Tumi saw that the door was not closed as he had left it. He felt someone had entered the yard, the house.

He checked everything, nothing was missing but he knew the police would soon be on his trail. He locked the front door and went to the bedroom. The girl looked up at him terrified. He removed the cloth from her mouth.

“Are you hungry?” he asked rubbing his hands on her thigh.

She shook her head, not looking up at him, her body shivered.

“My wounds are healing well, soon you will be home. Time for a celebration,” he switched on the radio and the music played at a deafening volume, causing him to quickly reduce it.

“I miss my mom… I want to go home,” she started to cry.

Tumi untied her hands and removed her clothes. She began crying louder. He had to sleep with her again, maybe this time he will be fully healed. The wounds were dry now but he still had a few fresh ones.

“Shut up, I will kill you,” he hissed.

“Please don’t hurt me,” she pleaded loudly with tears streaming down her face.

He ignored her and went on top of her and raped her. He carried on while she cried.

“Ooo, it’s painful… Please stop!” she cry loudly.

He smacked her and she became silent, tears racing down her little cheeks. He got off from her and went to the window to peep but just saw trees in the dark. The girl slept on her side crying silently. He switched the lights off and went to sleep.

The next morning he tidied the house and removed the carpet in the room. He saw the crawl space under the bed. His grandfather used to hide money and valuable things at night because of the thieves. The girl could fit in here, he thought, sure that people were going to come to his house.

He tied the girl’s hands after giving her porridge and carried her to the crawl space. He closed the closet and put the carpet back. He pushed the bed back on top and went to do his paperwork. He needed to do a presentation to town, so he grabbed his keys after bathing and dressing in his formal wear.

When he started the engine he saw a group of people standing by the gate with three policemen, he was glad he listened to his instincts. He would have been arrested if they saw the girl. He got out of his car and walked to the gate.

“Morning, what’s going on?” he pretended. He was aware there was a person who entered his yard last night and saw the girl.

“We need to search your house,” the police said.

Tumi smiled at them and nodded to the policemen. “Feel free to do so. Be quick, I have a meeting,” he handed his keys to the police.

They all walked in fast and he stayed with two policemen. They would watch him and also to make sure he didn’t run away. They searched everywhere and saw nothing, they opened the bedroom and saw nothing. The place didn’t show any sign of a girl living in there. The crowd looked at Zinhle angrily.

“Where did you say you saw the child?” a policeman asked.

“In that room,” Zinhle pointed.

“We don’t see anything, it could’ve been a film he was watching or anything,” he spoke rudely.

“I am sure I heard this man’s voice and that of a young girl,” Karabo said loudly.

“Look, we are wasting time here, we should be catching criminals and not this. You are wasting police resources,”

The crowd followed the police, whispering. Karabo grabbed Zinhle and walked out.

“Zinhle, why do you hate this man so much?” a fat woman asked.

“Stop snooping around people’s houses,” another man in the crowd shouted.

Karabo and Zinhle walked fast to go into their yard and locked the gate so no one else could harass them.

Tumi smiled as he saw the crowd murmuring and asking questions. They’ll never find the underground closet, he was not going to jail, he rejoiced. The policeman handed him his key.

“We are sorry. Please forgive us. We were just doing our job,”

The people dispersed.

***

Tell us: Do you think Tumi will ever be caught?