They asked her when she decided to kill her husband. She wanted to say two days ago when he beat her until she miscarried. But she knew that would be a lie. She decided Capone would die by her hand the first day he walked into their house.
At 13, Ochanya was prepared to be the sacrificial lamb for her large family. Her elder sister had done her own bit, now it was her turn. Being the two females amidst seven brothers, they knew it was their ‘responsibility’ to cater for the boys.
Her mother had told her over and over how she was now their only hope for survival. They had borrowed so much in the past six years to make ends meet, and now their biggest debt needed to be repaid. Their biggest being the one taken to send their youngest brother to school in Lagos. She knew and she was ready, or so she thought.
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The debtor walked in and it was the town’s brute. Head of the agberos and king of ‘boys’, Capone was the devil in flesh. Ochanya could not imagine being the wife of the man who had ruined the lives of most girls in the community, but she had no choice. What tore her insides were the rumors that he raped them all, but no one could prove it. Ochanya hated her father, not for being poor, but for this one wrong decision he made and she vowed to make things right.
When the day came, she prayed for a change of heart but God did not hear her. So she waited, stalked and then struck.