From childhood, Chiamaka is recruited by her mother to be a silent “witness,” trained to notice every secret, bruise, and betrayal inside their deeply religious but violently abusive home. She watches her father humiliate and beat her mother, even during pregnancy, while neighbours look away and relatives insist that “a woman’s honour is her husband” and leaving would bring shame. As she grows, she meticulously collects the shards of her mother’s physical and spiritual erasure. Over time, one especially brutal attack leaves her mother permanently scarred, her spirit slowly dimming rather than healed. Trapped between faith, family expectations, and fear, her mother chooses endurance over escape, and Chiamaka is left holding the memories like broken glass, cut but unheard.
