“Why don’t you just leave us alone?!” I shouted down the telephone.

“Esther! Is that you? Is everything alright?” It was Samora.

It was so nice to hear his voice. I felt my anger draining away.

“I’m sorry about this morning.” When Linkie had come to fetch me that morning, I had asked her to tell him that I couldn’t make it.

“I understand. Could you come out for a short while now?”

I quickly made up my mind. Lizzie was sleeping. Beauty was around and could stay with her until I got back.

“Yeah, I’d like that, Samora. I’ll meet you at the Nandos in fifteen minutes.

When I arrived, Samora was waiting for me. We ordered our food and Cokes. I didn’t want to talk about my family and my problems. For the afternoon I wanted to pretend I was just a carefree, normal girl, out on a date with her new boyfriend.

But Samora said, “I’m your friend, Esther. Please tell me how you feel.”

I sighed deeply. Then I told him about what had happened that morning.

“I’m so sorry.” Samora leaned across the table and took my hand in his.

We didn’t stay long and Samora walked me home. As soon as we reached the gate Beauty came running out in panic. “Lizzie is missing!”

“Maybe she is hiding,” I said. “She sometimes does that.”

We looked all over the house and garden but we couldn’t find Lizzie anywhere. By now I was beginning to worry a great deal.

A crowd of young girls was walking down our street. I rushed over and asked: “Have you seen Lizzie?”

“She was at the shop buying some sweets,” a girl said. The shop was near our house and Samora and I sprinted all the way there. There were lots of children standing around outside the shop, but Lizzie wasn’t among them. I knew most of the children. “Have you seen Lizzie?” I asked them, anxiously.

“There was a bakkie parked in front of the shop. I saw Lizzie climb on the back of the bakkie with the children.”

“They were going to Port Elizabeth,” said another boy.

My stomach was full of cold fear. I found it hard to breathe. Lizzie was on a bakkie heading for PE! I remembered her telling me she wanted to run away. What could we do?

We raced back to the house and to my relief, Ma was home. I told her everything.

“I’ll telephone the police,” she said, her voice shaking and her eyes wide with fear. “And I’ll telephone your father. He should be told.” She had a brief conversation with Dad. I noticed that they didn’t shout at each other.

“Dad said he’ll drive to PE immediately. He wants us to stay here.” Ma collapsed into a chair. She looked very frightened.

“It’s all my fault. She was upset over Dad,” I cried. “I shouldn’t have gone out!” Samora put his hand comfortingly on my arm.

“It’s not your fault, Esther,” Ma said.

I told her then about Dad wanting Lizzie to meet his ‘new friend’, and how she didn’t want to, and felt she was being disloyal to Ma and me. Ma looked sadly at me. I could see she was trying very hard not to cry.

“Esther, it’s okay. It’s not your fault,” she said again. But I could see she was now more worried than ever. I kept looking out of the window. It was getting darker and darker. Where was my little sister?

***

Tell us what you think: What has happened to Lizzie?” Will they find her?