“Knock! Knock!” shouted someone at the front door.

That knock made him stand up from his crouching position and his eyes shot to the broken window behind her. Could it be her sister, she hopefully thought. Giving her a stern look he finally walked past her and headed towards the window behind her, stepping loudly on the shattered glass that littered the floor. For a moment she thought he would just jump out and never come back. But he didn’t give in to the cowardly nature inside him.

Suddenly, she heard more shattered glass at the sound of his footsteps as he walked past her, towards the bedroom’s exit, his hand behind his back and with a triangle glass in his hand.

Her mind now flooding with thoughts; what if it’s Nandipha or Buyiswa, or even her only sister Anele. Racing against time, she began trying to loosen the rope that bound her to the chair, just enough to fit her hand in her pocket and grab her phone. Although she broke a sweat trying her best, it still didn’t work. The rope was just too tight.

By the time they heard the third knock, it was as though the knock knocked an idea into her head and she quickly used her feet to scan the nearby floor for some shattered glass. Amanda finally found a piece of glass and pulled it closer and stretched her arm to pick it up despite it being out of her sight. Excitement, added with hope, got the best of her and she carelessly grabbed the glass and felt blood on her fingers as she was busy cutting the rope to free himself. She could feel herself sweating, she could taste the bitterness of reality as it slowly slithered down her tongue.

She finally broke free from the ropes, and was tempted to call someone from her phone but time was just against her. The culprit was lurking nearby and that she knew. Her butt was absolutely sore, and kind of numb from all those hours in that wooden chair. She reached into her pocket and saw her phone on seven percent, and it was now two hours after sunset.

Amanda tried to get up but doing so just woke up the hungry monster that had been quietly sleeping in her tummy — she was exhausted. Nevertheless, she got up and quietly dawdled towards the broken window, carefully dodging the scattered glass beneath her feet, to avoid making a sound.

“Amanda!” His voice startled her and he slowly dragged her name just before he burst into laughter, just as she stood in front of the window ready to make her narrow escape.

Turning back, her bloodstained shattered glass still in her hand, her eyes shot to Buyiswa’s purple purse. Maybe he’s done something to her, she thought. Anger ran in her veins and now she wanted to end his miserable life.

“What have you done to her?” she asked, her voice filled with rage as it struggled to climb up her throat.

“I obviously got rid of her,” he said mocking her, tilting his head as he took a step closer, fully aware of the broken glass in her bloody hands. The closer he came to her the taller he became.

“The time has come for us to…” She interrupted his sentence and threw him with the glass in her hand. He effortlessly dodged it as though he had read her thoughts. But the second time he wasn’t so lucky, he was too busy blowing her kiss when it struck his face. He let out a quick groan as he brought his hands to his face.

She quickly tried to jump through the broken window and ran around to the front yard. Amanda got a glimpse of Buyiswa, but just before she could scream he grabbed her by the mouth and overpowered her, pulling her back, whispering some things into her ear. Amanda’s phone vibrated and rang as she felt a droplet on a her left shoulder. Maybe it was water, his tears, his sweat or maybe his blood.

The next thing she heard was the sound of sirens as two police cars pulled up in front of the house. Buyiswa rushing towards them and telling them of her, Amanda’s, disappearance.

In that moment the culprit just slid something into her pocket, kissed her cheeks goodbye, his bloody cheek leaving hers with a bit of blood. But the classic, formally dressed culprit quickly disappeared over the nearby wall as the four slightly chubby cops entered the yard with guns in their hand.

Amanda just fell to the floor, her eyes bleeding tears, as she watched in a sideway perspective as the cops dispersed into the yard. One running towards her beside Buyiswa. One calling the others for back up as he soundly jumped off the wall, maybe in chase of the formally dressed culprit.

Hours later, her family and friends gathered. The real Tshepo sitting next to Anele, as she jokingly claimed that she called the cops after the so-called Tshepo impersonator, had said that Amanda was sleeping, speaking in an unfamiliar deep voice, that quickly alerted her wits.

It was at that moment Amanda led them to that terrifying room that had left her with fresh wounds, both mentally and physically. She could hear her heartbeat as she picked up the two poems that had been found in the burgundy wedding dress that the classic culprit had brought. And as she saw some men fitting in a new window as well as burglar bars, she thought back to that moment when the wind had woken her up while gently caressing her soft skin. It had sung to her in a gentle cold voice.

That’s when Nandipha began reading out loud the two lovely poems that the formally dressed culprit had written to Amanda.

“In that very moment. I, her former lover, her first lover, her unforgotten lover, her dead lover, moved closer towards the laughing group as her, Amanda, used laughter as a coping mechanism. My ghostly presence unnoticed, I infiltrated the circle of friends and began reading the touching poems written by that sick stalker, my ghostly hand placed on her shoulder The one he’d written in prison didn’t quite evoke emotions as much as the one he’d written yesterday as he stood in her presence watching her sleep like a psychopath. How he confessed that even though he had spent 12 months in prison for so called sexually assaulting her in his first month as a student teacher at her school – he still couldn’t give in to his anger and bring himself to harm her no matter how hard he tried.”

“In that moment, my mission of keeping her safe complete. I slowly walked through the wall, out into the sun, neither my ghostly sighs nor footsteps unheard. I began ascending while on the verge of giving in to my desires of staying by her side a few moments longer. But I couldn’t, for I had been called to hire service.”

“Perhaps he wasn’t such a bad person,” Lilitha, Amanda’s friend commented in an uncertain voice, as though she herself failed to convince herself.

***

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