Stan, a young woman in her late 20s, sat on a chair in a waiting room of a doctor’s office. This wasn’t just any doctor, Stan was there to see a therapist. It was mandated by the judge that she attend therapy if she was to be allowed to re-join society and not be sent to an asylum or even worse, prison. That was where she belonged after what she did, but the judge realised that prison wouldn’t do Stan any good. The only thing that would work best for Stan was therapy, lots and lots of therapy.

The judge was made aware of the trauma Stan went through as a child.

Stan grew up in foster care after she lost both her parents and siblings in a car crash. She was the only person who walked away from the accident untouched, and people believed it was a miracle. But the events that took place on that day changed Stan for the rest of her life.

Close friends noticed the difference in Stan, but figured she was just grieving because she just lost everyone near and dear to her. That she would probably bounce back to her normal self in no time, that she just needed support from her friends and relatives.

But her family didn’t keep in touch with their relatives. They lived a solitary life and whenever Stan or one of her younger siblings would ask about their extended family, her father would always change the subject.

Her older brother would always say, “You don’t know that part of the family. They live out in the farms, a plump girl like you wouldn’t last a day with those people.”

Stan later found out that there may have been a bit of truth to what her brother warned her about all those years ago. She witnessed first-hand what it was like living with them for about a year. She threatened to run away if the social worker didn’t find her a better place to live. But things only got worse after the farm.

Some of the families she lived with sold her a couple of times. Sometimes they would use her to pay their debts and she would have to go live with a different family until she had worked out the debt.

The family she was with, before she ran off and finally found a home with an old couple, tried to sell her as a bride to a wealthy businessman. Stan wasn’t ready so she ran off. She came across the old couple camping in the woods and they took her in as broken as she was and made her their own.

But now Stan was sitting in Aisha’s office, looking Aisha dead in the eye, not showing any signs of life or weakness. Aisha Naidoo was looking back at Stan with a huge smile on her face.

“Hi Stan, nice to see you again. I know the last time we spoke things got out of hand. Don’t worry, I have learnt my lesson, I won’t push you too far anymore, unless you want me to,” said Aisha.

Stan nodded. She reached into her purse and took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She then took out a cigarette from the pack and sparked it. Aisha didn’t seem to mind.

As Stan smoked her cigarette, Aisha continued talking.

“I presume you are good and well. I can see that myself so I won’t bother you with all these stupid questions that I know you hate so much. I will take it you had a delightful time since our last session, and I won’t bug you by asking you to share that. But I will get down to business and ask you to tell me about Lula. What’s the hype between you two? I want to know the connection between the two of you.”

Stan put out her cigarette.

“You better be ready for this one doc because it’s going to be a big one.”

***

Tell us: What do you think got Stan arrested in the first place?