Travails

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she weighed the options before her. She sat on the couch, fondled the rope in her hand and stared at the bottle of poison. She sobbed bitterly, but was convinced about her desire. She wanted to get away from the suffering and humiliation. Each time she looked at her husband, she saw a stranger. There was scorn etched on his face. He spoke words of love but his eyes betrayed his true feelings. She felt estranged in her own home and thought about the last time he was home - some three days ago. She was cleaning up the kitchen and then he came to inform her that he was leaving for work. She walked towards him with a smile, hugged him and planted a kiss on his lips. They were cold and numb. In his eyes was the reminder of their sad experience. His eyes was teary, but he managed to look good and said goodbye.

Osayi's body shook violently with grief. Tears rolled down uncontrollably now. She pulled up her blue blouse and mopped her eyes and running nose. She picked up a ball point pen and a piece of paper that lay idly on a stool beside the couch. She scribbled on it, wrote the last word and dropped the pen. She went on her knees, squeezed her eyes shut and tears flowed freely. She began to mutter prayers of forgiveness. "I am sorry Lord, please forgive me", she prayed fervently with bitter sobs punctuating every line. Finally, she rose to her feet, her vision was blurred with the tears. She wiped her eyes with the back of her palm and stared at the ceiling fan. She replace the glass table underneath it with a wooden stool, climbed and made a noose of the rope. She descended, sat on the couch and wept some more. Soon, her mobile phone rang and she picked it up hesitantly. "Hello mummy", she answered. "I am fine", she added, her voice laden with grief and her mother noticed. They talked some more and she hung up. She dropped the phone and stared on the floor. Her eyes were wide open, but she was deep in thought. The thought of her sad experience had assaulted her troubled mind again. 

It was December 23th, 2012 at exactly 1:30am. A group of six armed bandits attacked their neighbourhood. Osaze was awake and could hear the screams from his neighbour's apartment. He quickly woke Osayi, his newly wedded wife, who was fast asleep. She grumbled upon waking up and shuddered at the screams from their neighbor's and the angry voices of the robbers. "Armed robbers honey!", she screamed but Osaze quickly signaled her to be quiet. It was barely a minute before the men of the underworld began to bang on their gate, ordering them to open up. Osayi was shivering with fright now. Her heart beat furiously against her chest. She quickly picked up her mobile phone with visibly shaky hands to call the police. Osaze was scared and confused, it was his first experience. 

"Open the gate o! Otherwise if we enter, una own don finish!", the voice rang in their heads. With shock, they heard the robbers slam a heavy metal on the wall leading to their bedroom. The men were trying to bore a hole on the wall with a sledge hammer. They both ran to the sitting room and Osaze mustered courage and said, "bros please come and pass the gate" as he opened the door and padlocks on the iron bars. One of the robbers hit him on the head with the butt of his gun as soon as they gained entrance. The couple lay on the ground, begging for their lives. "Where is the money?", one of them roared as they began to ransack the house. "Inside", Osaze said as he felt the sharp pain inflicted on his side by the robber's boot. He got up to his feet at their command and led them to the master's bedroom. He opened his closet and brought out his suit case. One of them took it while the other broke into the drawers and picked some expensive jewelries and some money. He led them back to the sitting room amid much beating. They made him lie on the floor and asked who the lady was. "She is my wife", he said still facing the ground. "Just take anything you want, but please don't hurt her", he pleaded. They all laughed. The leader of the gang stared at Osayi who was in her nighties. He could see her half naked body. He pulled her up and grinned at her. "Please, don't kill me, please. Just take all you want, all the money, anything, but don't kill us", she begged with a panicky voice. Osaze pleaded with them some more, but got more beating instead. He felt another sharp pain, but this time, on his head. One of the bandit hit him with a short axe. The gash oozed blood. The gang leader pushed her on the couch and and began to unbuckle his belt. She screamed, but her husband wept helplessly in the pool of his blood.

Osayi rose to her feet, climbed up the stool and put the noose around her neck. She made it tight and kicked the stool. The noose squeezed her throat and her lungs choked. She struggled, kicked and gasped. Soon, there was the jangling of keys at the door. Osaze opened it with his mother - in - law behind him.