Pov: Fauzia Hayat

TW: SA/MA/MPS

I slept until the afternoon, nothing unusual. Our lives were lived during the nights, the days were spent sleeping or making ourselves prettier. I mean, as pretty as we could get. I really did feel that I looked worn out, even just being 22 years old. I didn’t like looking at my face. The only hope I had was the fact that I am not Fauzia. Fauzia lives inside of me, this surface is just Larissa, and she is the one who looks worn out. One day, I believed, Fauzia would return and she would be beautiful and elegant, not worn out and tired like Larissa. A small smile formed on my lips as I thought about it. I had nothing to smile about here, but this little ray of hope, allowed me some relief.

As I was about to move back into my room to get some more rest, I met one of my colleagues, Sahrina.

‘Oh, good morning Larissa.’ Sahrina greeted me with a small smile. She still had a black eye from last week.

‘Good morning Sahrina.’ Sahrina was a beautiful young woman with a rough voice. She was quite short, just about 156 centimetres. She was thin with a rather large bust. I often went out to buy underwear with her so I knew she wore D Cups. She’s been longer into this than me, when I came here, she told me that she’s been here for 4 years already. She seemed to remember more of her past than I did, but we never spoke much about it. I just knew that she came from the Land of the Children of Fire.

‘Did you sleep well?’ She asked.

It was a question I couldn’t really answer. When was the last time I slept well? I can’t remember such a time. However, I gave the standard answer.

‘I did, yes. What about you? How is your eye? Is it still sore?’

She moved a hand over her eye, giggled and seemed embarrassed. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.

‘No need to worry about that. It will fade away soon.’

Sure it would. Like all of the things that were done to us. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful.

‘You are brave Sahrina.’

‘You think so? Well, we all do what we can to survive.’ She shrugged her shoulders.

‘Living means surviving doesn’t it?’

‘What kind of philosophical take on it is that, Larissa.’ She laughed.

‘Hm, that's what some religions might say.’

‘Do you believe in any?’

I thought about her question and tried to remember. But all that came to mind was /that/ woman. She called herself High Priestess Oana, the only woman the Gods would directly speak to. I tried to dig deeper, there was something else. But that something was locked away by Fauzia.

‘No, not really. I don’t know enough about any. What about you?’

‘I believe in the sun. It’s the one energy that gives life and takes life. That’s what we're taught in the Land of the Children of fire.’

‘It is good to hear you still believe in what you have been taught.’ I gave her a comforting smile.

She hugged my arm then.

‘I need you to do my nails and my hair. I’ll do yours tomorrow. Deal?’

‘Sure.’ We went into my room. She sat down at the small table by the window. I didn’t have much in my room. A simple bed, a small closet, a small table and two chairs.

I got a brush, nail polish and an emery board.

I sat down on the chair next to Sahrina and started with her nails.

‘Do you have your regular customer today?’ I asked, focusing my eyes on doing her nails so I would make no mistake.

She seemed to be uncomfortable as I asked that question.

‘Yeah.. I do.’

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‘I didn’t ask the last time because I didn’t want to force you into telling me but.. is he the one who gave you the black eye?’ The words were spoken carefully by me, but I thought she might feel better if she was able to speak about it.

She tensed up.

Crap. Maybe it was a bad idea to ask.

‘He did that, yes. That bastard.’

‘You really don’t like him do you?’ Of course she wouldn’t. Who in their sane mind likes someone who beats them?

‘I despise him. The last time he was here, I saw a picture of two young girls and a woman in his wallet. That man is married. It’s nothing unlikely, but to think someone like him has children to look after, it makes me shiver.’

‘You know how they think though don’t you? We are not human to them. They view the women around them as a higher existence than our own. To them we are just three holes. We need to function so they get what they paid for.’

‘The God of the endlessly burning sun says that before its heat every human roasts the same. We are all the same at our core. What is done to us, is unjust.’

‘Deep down we all know that, but there is nothing we can do about it is there? We learned to accept our fate long ago.’

‘It’s not that Larissa. We don’t try to save ourselves because we are scared. Because we know what they will do to us if we don’t obey. A black eye is the least to worry about then.’

‘You are right. And we’re into this too long. We wouldn’t even survive in the outside world.’

‘How will we die I wonder? It will be a terrible end if we die here. I wouldn’t want to wish it upon myself, nor upon you.’

‘I doubt we will die here. If we come of age they will probably dumb us.’

‘Oh, I don’t think we are going to live to be very old…’

She said that with a seriousness that sent shivers down my spine. Was this how it is going to be? What about Fauzia then? Larissa had no life, but Fauzia had a life ahead of her, a proper life. How can she live it if Larissa died? That can't be allowed.

‘Well, I for once do want to become old, and I want you to become old too. Let’s agree to live together as old and ugly hags once our time has come, alright?” I laughed, trying to cheer her up, trying to cheer myself up too.

She giggled a little. She wasn’t convinced, but I was glad to have said it anyway.

‘Thank you for helping me with my nails and my hair, Larissa, but I have to get going now.’

‘Oh, already?’ I checked the clock and realised it was still early.

‘Yeah, he has a day off today, he always comes in in the afternoons when he has a day off.’

‘And his family?’

‘I have no idea. They should feel honoured that a brute like him isn’t home. Who knows what he’d do to them if he was home.’ She shrugged and left the room.

I felt sadness overcome me when she left. I didn’t want to let her go, I didn’t want her to be with that man. I didn’t know the full extent of what he did to her, but what she told me about, along with the black eye, was enough to be worried about.

Most were still sleeping or out shopping, or getting ready. If I went to peek into her room, no one would notice. And likely, the door wouldn’t be completely shut. Many girls left the door open so they could be heard when they were calling for help in case a customer got violent.

I was about to go outside, her room was next to mine and I stopped behind my door when I saw the tall, elderly man approach her. He didn’t seem kind and for some reason, he didn’t seem to be here for pleasure either. He looked stern and angry, full of frustrations. A man I myself wouldn’t enjoy having as my customer. He went into her room then. They didn’t shut the door, they left it open just slightly. Good for me. I moved out of my own room quietly, leaned the door in and checked my surroundings. I wouldn’t really like being caught peeking into another girl's room. It wasn’t something to be punished for, but it was a bit embarrassing, especially since they wouldn’t understand my reasons. I was as quiet as I could as I stood by the door and used my eyes to look inside.

I was a bit confused because none of them made any physical contact with each other yet, they also both still wore their clothes. Maybe he just needed more time to get into the mood? I decided to wait until either of them would get out of their clothes, but they never did. I was frozen in place when I saw him clench his fist. Being such a tall man, naturally his hands and fists were strong too. I couldn’t look away. Why would he clench his fist? When he came here for pleasure? I knew the answer, but I didn’t want to believe it was true. He raised his fist then and punched Sahrina straight into her face. I wanted to scream, yell at him to stop, but no sound came out. Should I call for help? Was he even allowed to do this to the girls?! I wanted to act, but I also couldn’t look away. Because he wasn’t done yet. He clenched his other fist then, and that fist too, went straight into her face. She was about to fall, but he grabbed her by her hair and held her in place. He then punched her face. Again. And again. And again. Blood was splattering from her mouth and nose, she was gasping. He let go of her then and she just slumped onto the bed. He leaned over her and began to punch her belly. Oh no! That must hurt really bad! STOP IT! STOP IT! I thought again and again, but thoughts were all that I was able to emit. I couldn’t move or act. And it was so wrong! Why did I just watch him beat her like this? She gasped and panted. She couldn’t fight any of his attacks.

BY THE GODS. STOP THIS CRUELTY!

It wasn’t happening to me, but it was like the exact pain she felt was felt by me. I was sobbing. I was helpless. What could I do? If I did anything, the same or maybe worse would happen to me! I AM USELESS!

He didn’t stop. He punched away at her chest. There were cracks. He definitely broke some ribs there.

‘Ahh..’ I held my hand out slightly. My body was moving on its own, I wanted to save her, but I knew I couldn’t. I had no choice but to watch him batter her like a mad man.

‘Please…’ I whispered.

I shouldn’t whisper- I should be screaming. I shouldn’t allow this injustice. It wasn’t Larissa who told me this, it was Fauzia. She was raging inside of me. She was telling me to do something about this. Her blaming me for not doing anything just made it worse on me. And all I did was disappear into my own room, shutting the door.

I sat on the bed and tried to cover my ears. But it didn’t help at all. I still heard her screaming in agony.

‘Please stop.’

‘Please stop.’

‘Please stop!’

I begged again and again, but who did I beg to?!

This whole thing was going on for about an hour, I knew it did because I checked the clock.

I felt relief when everything went quiet. She was no longer screaming. He stood up, I heard the door being shoved open, I heard him stepping away. When I was sure he was far enough away, I looked at the man once again, now his back was facing me.

It wasn’t my first time meeting a violent man or woman, but this one, especially, shocked me. I’ve never seen anything like this done to the girls, nor has it ever happened to me. I also couldn’t believe no one came to help her. Her screaming was loud enough, many must have heard.

I tried to see more of him, I checked everything about him. And at last, I saw something hanging out from his pocket.

The badge of a soldier.

I tried to see the name on it. Since it was difficult, I grabbed the glasses from my own pocket. Finally, I was able to read it.

‘High Officer The Blue Joe.’

Officer? He worked for the state? And he did something so vile?

Hahahaha.

I see.

So if the world was like this, then there was no hope whatsoever.

Sahrina was right. I was a fool. We won’t live to be old. We will die here. Maybe we will be punched to death, maybe we will be raped to death.

I laughed at the realization.

‘Did you hear that Fauzia? You won’t ever be able to meet your parents, or your brother again. And you won’t ever be able to meet your prince and get married either.

Brace yourself. The coming years will be hell for you!’

It was all too funny to be sad about.