My father's driver carried me to a native doctor at 14 and I still see that room

I was 14, just finished JSS3. My father's driver, Baba Sule, was like family. He would buy me suya on the way from school. One Thursday he said my father sent him to carry me to see a family friend in Agege. I entered the car.

We did not go to Agege. He carried me to a compound with a red gate and the room smelled like burnt herbs and old cloth. A man in a white singlet asked me to sit. Baba Sule was holding my wrist too tight. I was a small girl. I did not scream. I just kept looking at the door. My father did not send him. Nobody sent him.

I am 38 now, married with two boys. Baba Sule died in 2019 and I did not attend the burial. My mother still does not know what happened that Thursday. I have never told a single person until now. Some things you carry alone because saying it out loud gives it a name it does not deserve. But I am tired of carrying it.