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For two days, it was all more or less perfect, until he came back home from what must have been a bad day at work and started barraging her with endless tirades of insults.

At first, she was too shocked to do anything, but after a series of vicious screaming and yelling attacks, she decided to fight back.

Abdul did not like that, and soon he turned violent again, which was enough to make Hauwa know for sure that things were veering out of control. There was no more doubt. She had to escape for good!

One afternoon, less than two weeks after his return, still battered and bruised, she started preparing lunch. Unfortunately, Abdul had another bad day at work and came in while she was in the process of pounding yam.

"What's the matter? You came home early today. I thought you were on duty."

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Abdul backhanded her across the face. "What I do is my business," he snarled. "Now apologise for speaking to me that way."

Hauwa stared at Abdul, her cheek stinging. "I will not, Abdul. Do your worse."

With a massive show of brute strength, he knocked her down and pinned her to the floor screaming expletives in her face, blaming her for everything that he considered wrong in his life. Then he beat her so badly that both her eyes were blackened, her right arm broken and blood owed from a deep cut in her forehead. It was almost as if he was trying to kill her.

Somehow or other she managed to grab the pestle and smash it over his head, knocking him unconscious. Then she ed from the house and never looked back.

She ran to Auntie Asabe's place and after narrating the event of the past few hours, Auntie Asabe advised her to leave town. She gave her the address of a friend in Kano. Once she got to Kano, she was given medical attention and generally looked after.

Hauwa stayed there for several weeks while recovering from her injuries, but as soon as the cast came o her hand, she called Anaya, informed her of her coming and then took a bus to Maiduguri, then Lake Alau, where she was determined to make a better life for herself and forget about the past.