The harsh reality of many families in Nigeria is that a man is expected to stand above everyone above his wife, above his sisters, above his own children. They call it being "traditional." They call it "the way things are." But for women like Anna, and for girls like Amanda, it is a quiet death lived every day inside their own homes.
This story, before it ever became tragedy, began long before Amanda was even born.
Mr. Edward Adeyemi
Edward was the only son of his parents
the long-awaited son, the miracle child after nine daughters. His mother had prayed, fasted, offered sacrifices, and swallowed every herbal concoction her neighbours recommended until finally, finally, her womb produced a boy.
From the moment he drew breath, Edward was worshipped.
His sisters were made to kneel before him to fetch his water, give up their seat for him, swallow insults from him, and eventually swallow slaps. He grew up hearing the same poison repeated by men in the village square:
A woman is nothing.
A woman has no right to speak when a man is talking.
A man must never allow a woman to challenge him.
If you don't put her in her place, she will disgrace you.
No one ever corrected him. Not his father. Not the uncles who laughed when he hit his sisters. Not the neighbours who said, "Leave am, na only son. Boys dey behave like that."
Hatred doesn't grow overnight. It starts small a raised voice, a push, a slap and then it feeds on silence.
By the time Edward reached university, his sisters avoided him like a disease. But Anna didn't know that history. She met a charming final-year student who carried his books neatly and spoke with confidence. She was only twenty, full of hope, certain that the attention he gave her was love.
There were little signs at first.
He would insist she kneel to serve him.
He would tell her what to wear.
Then he told her who she couldn't speak to.
Then he told her she wasn't allowed to go anywhere except class.
She thought it was possessiveness.
She thought possessiveness was affection.
She stayed.
And when they finally married, the walls closed in completely.