Andisiwe

I slumped on the chair and put my head into my hands. She was right. I was in big trouble. And unlike her, I didn’t have a ‘daddy’ to save me. I noticed myself shaking again. I thought of my mother at home, Bulelani waiting at Auntie Lizzie’s house, waiting for me. I imagined my mother’s face when she got a call from the police.

I could not stop the tears.

We both heard the door unlock.

The man loomed in the doorway. “The manager’s busy,” he said. “We will wait.” He saw my tears, came closer to me, and pulled my face up to look at him. His eyes were hard, cruel, as he stared at me, half smiling. How could I ever have thought he was handsome?

“I tell you what,” he said. “Let’s have some fun. Then maybe I will lose that evidence.” He pointed to the rice and pilchards on the desk. For a moment I was confused. Fun? What did he mean by fun? I turned back to the girl but she was now fiddling with her phone, not looking at me, not doing anything to help. In that moment I hated her too.

Then he came close to me, I could smell cigarettes on his breath. I stepped backwards but he pulled me towards him and I felt his hand squeeze my bottom. “Bit skinny, but you’ll do.”

I instinctively pulled away again. “No!”

He pulled me roughly against his body. “Don’t fight me, girl, it’ll be the worse for you. Much worse.”

I felt his hands fumble under my skirt, reach into my pants, his breathing getting heavier.

I felt ill, wanted to bite him, scream, kick. And then I thought of my mother. What would she say when she heard I was caught for shoplifting? How could I face her after what I had done? I was a thief. Perhaps if I let him do what he wanted it would all go away.

But I had never had a proper boyfriend before. And when I felt his hand pulling at my pants, pushing me towards a bench at the wall, I knew that after this, nothing would be the same. It was as if he was burning lines in my flesh that would scar forever.

***

Tell us: Did you expect this turn of events? Why is Noma ignoring it?