Nomzamo fiddled with the trigger of the SIG Pro concealed behind the large pocket of her black hoodie. Her right foot was unsteady on the paved sidewalk of the Ballito taxi rank. She’d been waiting for hours, and there was still no sign of Sboniso. She silently hoped he would show up before she chickened out of this decision to right the universe’s wrongs.

A silver Toyota Quantum sped into the taxi rank with a fiery roar of the engine. The skilled driver nearly did a 360° spin as he pulled into the marked lines, causing everyone to clear the path like a flock of birds taking off at the sight of a person. The driver was met by roaring cheers from his fellow taxi drivers as he leaped onto the ground and made his way over to a group of his peers. Nomzamo seethed.

Clutching the weapon on its handle, Nomzamo swallowed a lump in her throat. There he was, laughing as if he wasn’t one of the most vile creatures ever to walk this planet. She could feel her eyes well up with tears, but now wasn’t the time to cry. She had to be brave. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and began her silent and unobtrusive way towards the group. In that moment, she felt as if she could count the seconds as they ticked by.

The voice of reason in her head was telling her to walk away. It was not her place to avenge herself. She’d heard the pastor in church preach that message. That each person would reap what they sow and that revenge was not ours. But a louder voice in her head told her otherwise. What if she was the tool that would bring about the much needed justice for all the women who’d suffered at the hands of this man? Men like Sboniso didn’t deserve to live, and she was going to see to that herself.

A tear rolled down her face as the images in her head flashed more vividly than they ever did before. After one of her late shifts at work, she was lucky to find a taxi home that evening. Sboniso had been making unwanted small talk with her the entire drive to Groutville, and she engaged him as politely as she could. She sighed audibly when she realised she would be the last person to be dropped off when the last two people climbed off.

“What are you doing?” She asked when he parked beside an empty street.

The horror set in when he didn’t answer and gave her one of the scariest glares she’d ever seen, causing her heart to nearly leap out of her throat. She could’ve screamed and fought him off, but when his gigantic hands gripped her tiny arms, she crumbled like a house of mud during a storm and begged him not to hurt her through heavy sobs. Not once did she see empathy in his eyes, just a demonic look of predatory desire.

She lifted the weapon and could feel her heart beating in her throat. It was now, or never. This was for all those women who’d had their voices silenced by a society that chose to believe men like Sboniso because of their reputation and wealth instead of the innocent victims, like herself. Her index finger trembled over the trigger, and almost accidentally, she pressed it, and a bullet pierced Sboniso’s back. Multiple bullets rained, and each one didn’t miss, penetrating the flesh and leaving dark stains on the man’s pale blue shirt.

The screams of terror around her couldn’t drown out the deafening roar of the weapon, and when she clutched the trigger for the final time, it let out a miserable cough. She snapped back to reality and hurriedly scanned the sea of horrified faces. She staggered backward and then took off as quickly as one of the bullets she’d just emptied into Sboniso’s body. She didn’t know where she was going but she had to disappear, she was now a criminal.

Glancing back, the commotion had already begun behind her. She shoved through a group of people coming in her direction and found herself on the road. The voices behind her were yelling so loudly in her direction, and she turned to face the groups of passersby, judgment was all over their faces. They were yelling, screaming something she couldn’t understand. “Move!” Was the last thing she heard before the screeching of rubber pulled her back into reality. The impact of the truck with her body sent her flying onto the pavement, and she entered a place of permanent blackness.