Trigger warning: Please note this piece may contain graphic or sensitive content that may offend or upset some readers. You are advised to read at your own discretion.

He started to beat me and I felt his crocodile palm slamming against my cheeks. I swore it was my last ounce of breath. I knew the definition of a lion; it attacks when you never expect it.

He looked me straight in the eyes with my ears hearing insult after insult. I don’t know, but do I deserve to be sworn at, am I not worth respect? Is it because some men still wake up in a patriarchal society? I mean is trying to be independent, as a young woman, such a sin?

That dog hit me nonstop. The only thing that was on my mind was how I would escape there. Would the angels come through for me?

I tried holding his hand, but the power and insults stripped me of my strength.

That dog was well aware of what he was doing. All those women he’d regularly dump at the college gate and the ones he’d part with at the club, it occurred to me, could have been his first victims. Why does he treat me so badly?

What kind of ruse is he attempting? I’m not sure if I’m the first or one of the victims. Yes, I enjoyed the money and the gifts, but this is not what I intended to see.

I did not sign up to be treated like some sort of a creature. It seems I was spitting paraffin on fire.

That bastard blew flames as he made sure his wrath was felt upon my gentle skin. He feasted on my make up; it was as if he bought it for me. Why did no one ever reach out when they heard my cry or were they so numb they couldn’t avail themselves? But I get it, a woman’s cry goes unheard even when their voice reach out to the world. I saw history repeating itself.

It was the homo trap mama fell for, thinking that men could do anything they wanted to because they had money. When will this cruelty end?

For a moment, I thought to myself, “Oh shit, who am I kidding, this isn’t the first time I’ve been beaten like this”. How many times have I turned a blind eye expecting he’d change when everyone warned me to get out of the situation?

“Hahaha, a leopard never changes its spots,” they said.

But then my mind wandered back to my childhood, and that’s when the puzzle came to me; Mama had taught me the weakest spot in a cruel guy.

“Kick him in the balls so hard he wishes he hadn’t been born. It’s the weakest area to defend oneself against a male, my beautiful daughter,” Mama always said.

Mama had never ever given me wrong advice so I shot my shot, prayed to God I hit the right spot. I heard him screaming as he fell helplessly to the floor.

I was bleeding non-stop and getting help was what kept me going.

Oh Lord I was just one of the luckiest ones to come out alive and tell the tale that no one ever had a chance to breathe.

When I got outside people were so baffled.

Luckily I ran into a nurse who had coincidentally had a night shift. So she called an ambulance and it came to pick me up.

I realised I was such a fool to believe in a bastard that preyed on women. I realised that women need care not scratches.

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