D.I.M.A

Oluseye Obitola

In Alleygates, the morning never waits for anyone — and being good is noticed the same way weakness is. A young man joins the city guard believing what good men believe: that patience outlasts force, that rules hold the world together, that restraint is strength. He is right, and he is rewarded. The markets quiet when he passes. The people give him a name — the Anchor — and pin their peace to his shirt. But Alleygates does not change. It adjusts. Every problem he solves returns wearing a different face, the predators learn his schedule, and the law he serves keeps protecting the wrong people. Somewhere beneath all that discipline, something is watching. Learning. Waiting for him to let go. D.I.M.A is a fable about order and its price — about a city that doesn't want a hero who waits, and a man who finally stops waiting.