8. Lera

Lera: I don’t know those guys 

Andile: So they just shot u and fled

Lera: i was in a wrong place at the wrong time. They shot the car too. It’s all busted up. Im literally dying rn

Andile: Don’t worry about the car I’ll get it repaired, luv. It’ll be okay

Lera: thanx Andile

Andile: I’ll come and see u once I’m done working. you in Helen Joseph?

Lera: yah. Ward 13 emergency section. 

📲

As I continue to type, a notification pops up above my screen. @ShallaXXX update: Two Videos. 

I send a text to Andile and press on the notification. As the video loads, Fresh walks in with two cups of coffee. “When will they discharge you?” He asks, drinks his cup, then hands me mine. 

“Thanks,” I say. “I don’t know. They haven’t said.” I also take my first sip as the video begins. 

“What are you watching?” Fresh asks, brings his cheek close to mine they almost touch. We both share the view of my phone screen. 

“Shalla has uploaded more videos,” I say. We see her in her usual naked self. There’s also a bald headed dark dude. It’s another threesome with the pink masked girl. 

“What did you say her name was?” I ask Fresh. 

He fake coughs. “Err…Destiny. Destiny, yeah.”

He sounds so unsure I look at him for a second. “It’s Destiny,” he says again. 

I feel like that’s not the name he gave me when I first asked him who is this pink masked girl in these videos. I forgot that name, I don’t usually watch Shalla’s videos. Sometimes her porn is boring. I remember Shalla told me the girl wears the mask to hide herself from her family because she’s way too young (as if her parents watch porn. Or do they really watch it? I would not be surprised if they do. I’d went through my dad’s computer one day and since then I’ve learnt it’s best to mind my own business).

Looking at the girl’s body right now in this video. She’s really young. I need to ask Shalla what the girl’s name is, I bet she’ll tell me a different name than Destiny. 

This must be a different girl in this video because the one I saw in earlier videos never cries. I admit it is rather weird to watch this with Fresh. I feel tempted to hit the pause button and return to WhatsApp, Andile might still be online. 

But Fresh is still watching, he doesn’t move a bit. I think the coffee is warm now. “Ah, shit,” he exclaims louder than necessary, raises his fist to his clenched teeth. It’s that part of the video, the climax. It’s in this scene where the male watchers jerk off, I bet Fresh would be doing that if he was watching this alone.

“Damn.This is…this is…I don’t know what to say,” Fresh says. He’s so dramatic I roll my eyes like I’m Lera. He’s been in the presence of such things, in most cases he’s the one who captures these videos and all this stuff happens in his own house. Dramatic.

“How old is this girl?” I ask. 

Fresh says he doesn’t know. It certainly doesn’t take much to know that he’s lying, there’s just something he isn’t telling me. This girl’s name isn’t Destiny, and you could clearly see from her body that she’s still in school. 

The video ends and the next one loads. When it starts, we see Shalla in bed, her usual naked self. She’s on her own this time around.

“Shit,” I hear a voice in the background of the video. “Use a dildo or something.”

“Shut up!” Shalla says. 

Woah, woah wait. 

“What are you doing?” Fresh says as I rewind the video. 

“Shit. Use a dildo or something.” 

I lean my ear to the screen and rewind the video again. “Shit. Use a dildo or something.” 

I increase the volume but it has already reached its limit. That voice. It is Rorisang. No any other voice sounds like it. I know it. I just know it. 

I rewind one more time just to make sure. “Shit. Use a dildo or something.” No, man. This is Rori. Six words too many for me to recognize her voice. Even if she sang in a choir of a thousand people I’d still pick out her voice. No kidding. Why the hell is she there in the video?

Her friendship with Shalla. This is what I’ve been fearing will happen all along. Fuck, no! I pause the video and look straight into Fresh’s eyes. He looks away. 

“You knew! You knew!” I can’t hold back my screams; my mouth runs off on its own. It’s all in anger. Anger at me as well. How could I be so naive? She’s my sister. I should have known better. I should have done something to steer her away from Shalla and everything. All this shit! I’m going to cry again, I can feel it. 

I scream at Fresh and raise my hand to hit him but the pain only lands at me because I hurt my wound. 

“Calm down. What the fuck?” Fresh says. “Let me explain. Just stay calm, you’ll hurt yourself.”

If there wasn’t any stitch or wound holding me back Blinx wouldn’t be the only one who’s dead today. 

Fresh backs up to a safe distance from me and speaks fast: “look, your sister needed money, okay? And she–” I throw the pillow at his mouth. The other patients begin to stare. 

“Just calm down, please,” Fresh says. 

The audacity. “How can I possibly calm down?” I shout in tears. I guess he’s not the only one who’s dramatic after all. I want to get out of this bed but I can’t. I look at the side table for anything to throw at him. Fresh just turns and runs out of the ward. 

My hands are as hard as ever when I take the phone and scroll through my contacts. I call Rorisang. 

She picks up: “yo, sis. How you feeling?” 

“I’m gonna kill you!”I yell at her.

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