Philasande

“Please come get us,” a young girl whispers into the blue of the summer dawn, through the burglar guards of her bedroom window. She has no idea that her voice has reached into the dreams of Detective Zandile Ncube, as she lay sleeping, and with such force that it woke her up.

The girl sleeps in her own room in her own comfortable bed. She has the best education, plays in a beautiful playground, and eats the most delicious of foods. But every night she pleads into the night sky, “Please come get us.”

Her name is Wandile. She is the first girl who was abducted two years ago.

Wandile has been awake since she heard the sound of a car driving into the compound. She knows that when Mam’s car arrives in the dead of night it brings another abducted girl.

When the new girl arrived, Wandile pretended to be asleep. She heard the door to the dorm open, then the door to the room next to hers open. She knew that it was Mam doing the opening and closing of doors because her perfume filled the dorm.

Wandile heard Mam leave the dorm. She knew that new girl would wake up scared, confused and sobbing. But the new girl must not cry; she must not disturb the escape plans that the abducted girls have worked on for the whole year.

Wandile is the oldest in this school of abducted girls and she plays the big sister role. She hears the new girl turn in her bed and tip-toes to her.

“What is your name?” Wandile whispers in Philasande’s ear.

“Philasa…” Philasande opens her tear-filled eyes just a sliver.

“Don’t cry, Phila. Mam will inject you if you cry. Once they inject you, you will be weak for many days. I need you to be strong because you are our only hope of getting out of here. We will get out of here,” she assures, and wipes away the tears on Philasande’s face.

“Philasande. My name is Philasande.” She is still weak and confused.

“OK, Philasande. I am Wandile. Tomorrow they will shave your head. That’s when I will need you to be especially strong. If you don’t cry, Mam will not inject you. I learned the hard way, got injected and locked away for days for resisting Mam. Just do as she says because we are so close to escaping. You see, if we are good, Mam will take us to the beach today. We will see other people and life outside these high walls. We will get a chance to escape. Don’t go against her, please Philasande. Smile at her, pretend you love her and we will escape. You will not spend one more day in this place.”

***

Tell us: Are you any closer to knowing what ‘Mam’ wants with these girls?