When Regina notices that two strangers are following her, she pretends not to notice. The two strangers follow her home and watch her go inside. Then when they leave, Regina turns the tables and starts to follow them.

*****

There was something unusual about that particular night, well at least that was according to Regina, a Betty’s Bay born woman in her early thirties. She moved to Mamelodi two years back, after she got married to Vincent – her ex-husband. Apparently he was too bad for her and she was too good for him. Their marriage only lasted six months.

It was an October night – she was walking alone, as always; from work. The street was long and empty, with only her shadow following her, changing its position as the street lights shinned upon her.

Regina noticed something which seemed very unusual. She was all alone, but not so alone, she noticed what seemed like two man following her – why would someone slow down as she walked slowly and speed up as she picked up the pace? She thought to herself.

Having to grow up in the Western side of Cape Town taught her quite many things and one of them was to always stay calm when there’s a situation at hand. She took out her cellphone from her handbag, only to find out that its battery was too low to neither take out calls nor send out a text message. ”Damn!” she said.

She was walking down the street on a newly installed pavement. As she took a curve, praying for someone to show up right after the curve, but it was just as lonely as a new Facebook account – just quiet. She thought about stopping after the curve, with knowledge that they wouldn’t see her until they also took the curve, but she was getting terrified. What if they take her hostage? she thought as she picked up her pace – she was only seven houses away from her house.

They followed her and watched her as she went inside. It was dark, she rushed for the switch but it seemed like the municipality cut her power, again! – Bad debts. Regina worked as an administrator at a local school. Most of her salary covered her rent and mostly her groceries.

It was impossible for her to charge her phone, so she decided to turn the tables and follow the two strangers.

She peeked through the curtains and saw the two men getting in a black Mercedes Benz Vito. She had no car, so it was quite impossible for her to follow them back. She went outside to check if there was anyone left and to see where the Vito was headed. As she stood at the gate she saw a cab and thought it was a great opportunity to follow them back.

She called for the cab.

“Wait here, I want to quickly lock up,” she said.

She went to her bedroom and took her last savings. She thought that if she wanted to control the driver she better be having money.

“Take here, follow that black Vito,” she said as she gave the driver R200.

As the cab took a curve, she noticed that the Vito had stopped. One of the men was taking a piss, just next to the car.

“You mean that one?” the driver asked.

“Yes you stupid! Or do you perhaps to see another one?” Regina had anger problems from time to time, but with her pride, she never admitted it.

“Don’t get too close,” she said as she hid herself.

“The car is moving,” the driver said.

“Don’t lose them.”

“Madam. If I may ask, why are we following this car?”

“It’s none of your business. And for the record we are not following the car, I am. You are just a useless driver who seemed to have forgotten his job description. Your job is to drive me, not ask me questions that are above your job level.”

“But…?”

“But what? Just shut up and do as I tell you. That’s what I am paying you for. Are we clear?”

“Yes Madam.”

The Vito was headed to Garsfontein – one of the quietest places in Pretoria. Just at the entrance of Garsfontein, the Vito stopped five houses way from the entrance.

“Stop the car,” Regina ordered the driver. The driver wasn’t listening – he didn’t stop.

“I said stop the car you fool,” she realized that this might be some kind of a trap, so she tried to get out but all doors were locked.

She tried to choke the driver. He stopped the car and slapped her, then he got out and went to the Vito – indeed it seemed like she was ambushed. She tried to open the doors, but there was no luck, she tried to break the windows, they were as hard as rock.

“Help!” She screamed. They somehow knew that she would do that, that’s why they sound proofed the car.

The driver went back to the cab. He placed a small container on the seat, he opened it and went out of the cab again. The container released smoke enough to fill the cab.

*****

“Where am I?” she asked with fear and trauma. Her heart was pounding very hard, her head was singing pain. The room was empty with a light bulb swinging, and its shadow following it. She was tied up on a chair. Nothing else was there, except a door.

“Right where you belong,” a deep voice answered from behind, she felt a hand on her left shoulder.

“No! Leave me alone you bastard.”

“Easy now Miss Reg. You don’t want to make me mad, do you?”

“Miss Reg?” she thought. The last time she heard the name was when she decided to divorce Vincent.

“Let me guess, the Chairman sent you?” she said.

“Well done. Now we are getting somewhere, I don’t have to explain myself anymore. However, I will explain why you’re here and not at home,” he said as he stood in front her.

“Screw you,” she said and spat on him. “Where’s Vince?” she asked.

“You don’t need to know.”

“Yes, of course I don’t need to know, because I already know where he is. I just wanted to check with you. What time is it?”

“Just around 20:30. Why do you ask?”

“Say your last prayers, you’re going to jail,” Regina said as she realized she was out cold for two hours.

“OPEN THE DOOR, NOW! It’s the police!”

“What the hell?” the man said as he peeked through the door hole and to his surprise, indeed it was the cops. There was no escape – he had to surrender.

“You see, when I called for the cab I knew that something wasn’t right. So I used my other phone in the house to contact my friend who’s a police officer and had them tracking me. I installed a tracking device in my body right after I broke up with Vince, because I knew that he would someday come back for me. And you on the other hand – you have nowhere to run, and even if you wanted to kill me, you wouldn’t have the guts to do it.”

“Is that so?” he said as he pointed a gun on her head.

“Yes. We both know that you always had a thing for me,” she said smiling.

“FREEZE! Put your gun down and your hands on your head.”