The Victim

A woman murdered by her husband. This was the news headline in the 9 o’clock bulletin. It didn't come as a surprise to her as this news was becoming very frequent, a day didn't pass by without such a story being on television.

She was crawled on her sofa set with her duvet and a hot mug of tea as she always does every evening night in her apartment. As the pictures were being shown she saw a reflection of what her life may turn out to be but she brushed it off. She was at a good place in her life, a step up in her career and the man of her life. She had worked hard for all that and was not ready to trade any of it.

‘Your my sweetie pie’ that was the ringtone assigned to the man of her life. She picked up the phone hurriedly because she didn't want to make him mad. The conversation was short and when she told him she loves him, he didn’t respond and hung up. She wasn’t surprised because it’s something he always did. She couldn’t remember the last time he told her those three words, words she longed to hear after every conversation.

The doorbell rang and she dashed to open it, she didn’t want to keep her man waiting outside for long. There he stood straight face with no smile. He gave her a hug but it was a cold one, it’s like she was hugging a stranger but he wasn’t one, he was a man she’d loved for 3 amazing years. She just stood there, looked at him and wondered what happened to the man she loved so much.

In a jiffy she was on the floor and it hurt so much. Tears rolled down her cheeks and they burnt, she touched her face and the blood left stains on her hands. This was the first time ever since he started beating her that he’d touched her face. She flashed back to the first time he laid a hand on her. It started with an argument then a hit but never to her face.

That night she cried like she had never cried before. She wished her dad and mum were there to comfort her, she needed a hug and comforting words that it wasn’t her fault and all will be ok. But she was alone in her apartment, by herself. He apologized with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers she had ever seen, her favorite chocolate and a romantic dinner. ‘I will never do it again and I love you’ words that she held dear to her soul each time he hit her over and over again.

She has always been against women brutality but for the past one year she has been a victim. A victim who didn’t know how to save herself, who didn’t know how to escape from all that and one who never told her family and friends because they wouldn’t understand why she stayed every single time he laid a hand on her. Sadly she herself didn’t know why she even stayed.

The beating got worse and she screamed and fought but he was too strong for her. It didn’t end there, he lay with her by force and did all sought of things that have never been seen in this world. She cried until her tears  became no more, stopped fighting because she didn’t have the strength. She gave up and let him do as he pleased. The nightmare came to an end.

A hot bath was the cure. She washed away all the dirt and wiped her wounds. In that moment she looked at the mirror and saw her old self drowning and she had to save her,she had to reclaim back her life. A knife in her hand and there he lay breathing slowly, the man who had turned her world into a nightmare and robbed her of everything she held dearly.

She stubbed him continuously and continuously hoping that for every stab she’ll be getting back what he’d taken away from here. She stabbed him until she didn’t have the strength to do it anymore. Down on the floor with blood all over her body, she had become the monster he was. There was no difference between him and her.

In a blink of an eye she put the knife down because revenge was not the best solution. She got her suitcase and packed her stuff as quietly as possible not to wake him up. For every cloth she folded, she was getting back what he had taken away from here, freedom and a mind of her own.

The door shut behind her, it frightened her but she was determined to move forward and not look back. She knew it wouldn’t be easy as she’ll be judged, talked about and pointed fingers at but it was never going to be worse than when he laid a hand on her.

She had experience the wrath of the world and was ready to take up the challenge because she had her freedom back. She never looked back and each day she smiles, a smile that could warm up a heart of stone because to her a smile is something that she never got to experience for a longtime and now that she does, she doesn’t take it for granted.