The Silent Sanctuary

Behind The High Walls

The true depth of Jide's indifference did not take years to reveal itself, it showed it's face during Deola's first pregnancy.

When the morning sickness hit her with unrelenting violence, leaving her lightheaded and frail, there were no gentle hands to hold her hair back or cool cloth for her forehead. Instead, pregnancy became another weapon Jide and his mother used to humiliate her.

Jide's mother had moved into the house during those early months, ostensibly to " help", but her presence only brought agony. Every morning, while Deola struggled to keep down water, Jide's mother would stand over her with crossed arms, hurling bitter insults.

Jide's mother: Look at her, a weak girl from a weak lineage. Folake or any other girl would have carried a child while cooking and managed the whole household without a single complaint. Jide brought a helpless doll into this house, " mama sneered, clicking her tongue".

Jide did not care about what was happening to his wife at home, he only listened to what his mother told him. When Deola asked him to take her to the hospital when she wasn't feeling well, he dismissed her fears as mere drama. He left her alone in the high-fenced compound for days, returning late at night smelling of foreign perfumes, his collar stained with lipstick that was not hers.

One terrible evening during her second trimester, Deola collapsed on the kitchen floor, gripped by excruciating abdominal cramps. With Jide out indulging another woman and his mother having locked herself in her room refusing to answer, Deola had to drag herself across the cold tiles, her body shaking, tears blurring her vision as she prayed to God who felt miles away. It was the kind gateman who heard her faint cries through the window and rushed her to a clinic in a taxi. When Jide and his mother showed up hours later, he scolded her for not calling his mother when she was in distress but going to the gateman for help. Deola was just looking at him and his mother without saying anything because she knows he will always side with his mother.

Deola endured that grueling pregnancy in profound isolation, giving birth to little "Simi" with only her memories of her late mother to comfort her.

As the years passed and a second child joined their home, Jide's grip only tightened into total control. He systematically cut off every escape route she might have had. He forbade her from making friends, monitored her movements and refused to let her earn a single penny.

Her children become her only sanctuary. The reason she forced her heart to keep beating.

DEOLA: (Holding five-year-old SIMI’s hand while cradling baby LANRE in her arm, whispering softly to herself) Five years... and the world outside moves on without me.

SIMI: (Looking up at her mother with curious eyes) Mummy, why is the big gate always locked? Why can't we play on the street with the other children?

DEOLA: (Kneeling down, wiping a smudge from Simi’s cheek with a gentle smile) Because your father wants us to stay safe inside, my darling. He says the outside world is too rough for us.

SIMI: But it feels like a cage, Mummy.

DEOLA: (Her heart aching, pulling Simi into a tight hug) I know, Simi. I know. But we have each other, and we will make our own sunshine inside these walls.

(The sound of heavy car tires crunching on the gravel driveway signals JIDE’s arrival. The heavy front door swings open, and JIDE walks in, carrying a leather briefcase, looking tired and stern.)

DEOLA: (Standing up quickly, adjusting Lanre in her shawl) Welcome home, Jide. How was your trip to the site?

JIDE: (Barely glancing at her, setting his briefcase on the side table) Exhausting, as usual. The contractors are incompetent. (He looks around the room, his eyes landing on a small stack of medical pamphlets sitting on the side table) What are those doing on my table, Deola?

DEOLA: (Stepping forward nervously) They... they are basic health guidelines from the clinic down the road, Jide. Mama Blessing dropped them off when she came to deliver the vegetables. I was just reading about childhood vaccinations for Lanre.

JIDE: (Walking over, picking up the pamphlets, and tossing them straight into the waste bin) How many times must I tell you? You are no longer a student, Deola. You are my wife. I do not pay for you to sit around reading about diseases and clinics. Your job is to keep this house pristine and raise my children.

DEOLA: (Her voice trembling slightly, but trying to remain polite) Jide, it's just basic maternal health information. It helps me care for our children better.

JIDE: (Stepping closer, his voice low and dominating) I provide everything this family needs! Food, clothes, security, a roof over your head that your father could never afford for your mother. Do not embarrass me by acting like you are lacking anything. You do not need pamphlets, and you do not need to be talking to neighborhood women through my gate.

SIMI: (Hiding behind Deola’s wrapper, clutching her mother’s skirt tightly)

DEOLA: (Taking a slow breath, looking down at her children, her voice soft but steady) I hear you, Jide. Dinner is served on the table.

JIDE: (Straightening his jacket, walking toward the dining room without another word) Make sure the gate is locked for the night.

(JIDE leaves the room. DEOLA sits slowly on the edge of the sofa, looking at the bin where the pamphlets lie. She looks down at little Lanre sleeping peacefully and then at Simi.)

DEOLA: (Whispering quietly to her children) He can lock the gate, my darlings... but he cannot lock what is inside my heart.