Novels by Dana El

AmandaI woke up to the blinding splash of sunlight from the partially opened curtains. I spread out my hands in an attempt to feel for my husband, but I felt the ruffled bedspread and duvet, instead.He is not here!I breathed out a huge sigh of relief, then sat up carefully and felt for my hair bonnet. It must have fallen off while I was sleeping.The memories of last night came flooding in without a filter… Lena's abrupt visit and audacity and Jason's stinging slap against my left cheek left his imprint on my cheek.Then, his persistent advances after he had entered our bedroom last night. When I did not oblige, he forced himself on me and had his way.I tried to stand up and walk towards the dressing table but my legs felt wobbly. Hence, I took slow but calculative steps until I reached the dressing table. One look at the mirror, and I could see that the hand imprint Jason had left on my left cheek last night was gone.“Phew!” I exhaled loudly, as relief washed over me. At least t

AmandaI looked up as soon as I heard Lena's voice. How could a woman be so shameless and bold?I felt like running inside my room. I was not sure that I had the nerve to talk to Lena the way that I really wanted to. However, on second thought, I decided that I would not. “You do have guts, Lena! What are you doing in my house by this time of the night?”I stood up consciously because I didn't want it to be obvious that I was actually trembling from head to toe.Actually, my reassurance was that Suzie was in the house. I could never do this if it were just my husband, Lena, and me in the house because they would definitely not let me go scot-free.Lena's shrieking laughter brought me out of my reverie.“You are just Jason's wife in name, and you know it! Do you not have self-respect? I really can't understand why you are still in this marriage when it is clear that my man does not love you,” Lena finished in one breath. She flipped her hair backward, and I could see the heavy makeup s

Jason “I'm sorry, Suzie, truly, I am,” The doctor started and I could feel a smile begin to form at the corners of my mouth, but I struggled to appear neutral and emotionless throughout.The doctor leaned forward a little bit until her clasped hands were resting on the table, directly in front of her. She tapped on the table slowly, as though she was trying to show off her well-polished, beautiful nails. We sat a few meters away from her, just directly opposite her.“We tried everything we could, but Mark couldn't make it,” She finished off in one breath. It seemed as though she was avoiding making eye contact with either of us.I looked sideways at my sister. I couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling, because she didn't wear her emotions on her face. I looked down at her hands which she placed on her thighs, and noticed that they were trembling. She tried to steady them by pressing on her fingers and taking deep breaths, but it seemed those hands had minds of their own.“Than

Amanda The moment Jason and I walked into the house, the sweet aroma of dumplings wafted through my nose. I knew instantly that my sister-in-law was in the kitchen. Suzie came out, so I dropped my bag on the chair and went into her open arms in an embrace.“Why are you wearing such a long face?” She asked me.“I am very tired, Suzie,” I said. “I just want to have a hot bath, eat, and go to bed. I had a very long day.”“Yeah, you are right,” Suzie said. “I'll make you and my brother, Jason, some snacks to eat, first. Just go and freshen up, first, okay?”“So, you can see me, after all?” I heard Jason say as I walked up the stairs to my room.I hurriedly pulled off my clothes and kept them in the basket. I planned on doing the laundry the next day.Next, I removed my jewelry carefully and dropped it in one of my cute little jewelry boxes. When I was finally fully undressed, I entered the beautifully colored and scented bathtub and lowered myself until the water was at the length of m

SuzieI couldn't believe my eyes. I pinched myself lightly to be sure that I wasn't dreaming, and I felt a slight pain on the spot.I looked sideways and noticed that my brother was observing me closely. It looked as though blood drained from his face because he looked unusually pale. His eyes kept darting here and there as though he was looking for reassurance that I would be fine.“Did you invite him over?”My brother asked me.“No, I didn't,” I replied. “I didn't even give him the address of this place. I'm as shocked as you are, Jason.”… But then, the voice from the door interrupted us.“P– pl— please, th– the door,” the person at the door slurred. Jason and I exchanged quick glances before Jason checked the door again.“I don't know… it feels as though he were hurt or something.” I felt a painful churn in my stomach, and my legs felt wobbly.“S– Suz– Suzie, pl– please,help me!” With my heart on my sleeve, I didn't think twice before I brought the passkey and opened the door.H

Jason As soon as the door slid open, I bent over Amanda and hugged her. She got the message because she clutched onto my arm and leaned into my embrace. She was shivering, but the weather wasn't cold, neither was the room cold. In fact, right on the contrary, the weather was quite on the hot side.My heart sank into my stomach as I held onto Amanda. I worried that she could sense my fear, as I was sure that she could hear and notice the increase in my heartbeats. “Amanda!” A familiar voice called out as soon as he entered the room. The hairs on my body stood up, and I opened my mouth in surprise.Why was he here? I had clearly instructed him to not come to the hospital and to resume working again the next day. Did he actually just defile my orders?“Andrew?” Amanda raised up her head, immediately. I watched her closely because,, strangely, I wanted to see how she would react.I watched as Andrew made his way towards us. But, just as he was a few meters away from where we were, I sai