Her Silent Tears

Olanna stood frozen, her heart pounding as she stared down at her husband, Elo, lying in front of her. His blood stained the floor, and her trembling hand clutched the knife. The weight of what she had just done hit her like a thunderclap-she had never imagined herself capable of such violence. Yet, there he was, the man who had once promised to love her, now sprawled on the ground in his own pool of blood.

Her breath was shallow, her body shaking uncontrollably as memories of the years spent in silence flooded her mind. Elo's drunken fists, the nights she cried herself to sleep, the constant terror of losing the child inside her-each blow he'd dealt, each insult, each moment of cruelty. She had stayed for so long, thinking that maybe things would change, that maybe love would be enough to break the cycle. But tonight, she realized something had broken within her-something irreversible.

"I didn't want this," she whispered, as if Elo could hear her from where he lay. Her hands shook as she looked down at the knife. How had it come to this? How had she, a woman who once dreamed of a life filled with laughter and joy, become capable of taking a life?

But there was something more now-something fiercer, more determined than any fear she had known before. The baby she carried, the one she had fought so hard to keep alive despite Elo's relentless beatings, was everything to her. After so many losses, after so much pain, she would not allow this child to be another casualty in the war Elo had waged against her.