She heard the door bang and knew that he had gone out. she had lost count of the number of times he had beaten her but this time was different because he had beaten her in front of her children .

Mercy had curled herself into a ball in a bid to protect her stomach and face, the last time he hit her stomach she had ended up in hospital losing her third baby.

she was also tired of wearing makeup to cover up the bruises. She had curled herself into a ball and counted and he punched and kicked away at her ribs, back, and legs repeatedly. she had counted up to 40 when the pain became unbearable, she lost count.

she was determined not to cry infront of her boys who sat on the bed and watched helplessly as their father hit their mum. When he had gotten tired of kicking and punching, he had walked out only to return with a belt and hitting her until his hand ached.

When he banged the door, she knew that he had gone but knew and he would be back, she had to get out first. She painfully uncurled herself, she couldn't bear to look at her children, walked slowly but steadily to the children's bedroom, locked the door firmly, pushed the bed and drawer on the door just in case he tried to break the door, undressed and began to view the damage he had caused.

Her body told a tale of five years of abuse she had endured. she knew that this was the last time he would ever beat her and this time he had crossed the limit. she wouldn't allow her boys to grow up seeing their mother being beaten. She had carried out enough research on how to get rid of him, all she needed to decide now was which method she would use.

Mercy hated her husband, she had married the love of her life and they had lived blissfully for the first two years of their marriage but all this went down the drain when Mercy had their first son through a difficult c section and as a result became a stay home mum, totally dependent on Chris.

That's when the abuse had started, he would leave them for days without food, go drinking with his family and friends.

One morning out of desperation, Mercy had tried to wake the drunk Chris to request for money for milk, their son had slept hungry but he was too drunk to wake up. he had come back at 5 am, drunk and blacked out next to her.She knew how much he hated her touching his wallet. she tried to give the boy water but he just cried louder.

Mercy had no choice but to open his wallet, she found a bill of 400 ,000/= and a lone 10,000/= besides it. How could a man, leave his family starving for days but comfortably pay off 400,000.

Mercy picked the note and sent her help to buy a liter of milk which she quickly prepared and sat down to feed her baby. In the haste she forgot to pick the change from the help, she thought she would do that after attending to her boy.

in the midst of it all, a furious red-eyed Chris woke up and began demanding for his money, Nancy explained that she had indeed picked 10,000 to buy milk and the change was with the help, and that was the day she received the first slap.

It came as a surprise that she toppled off the chair with her son and fell down in shock. Over the years, Mercy had lost track of the number of beatings and abuse she had endured. for reason as flimsy as talking back or not talking back.

The family had tried to mediate and whenever they did he always promised to change. In the end, they blamed her, they called her big headed, a failure, blamed her for pushing her husband to beat her, blamed her for being assertive and hence failing to submit.

She was warned that should her marriage fail and she brings shame to her family, they would disown her.The in-laws were more hostile than her own family. She had stopped involving them in her escapades and decided to look for ways to solve her problem.

You see Mercy was a very smart and hardworking woman, she had decided to first liberate herself financially, she had worked and was now able to comfortably look after her household, a duty her husband had given up on early in their marriage.

She also learned how to act, no one knew the abuse she endured, they viewed them as a perfect couple, she informed the family that the abuse had stopped and they were happy . The more Mercy worked, the more the abuse increased.

Chris began demanding for her money every now and then, grabbing it from her purse, threatening her, she knew that she would never surrender her financial freedom again. she would not allow herself and sons to endure hunger again.

There was no one to help her now, she had to take matters into her hands, find a solution and wait patiently for the right time, the time for execution was now.

Mercy opened the small drawer where she kept her medicines, picked up painkillers and swallowed double the recommended dose, she then picked up her black notebook, she wanted his death to be slow and painful, she would look into his eyes everyday as his strength waned and laugh silently as he paid for the pain and shame he had caused her.

That she hated him was an understatement. After years of research she had come up with the right concoction, no one would suspect her. She knew her greedy husband would be at the dining in the morning demanding for food he did not buy, yes he would find the table set, she would sit silently and watch him eat as he bragged about how he had subdued her, and that would be the beginning of the end for him.

With that, she lay her painful and scarred body down, and closed her eyes, waiting for a new day which marked the beginning of a new dawn for her freedom and revenge.Tomorrow, she would liberate herself from the beast that tormented her. She knew that if caught, this was premeditated murder. Mercy fell into a deep slumber as she awaited daybreak.