The Broken Tale

Broken arm

         "Look how romantic this is." He said, applauding her mockingly, ""The beautiful Juliet is risking herself selflessly for her Romeo, her one true love."
Layla's arms struggled to lift her up for her legs were now an alien part of her body, completely unfelt like rag doll's legs hanging down on her.
"Fine, my darling. I won't hurt your beloved just yet. Not until there's someone more deserving."
Chirp!
Chirp!
The chirping of the birds that Layla had tracked to keep herself calm was also denied her. The last two chirps she heard all blurred into a hazy hum along with Brian's shout and what sounded like a bang in the concrete. The world was nothing but a colorless blur and completely soundless except for a persistent hum. It took Layla a few moments to grasp the kick Ali had flung against the back of her head that had caused her shatter. That single kick was not the last.
Layla could hear Brian shouting with each kick to Layla's head. Though it sounded faint to Layla, she could make out both his pleads and the baby's cries. Soon, Ali was not kicking her head. Instead now he was stepping on her head, pushing her face hard into the concrete so hard that her teeth were digging deep into her lip, indulging them in blood. She felt something crack in her nose with the last kick he pressed on her head.
Her thoughts were jumbled. Her mind completely knocked out of its place and she was left was nothing more than a paper blank of thoughts. And much to her relief, also blank of pain. She simply felt numb.
Ali knelt down next to her and entangled his hand in her hair again. He yanked her head up as he twisted her arm behind her back. Layla had no strength left in her to even scream out in pain.
"Does it hurt, hm? Am I hurting you, Layla?" He asked.
Not a sound from her parents but Layla could feel nothing but satisfaction from them. They believed that she deserved much worse. Layla knew her parents too well to be mistaken.
"Can't talk, huh?" Ali snarled.
With just a tightening of his grip and a slight push, Layla felt something crack near her shoulder. It barely took a few seconds before a shocking wave of excruciating pain shot through her arm to her shoulders and back. Layla shrieked out in pain but she was met with a satisfied chuckle from Ali. The pain ran up and only got stronger with each wave until Layla was half nauseous.
The chains holding him back rattled as Brian desperately tried to fight through them but to no avail. He shouted and screamed through his gag. Ali pushed her head back into the dusty concrete. Layla could feel the dust blow against her legs as he walked away.
        Unable to move, Layla's one wish at the moment was to have the strength to rock her baby or to hold Brian again. Physical strength was something she realized that she had taken for granted for far too long in her life, oblivious to how easily she could lose it. 
           Layla forced her free arm to lift her body up. Pushing herself across the floor with her feet, Layla desperately wanted to just hold Alondra and quiet her down a little before Ali returned. She crawled right by her parents' feet. She could feel their eyes looking down at her and she could feel nothing in their glare. Defiantly not a drop of remorse. She ignored them. They had held her back for far too long in her life, whatever was going to happen to her today, Layla was not going to let her parents hold her back from inhaling her daughter's scent one last time. Get some strength.
Just a few more feet. Almost there. Layla could see the rope Ali had used to tie her baby up. If not just to torture Layla and Brian more then why else would anyone tie a newborn baby up? It was not like she could move or go anywhere, she was a one week old infant!
Just a few more feet. Just as her free hand could almost touch the baby's onesie, Layla felt a cold grip on her arm. Layla cried out as the extreme pain shot up her broken arm but Ali did not care. He lifted her up and ignored the broken bones in her forearm.
"Oh, it hurts, huh?" He asked with a grin, "It hurts?"
Layla's tears ran down her cheeks into her mouth hanging open. His grip on her arm tightened purposely. In just the blink of an eye, Layla fell back into the dust, her ears ringing as the same numbness overflow the side of her head. Glancing over her shoulder, Layla finally saw the grey steel pipe in his hand.
Bloody.
Her blood dripping from her hair onto the concrete.
In less than a minute, he dug the pipe into her stomach time and time again. Brian shrieked louder and louder with each blow Layla suffered to her stomach and back. It seemed to never end. The same cycle of pain and trauma a that had enveloped Layla's entire life. Just the mere moment she had free of the pipe banging against her organs was more than painful that when she did because now she had the time to wallow in pain.
"Stop." Layla heard her mother murmur silently, "Just kill her...put her out of her misery and us out of this shame."
Layla could barely believe her ears. A mother, her mother was practically begging him to kill her?
Layla could see that put a grin on Ali's tired face. He placed his foot in the middle of her chest. Pushing, he pressed on her rib cage harder and harder until...
Crack!
Layla could audibly hear the crack in her chest. Ali either did not hear it but Layla was certain he only wanted to hurt her. The pain was immense but Layla did not notice at all. All she wanted to breathe freely but Ali was denying her that as well.
"Stop!" Brian screamed, "Stop, please, stop!"
Ali glared at him for a moment.
Intimidating.
Was the only word Layla could think of to describe Ali's entire persona.
But yet again like he had done so many times that day, he obeyed and stopped. He lifted his foot of her chest. Layla gasped the first moment for the smallest breathe of air.
"What do you think, Brian?" Ali asked, "Do you think I should put her out of this misery?
"Let her go..."
"You're going to kill her anyway so why torture her any more than this?" Her mother replied.
Ali looked down at Layla. Gasping for air, unable to move with every bone in her body snapped and drenched in her own blood.
Ali slowly knelt down. He gripped her hair again but this time his hand slipped. Most of the lock of hair simply snapped in his grip. Ali looked down at the ball of hair in his hand. Smirking in satisfaction, he tossed it away and grabbed her hair again and pulled her up on her feet. Walking or even standing was near impossible. It was like her legs were no longer hers, she slipped and stumbled no matter how hard she tried to stand still.
Layla could not look down for his grip on her hair kept her gaze up. She gasped in shock when she felt his knuckles dig into her stomach.
"Layla!" Brian screamed hysterically, "Layla! No, let her go! Call for help!"
It was just a punch so why was Brian screaming so much?
He untangled his hand from her hair and watched her drop back into the dust. Layla wrapped her arm around her stomach to shield herself from whatever kicks he may want to fling at her. But only once she looked down at her arms did she realize why Brian was screaming.
Blood.
So much blood.
Her arms were soaking in red.
Layla's eyes bolted to Ali. Silver and blood met her eyes. The silver blade in his hand was dripping in blood. No, no, no, no, no!
He had stabbed her!
No! She could not die now! Not when Ali had Brian and her baby! Not now!
Pain.
Extreme electric like pain shot up from the wound under her hand. Layla could hear Brian's chains struggling so much that she believed for a moment he could break them.
"Does it hurt, Layla?" Ali asked, calmly walking towards her.
Layla groaned as she tried to look up at him.
"Don't worry, babe. Your injuries will take some time to kill you." Ali continued, "So let's make the most of the time we have left, huh? Tell me, my darling. Now that I've had enough fun with you, should we see how much fun your daughter can be?"
All pain and fear in her disappeared. Like a lioness with no injuries, she wrapped herself around her baby. "Don't come near her! Don't you dare think of it!"
Ali stared at her with a chuckle evident in his features.
Ali glanced over at Brian. Rather amused and fueled by his startled and fearful helpless state. Layla stared desperately as he pulled something from his pants.
Not a sound.
Just a gasp.
Their jaws on the floor.
Layla clenched her arms tighter around her baby. She swallowed as the realization that she and her newborn baby were staring back into the muzzle of a gun suddenly dawned on her.
"Tell me, my beautiful wife, who should I shoot first?"