The music was loud, people were dancing everywhere and the ceiling was sweating like everyone else in the room. It was another freaky Friday at Steve’s place, a small well-known tavern in the Daveyton township. And I was in pain because of the doctor’s appointment I had earlier on in the morning.

I was shivering with cold in the corner, holding my glass of juice close to my chest while I gazed at everyone in the room dancing. They were having fun and feeling the heat. One would swear that I was in a different room because I was not having any fun and I felt cold. This scenario simply clarified how my life had always been different from the others when I grew up.

Things were never easy for me. My mom died of HIV when I was 14. I know some of you will say there is nothing new about that, but I had to be the mother of the house after my mom passed on. And then I lost my virginity to my stepfather after he raped me. I became his sex slave.

“Thembi, hide, hide. Thabo is at the gate.” I heard a familiar voice whisper in my left ear. It was Rebecca, bending down next to me. I was sitting in the chair, listening to the pains I felt, while people were dancing to the loud music. She knew that Thabo was looking for me high and low since the morning.

The name ‘Thabo’ was like an alarm, like I was being woken up from a dream. I stood up from the chair so quickly that I accidentally spilt Rebecca’s drink but she didn’t care. I didn’t care either because we both knew it was not a problem at that moment. Thabo was the real problem.

“Rebecca I told you it was never a smart idea for me to come here tonight,” I said while looking at the door waiting for Thabo to walk in from the entrance door.

I was so scared that I couldn’t come up with any excuse to break away from Thabo. I felt trapped. The exit door was also the entrance door.

“You should go to the toilet,” said Rebecca while holding my hand tightly. She walked with me through the junk of people after seeing that I was on pause. Hearing the name ‘Thabo’ scared me to a point that I couldn’t think straight. I just saw my life ending.

She led the way as we tried to find our way through the crowd and move as fast as we could. I was behind her as I felt the pains getting worse but it was not a concern at the moment, Thabo was. I even remembered the exact words of the doctor.

“Go straight to bed after the surgery, you need to rest to regain your strength.” The pain was unbearable as we moved through the people. We finally reached the toilet door. We were so scared that we didn’t even knock. We just wanted to see ourselves inside the toilet and safe from Thabo.

***

Tell us what you think: Why do you think the girls are running from Thabo? Why is Thembi afraid of him?