioner in the room being on. Amirah felt suffocated, she felt him around her, she felt him touching her.

"Take in a deep breath please." Tara knelt down in front of her but there was enough space between them to not worsen Amirah's fear.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" She was gasping and her eyes were frantic, looking everywhere in a scares manner but she kept murmuring her chants still.

"I'm not Adnan, I won't hurt you, he won't hurt you anymore I promise. He's in your past and he'll never have the power to hurt you. You'll be fine, just please take in a deep breath."

Amirah finally looked at Tara who nodded her head encouragingly. She inhaled and Amirah followed suit, they both exhaled together and kept at it until Amirah was calm enough.

Tara stood up and got her a glass of water, she handed it to Amirah making sure to also keep a safe distance from her.

Amirah collected the water and gulped it down, she was still hot and sweaty but she felt better now.
She kept the cup on the center table and avoided Tara's eyes, she'd had another panic attack and she felt ashamed.

"Why'd I react that way to you touching me?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"I was hoping you'd tell me." Tara said, she was settled back on the chair opposite Amirah.

"I... I don't know, you're obviously not my brother and I've not seen him in a long while and that happened long ago and he isn't even here and I'm sorry and I'm..."

"Hey." Tara interrupted in a soft tone, "it's fine, just calm down and try to regulate your breathing."

Amirah did as she instructed, she focused on her breathing and when the tightening feeling in her chest stopped, she took a sip from the cup before turning her attention to Tara who gave her a small smile in return.

"Who else did you tell about what your brother did?"

"My mother." Amirah answered quietly.

"What was her reaction?"

Amirah scoffed. "Disbelief. Her perfect son could never do that."

"And you'd told her this the first time he had raped you?"

"Yes but she'd thought I was lying, an eleven years old lying about being raped by a twenty two years old man who'd been accused of rape before." Amirah let out a humorless laughter

"How long did he abuse you for?"

"Five years."

Tara simply shook her head, "do you know what made him stop?"

"Yes. He got married and moved away."

"During that six years, you never said anything to anyone anymore?"

"I did, I told my mother again. I was fourteen and it was shortly after Ya Adnan had been to my room that morning to force me to take some pills to avoid getting pregnant."

"Khadijah was no longer sharing a room with you right? That's why he had access to you that much?"

Amirah nodded, "he'd made her scared, she was more terrified of him than sleeping alone."

"So back to the pills..."

"I hated taking them, they left me weak and irritable so after I'd taken them again I was angry, I wanted it to stop so I went to my mother again."

Flashback...

"I swear by Allah Hajiya, he's been having sex with me." Amirah said crying on the floor.

Her mother's was sitting elegantly on her bed looking at Amirah with a face void of  any emotion apart from disgust.

"Please believe me, he comes to my room and he... He touches me and..."

"Shut up!" Amirah flinched at her mother's tone, she quieten and kept her gaze fixed on the floor.

"Why won't you shut up about this Amirah? Why are you like this?"

Amirah still couldn't look at her mother.

"Your brother is unwell, he's sick, very sick but you don't have any pity in you. You're selfish and wicked and..."

"Hajiya but..."

"Don't say anything! I don't want to hear a word from you anymore."

Amirah heard her mother's footsteps pass by her, she thought her mother was going out of the room but her head snapped up when she heard the sound of the door's lock.

Hajiya sat on the bed back. "Have you heard of the story of what happened to Maryam Sani?"

Amirah nodded, who hadn't? She was sentenced to death by stoning when she'd been accused of cheating on her husband.

"Maryam was twenty years old, quiet and pretty. Her husband Mallam was a lot older than her, she was his third wife and she was a very good wife to him, he loved her.

Maryam caught the eye of her brother in law, Mallam's younger brother who persistently tried to indulge her in an illicit affair with him, she told Mallam but he didn't believe her. One day, Maryam was in her house alone and Mallam's younger brother came in and raped her, she cried and told Mallam but he didn't want to listen, he felt she was lying.

He hated her and divorced her on the spot, Maryam was sent to her father's house. Mallam's younger brother then told Mallam how Maryam had invited him to the house when she was alone and had given him a meal, he became weak after that but he remembered Maryam took off her clothes and took off his, that's all he could remember about the incident. Everyone believed him."

Her mother laughed, Amirah stared blankly wondering why her mother was telling her all of this.

Her mother laughed for long and when she finally stopped, she stared at Amirah and asked. "Who do you believe Amirah? Maryam or Mallam's younger brother?"

Amirah was quiet until Hajiya screamed at her. "Answer me!"

"I... I be... Believe uhhh. I believe Maryam."

Hajiya's stare was intense and then she bursted into laughter.

"I believed her too but the society didn't, so when Maryam became pregnant after two months of leaving Mallam's house, she was sentenced to death by stoning."

"You want to speak up about Adnan? Then go ahead, scream it and watch as no one believes you. What do you think will happen to you then?"

Amirah shuddered, thinking if she'd receive the same fate as Maryam Sani.

"I just want him to stop." She said in a quiet tone.

"I will tell him to but before that, I have to make sure you know what you're doing. I want to make sure you don't tell anyone and ruin not only your lives but all of us included."

"Hajiya please, I won't tell anyone. I promise." Amirah pleaded moving back as she knew what was to come.

"Take off your shirt Amirah." Hajiya said as she opened a drawer and brought out a whip.

"Hajiya please, please."

"Take it off." With tears rolling down her cheeks, she removed her blouse and laid on her chest.

The first hit from the whip on her back had her scream out loud, her scream only got louder with more hits.

A/N:

Hello. Hope we're all doing well?

Congratulations Fatima-Muhammad for winning the tag fest, kindly send me a DM with your phone number.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter ♥️