The Silence Within

Chapter 13

"Anita is pregnant again" Leke broke the news that keeps shattering his wife each time he disclosed it to her.

"So why are you telling me?" Damilola replied, her tone icy, as she ran the brush through her hair.

"Because I will be at her house until she puts to bed" His reply came nonchalantly.

"It's what you do everytime. Why do you have to tell me? You barely even stay here"

This time Leke turned to look at his wife from where he sat on the bed. There was calmness in her movement, in the way she ran the hairbrush through her hair. It marred her face, shrouding her emotions. "I have to tell you because I am not ready for your rants and fights" He moved to get up.

Damilola sneered. "Listen to yourself, Gbemileke" She called him by his full name without turning away from the dressing mirror. "You should know better than anyone that I have given up on arguing with you. Gone are the days when I had strength for that"

"Good thing you are finally growing up" Was his reply as he threaded to the closest.

There was silence when he came out with a box which he kept on the bed. For the next few minutes of quietness, he did nothing than fill the box with clothes. When the box was full, he zipped it, grabbed it and left the room.

It was then, Damilola halted the grooming of her hair. The emotions she had hidden behind the calm expression surfaced. Tears filled her eyes, slipping slowly down her cheeks.

There was hollowness in her chest that ate deep into her soul. The clandestine agony spread around her chest like a pool. Damilola sat still, staring at her image in the mirror. She was a slender woman. Still fit and had the body she had years before she got married. Childlessness had not given her the opportunity to add weight. Her face was older, with little wrinkles at the edge of her eyes that showed when she smiles.

The news Leke had broken today was the same news he had told her five years ago but in a different way. It had been "I got someone pregnant and she has put to bed today"

Time had frozen. There was a sudden bang in her head like someone had hit her head with a pestle twice. She had felt a wave of dizziness sweep across her. She had nearly fainted while her heart had hurt like she had a knife stuck to it. He had sat opposite her in the living room, his face washed with remorse, his mother next to him.

"It happen few months back" The old hag had said. "He sort of got involved with Anita" So the husband snatcher's name was Anita. Damilola balled her fist. "It turned out God has decided to bless him. He came to me and I could not tell him not to accept it. Since you are married to him and for ten years, we have never gotten good news from you. So why will he throw away an opportunity God has ordained for him?"

While the woman spoke, she had stared at her husband. She had that fear. She knew it was going to happen one day but it happened when she least expected it. He had been home all the time. He had been caring and supportive, giving her hope that they would have their kids, which she would conceive. When the world rebuffed her, he had told her she should turn deaf ears to their words. He had told her they were in it together, forever. So it was all lies! It had all been lies!

Leke changed. He hardly came home. He was always with Anita. Anita this! Anita that! It was always Anita! When she says something, he compared her to Anita.

"She is better than you! She has proven her worth as a woman!" He would say to her face.

Each day, he welded a knife into her chest, deeper and deeper. She bled harder and he turned a blind eye to her sorrow and pain. When she knew there was no hope he would come back to who she knew him to be, she gave up on trying to please him. She gave up on arguing with him. She left him to do whatever pleases him.