A walk down the street turned into a dare
As my feet carried me on the road
I felt his glare and so did my feet
And I knew then, they could not carry the load

Fear rushed in without a care
Breathing became rare
Sweat mixed with tears
As I confirmed my fears

I fell from a push
Then a voice said hush
Thula. Khumula
Deep and hard
Slow and fast
Back and forth

Longest 20 minutes of my life
I wanted to scream, wanted to shout
My voice couldn’t come out
All of a sudden, I felt dumb.

My mind went to and fro
Was this the end of my innocence,
Just in a few minutes my life changed,
Within a blink of an eye, my innocence was taken away.
I thought my neighbourhood was safe.
How could this happen?

Are sisters safe?
What about my mom, my grandma,
My aunts, my female neighbours?
How can I move on from such a tragedy?