“How did the evidence against you just disappear?” he asked.

“The drug dealer has been arrested several times and would come back and continue his business. I suppose with money you can buy anything” I say.

“The detective must have felt humiliated by you” he says.

“He was humiliated to beat the crap out of me. The day I left the police station, he and another police officer followed me with his car. They caught up with me and threw me in the boot of the car. They took me to the bushes and beat the hell out of me. He was very angry and was calling me names. They kicked and kicked and left me there. An hour later while I was laying there, an old man came collecting woods. He saw the shape I was in and took me to the hospital. Two days later, I woke up and heard a man preaching the gospel of God. His words struck straight into my heart, telling me to change my ways of living. I stood up and went for a walk, then I saw the bodies of taxi drivers and teenage boys laying in those beds. At that moment I knew I had to get out of that place, because if they knew who I was, they would kill me. I made a phone call to the drug dealer.

“Where the hell are you?” he asked me.

“I am at Groote Schuur.” I said.

‘”I want my money, and I want it now.” he said.

“Well get someone to come pick me up here before they also kill me.” I said.

“Someone will be there in thirty minutes to come pick you up, get yourself ready.” he said. At that moment something hit my mind. After I give the drug dealer his money, what is going to happen then? I quickly found some clothes and escaped the hospital. I had to take the long road to the bushes where I had hid my money. Finally I got there and took it out. I took twenty thousand and left five thousand for me. Then I went to the drug dealer and gave him the money.

“You think you are smart.” he said.

‘What do you mean?” I asked.

“I was at your trial. I saw you talking to the detective. Were you trying to run away from me?” he asked.

“Look at these wounds and ask yourself who would do this to me.” I said.

“Where are my toys?” he asked.

“Did you not manage to get them out of the evidence room?” I said.

“When I lend someone my toy, I expect them to give it back to me.” he said.

“Well look on the bright side, twenty grand should cover up my expenses to you.” I said. As I walked out of the door, I could see he was not pleased. Then he said “Starring is out on bail, and he bought a toy of mine.” I froze at that moment and did not know what I was going to do. I had nowhere to go, so I got some of my clothes and went to the bush. It was about nine o’clock and was deeply dark. Just as I make my way back to my area there he was. Standing next to the trees that were silent, underneath the full moon.

“You killed my mother.” he said.

“You should be thankful she is the only one I killed and not all of them.” I said.

“She is the one that gave birth to me. Every day she struggled for us so that we can sleep with something in our stomach. Now you have taken her away from us.” he said.

“No I have taken I her away from you. I have taken her away from the monster she brought to this world. Again you should be thankful because I gave her a chance to rest in peace. If I did not kill her, you would have probably killed her by a heart attack.” I said.

“I have no regrets of what I did to your cousin, those were my motives. At her school she always talked about how poor my family was, and that we wore second hand clothes. My sister would always come back crying from school and would tell me what she did. Every day she embarrassed my sister and made her feel ashamed of belonging to her family. One day, she ran away from her house and was not seen for a month. I looked everywhere for her, but I could not find her. When she came back, we asked her why she ran away, and she said your cousin presented an essay to the class on with people living with HIV/AIDS and included all my family members in it. No one in school wanted to speak to her, and even the teachers were afraid of being next to her.” he said.

“Is that why you did what you did to her?” I asked.

“Yes, but then you interfered.” he said. We stood there, and he was pouring with tears as he told me the story” I say to Andile.