Anushka had been her best friend at RK Khan Hospital ever since Mbali had started work there, a few months after completing her three-year qualification and registration with the South African Nursing Council. That was four years ago and their friendship was one reason she looked forward to waking up every morning to go to work (together with her love of her job, of course).

Ever since she could remember she had always wanted to be a nurse, and she enjoyed her work very much. Anushka was ten years older than her and treated her like an older sister would, and Mbali had grown to value her advice on different matters.

So was that why he was in hospital? But why would life deal her such a cruel hand? Why did she have to see him again? Wasn’t it enough that he had almost killed her on that cold July night six years back? The questions flowed incessantly.

“Hey, are you OK, Mbali?” Anushka asked, and Mbali realised that she had not said a word to her friend.

“Shift is done, you can tell me all about it on our way out,” Anushka said, as she got up.

“There is nothing to tell Aunty,” Mbali said playfully, although her cheerfulness belied a growing sense of foreboding.

As they walked down the hallway towards the reception area, Mbali could barely hear the chit-chat going on around her, from the emergency personnel wheeling patients in to the laughs from the night-shift team arriving.

They approached the parking area and Anushka was convinced something was definitely on her friend’s mind. Mbali hadn’t said a word while they walked, which was very uncharacteristic of her. She was usually full of jokes and would tell Anushka what supper she would make that night or any of the thousand other stories.

Deciding not to intrude, Anushka gave her a hug and they said their goodbyes. As Anushka drove away, Mbali decided she wasn’t in any shape to drive and would walk the twenty minutes’ journey to her apartment on the busy Florence Nightingale Drive in Unit 3 Chatsworth.

This would give her time to gather her thoughts. The all-too-familiar scene began to play out in her mind for the umpteenth time.

She had decided against her better judgement to take the shortcut through the dimly lit school grounds. She imagined her mom’s admonishing lecture if she found out: everyone knew the grounds were a bad idea in the evenings. Unsavoury characters lurked in the shadows, or so the stories went. A lone 18-year-old girl would be either very brave or just plain stupid to walk across the grounds around 7 pm on a dark October evening. Well, I’m definitely not stupid, she told herself. Maybe a little brave.

She quickened her pace. It should be just a ten minute walk, she thought, I will be home soon. She had stayed later than usual, studying for the final matric exams. In two weeks I can rest, she sighed, looking forward to a time when the exams would be finished. Then life will officially start, she chuckled.

Then he appeared.

***

Tell us: Do you think just made the worst mistake of her life by walking?