Sophie did her best to stop Robert that day, but when he was confronted with resistance from Sophie, he began punching her and raping her. He struck her and slept with her from night to daylight, while her first daughter cried at the door all night.
When Robert awoke the second day, he left the house wearing only his clothing. Her first daughter came into the room and began asking if she was okay, and despite the fact that she was in pain all over her body, she tried to reassure her daughter that she was OK and that everything would be fine. But Sophie realized that day that her kid had been permanently wounded, and she will never forget the incident.
Sophie assumed the hitting and rape were one-time incidents, but it came as a surprise to her that whenever Robert returned home intoxicated, he would rape her, and if she tried to resist, she would be beaten so severely that she felt like dying. Sophie eventually stopped up resisting when the raping and beating became so frequent that she would lie down like a zombie for Robert to do whatever he wanted with her. When Roberts realized he couldn't obtain a reaction from Sophie, he became tired of sleeping with her and eventually stopped forcing himself on her.
Robert stopped coming home from then on, and Sophie began experiencing extreme fatigue and nausea. Sophie remembered thinking she was pregnant at the time and went to the hospital for a test, thinking to herself that if she was indeed pregnant, she would get rid of the baby because she couldn't afford to have another child with this kind of husband.
Sophie felt as if the entire world was collapsing on her because, instead of the pregnancy she had hoped for, they informed her that she was not pregnant but rather HIV positive. When she returned home that day, she was unable to do anything right, almost boiling herself while cooking for her two daughters. She managed to get through the day, but she felt as if she had nothing left to live for.
That night, she cried in the comfort of her room in anguish, asking no one in particular who she had offended. Why is it that when she tried to do something as simple as get married like any other woman in the world, her simple dream of having a happy marriage turned into a nightmare from which she doesn't know how to wake up?
She sobbed herself to sleep, and when she awoke, her eyes were red and puffy; despite her efforts to be the ideal mother for her children and nurture them, everything became too much for her, and she developed depression. Even though she is being treated in the hospital for both HIV and depression, things have only gotten worse.
It got to the point where she no longer bothers to go to the hospital for treatment; she began to distance herself from her children and began living like a zombie; she never smiled again; and when she awoke in the morning, she would sit in one chair from morning to night, staring at the ceiling without doing anything. Sophie's eldest daughter, whom she pledged to nurture correctly, learned to cook and clean at a young age and was responsible for her mother and younger sister.
Robert stopped going home because he was afraid of Sophie, because even if he slapped her, she would not react or scream; her only response would be to stare at him with her dull eyes.
Then, nearly ten years into this wretched marriage, Sophie's mother-in-law (Robert's mother) invited her younger brother (Robert's uncle) to live with them. When Sophie's mother-in-law initially arrived, she did her best to poke her with harsh remarks such as how she only had daughters, how Sophie was too soft and incapable of managing her own husband, and how her husband does not even consider it fit to return home.
But something that has already been shattered cannot be broken again, so Sophie never reacts to anything her mother-in-law says. So her mother-in-law began calling her crazy and ignoring her. Sophie believed she had cried all the tears she could in this world and that nothing could ever make her weep again, but reality proved her wrong when her youngest daughter approached her one day in tears. In her youngest daughter's words, she stated precisely:
"Mommy, it's hurting under. Grand uncle called me to bring his food to his room, and I went to deliver the food. Then grand uncle told me to remove my clothes. I tried to leave, but grand uncle wouldn't let me go, and when I tried to scream, grand uncle clamped his hand over my mouth and began tearing my clothes. " Mom I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do. Then Grand Uncle started pressing his hand under there, Mom, it hurts so badly."
Sophie's youngest daughter cried as she reported everything that had happened to Sophie. Sophie flunked her body at her youngest daughter and cried tears of agony, yelling out in agony, "Why do they have to do that to her child? That was ruining her life not enough; why do they have to ruin her daughter's life as well?"
Sophie stood up in anger and made her way towards the kitchen. She picked up a knife and went towards Robert's uncle's room. On her way to his room, she met Robert's mother first, and she started yelling at her, "Where are you going? looking like she was about to settle scores with someone, but as a woman with a mission, Sophie did not answer Robert's mother and continued on her way.
When she arrived at Robert's uncle's room, she banged on his door, and as soon as he answered it, she began stabbing him while shouting out, "Why did he touch her daughter? How dare he touch her daughter?" When Robert's mother heard the commotion, she went upstairs and was startled to discover her brother dying, with Sophie holding a blood-stained knife. She shrieked in fear.
Sophie was brought to mind by her yelling, and when she realized what she had done, she quickly threw away the knife, pushed Robert's mother away, and quickly gathered some clothes for herself and her children. She went to Robert's room to get a car key, piled her children into the car, and fled the house.
Not knowing where to go. Sophie was just driving around, trying to get out of the city, when she noticed a police car following her, indicating that Robert's mother had called the police and reported her. She started driving fast to get away from the police, but in her haste, she failed to notice a truck coming out of an intersection, which hit her car and pushed it off the bridge. They plunged into the ocean below, and the last thing she remembers before closing her eyes is her daughter struggling to breathe under the sea.
End of flashback.