The next morning Mpho finds her mother in the kitchen. “Mama, I am not feeling well and I think I am not going to school,” she says.

“Nana, you have been missing school a lot,” says Basetsana. “When are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“I just don’t feel well today. I think it’s flu. Palesa had the flu,” she lies. “Don’t worry Mama, I will catch up.”

Mpho lies in bed and plays music but it doesn’t make her feel any better. The whole world is on her shoulders. She picks up the letter and moves it to her bed. Then she takes her coat and leaves the house, hoping that walking will make her feel better. But the more she walks, the more overwhelmed she feels.

She finds herself down by an abandoned factory. She walks across rubble and sees a ladder up the side of one of the concrete buildings. She looks up at the sky. She will climb up and throw herself off the top.

When she is halfway up she hears voices. She is not alone. Down below a group of boys have come to smoke and chill. One of them looks up and sees her climbing the steps.

“Hawu, ntombazana. Come down and let’s talk,” he calls up to her.

“Leave me alone!” cries Mpho. She climbs up another couple of steps. The ground is far below.

“It’s dangerous up there. You might fall. Get down. What are you trying to do?!” he shouts.

“You don’t know what I have been through!” she shouts back.

“Being up there is not a solution.” He is walking towards the ladder now. “Your life is important to someone.”

She stops climbing.

“Come down. We can talk. You can trust me. I will do you no harm,” he says. “I was just here to chill and smoke and I saw you.”

This stranger cares what happens to me, she thinks. More than Tony ever cared. Slowly she starts to climb down, step by step. At the bottom the guy takes her hand and they sit against the wall of the building.

Mpho starts telling him all about what she has gone through. The words pour out to this stranger who she feels she can trust.

“I have lost myself and my baby,” she ends.

“For a good-for-nothing guy. Don’t cry. He does not deserve your tears, ntombazana.” He takes her hand and pulls her to her feet. “Your life has value. Don’t give up.” He hugs her.

“Thanks for listening to me. This is what I needed,” she says.

“Let me take you home. You need your parents now.”

***

Tell us: How did you like this part of the plot? What would you like to say to this boy?