House of Daggers

Peter's Perspective

Love is usually seen as something beautiful and joyful, but it can also bring pain. It can hurt deeply. It's like a sharp blade-it can heal or destroy. I was about to feel the worst side of it.

"Please, that's enough," I begged, my face swollen and bleeding. "I didn't hurt her. I swear."

The people attacking me didn't care. They believed a lie. I'm not even sure they care of what they believed, all they wanted was to get the job done.

"Our relationship was real. Everything that happened between us was with love and consent. I could never hurt her," I said, trying to defend myself.

The leader of the gang laughed coldly. "You must be dreaming," he said. "What makes you think someone like her would be with someone like you? She's rich. Her family has power. You're nowhere near her level. Wake up."

He raised his fists to punch and I braced myself.

I had been wrongly sentenced to 20 years in prison for something I didn't do. And the nightmare didn't stop there. Her parents had made a deal with a gang inside the prison-people who were paid to make my life hell.

Since I got here, I've been beaten almost to death. I've landed in the hospital nine times. The pain hasn't stopped. People see me as a disgrace. Even I started to believe it. Many times, I thought about ending it all.

"You think she'd choose someone like you?" the gang leader asked again as they surrounded me. "Guys like you don't belong with girls like her."

I tried to make them see the truth. My voice shook. "Please... we loved each other. I didn't do anything to hurt her. I'm telling the truth. You have to believe me."

They didn't care. "That's not the story we heard," he replied. "They said she asked for help with her studies, and you took advantage of her. We were paid to punish you. And that's what we're going to do."

He looked at his men and said, "Let's deal with him, and I want to see more blood."

That moment was the beginning of a long and painful journey. My family and I have always lived in a tough world. We've faced many struggles.

We were not rich, but we also weren't poor. We lived a normal life, with good days and bad. Lagos was where we stayed-a busy, fast-moving city. It wasn't our hometown, but we tried to make it home.

My family is known for being smart, especially on my father's side. But being smart didn't protect us from the harshness of life.

My grandfather was very intelligent. He used to tell us how everyone admired him in school. He wanted to be a surgeon, but things didn't work out. Instead, he became a primary school teacher.

Even though he had the right qualifications, he couldn't get a job in the medical field. He shared stories of rejection letters and lost hopes. The world didn't give him the chance he deserved.

My father followed a similar path. He was brilliant in school and always topped his class. He wanted to be a scientist. But even with all his efforts and high scores, he couldn't get into university until he used personal connections.

One day, I asked him, "Why is education so important when it only brings us pain? We work so hard-reading, studying, staying up late-and still, it feels pointless. What's the use if everything depends on who you know?"

He looked at me with understanding and gently patted my cheek. "I know how you feel, son. Education is supposed to help us, but the world we live in has made it difficult. That's not how it's meant to be. But it's the reality we face."

He continued, "Even though it's hard, promise me you'll do your best to change things. Try to be different."

Despite his high grades, my father struggled to get a job. Others with lower scores did better, just because they had connections. After many disappointments, he gave up on his dreams. He worked as a dispatch rider, and later bought a small bus to work as a driver. That's how he took care of us.

We lived in a world where success came from who you knew, not how good you were. It was frustrating.