Beckoned Through The Dark

04 // Lesego // Arrest Warrant

Finally, after attending three more lectures after Mrs Martins, who had been so fascinated with young love that she started telling us about her first time, I had a gap in between my lectures. The old lady is sly, I swear, but I like her. There's just something about old ladies that I love. It's like the older they become, the younger they become. They age with the years, but their brains are that of young people.

This makes them act like naughty children. You should have seen the glint in Mrs Martins’ eyes when she reminisced about her old days, it was so adorable. Well, at least that's what I thought until she started talking about her sex life, I zoned out and started to text with Clay who was demanding to see me. I was contemplating meeting him until I got a text from Zack, one of my friends, who wanted to see me, saying it was urgent.

I walked out of the lecture room and ascended the stairs to the cafeteria. By the time I got there my feet were aching. The cafeteria was located at the centre of the school along with the library and study areas. It was packed as usual with people queuing for food, while others were seated on the tables, eating and catching up with their friends.

Our cafeteria was filled with round tables that could accommodate eight people. Almost all were full except for one which had only one person sitting there.

Zack.

He looked so sad and vulnerable; I frowned and made my way to him, wondering what could be wrong with him. "Hey." I greeted as I sat next to him. He looked up and gave me a small smile, as opposed to his usual radiant smile, followed by an almost inaudible and chocked 'hello'. I narrowed my eyes at him, something was different about him today, sitting up straight, I took off the cap that he was wearing.

Of course, that had to be it. He was wearing a cap today, something he never does, to hide his eyes which were bloodshot. "Lesego!" He groaned lowly before he snatched the cap from me and put it back on. I sighed and placed my hands on his, caressing him. After a long silence, I finally asked, "what happened?" He sniffed and looked up at me, the sight of his eyes making my heart constrict. "Daniel happened." He muttered. Daniel was his boyfriend of three months, the most I've seen Zack happy until today. I wonder what happened.

"What happened? Did you break up?" I prompted when he remained quiet. Tears streamed down his face. "Zack, no!" I wiped his tears with my thumbs. "Hey, please don't cry. This is not you, what happened to the Zack I know who swore to me that he would never cry? Hush now!" I gave him a tissue, which he used to blow his nose. After blowing his nose, he sighed and placed his head in his hands. "It was a bet." He whispered, but loud enough for me to hear. "Last Friday at the house party at Michelle's, he and his friends tricked me." I clenched my jaw, ready to utter some bad words, but I controlled myself and listened to the rest of the story.

"I thought we were finally going to do it you know." He snorted, "Even if it was at a college party with drunken teenagers who wouldn't remember who they had slept with at the end of the day." I took his hands in mine again. "They made a sex tape of me with a girl." I tensed at the revelation. "God! Lesego, I don't even know how to face her after what happened, I don't even know what happened! I don't remember what happened."

I was still thunderstruck by the news. Zack was gay and had never dated a girl before, let alone sleep with one. He had faced a lot of bias since the day he decided to come out of the box. Some people left nasty messages in his locker, and others even played deadly pranks on him, but this, this had gone too far. I should have known that this was all a setup. It was too good to be true when Daniel finally decided to "come out of the closet" like he had said and wormed his way to Zack's heart.

Zack was blown away, because Daniel had been his crush since day one. Daniel is your usual bad boy, handsome, and popular, the high school cliché kind of popular. He's always had girls running after him, and fighting over him, apparently since primary school. Anyway, they started hitting it off three months ago, Daniel looked so different, he looked so shy, but now I understand, he was not shy, the idiot was embarrassed. "Oh, Zack!" I rubbed his hands. "It was Neli, Les!" He snapped, catching a few eyes. "They made me sleep with Zanele!" He cried.

"W-what?" I stuttered. "Zanele? Zanele, your—?" I felt my vision getting blurry. Some people are so cruel out there. Zanele is Zack's fourteen-year-old sister, and Zack is twenty-six. With shaky hands, he handed me his phone, and I accepted with my own shaky hands, holding my breath. One glance at the screen, and I placed the phone face flat on the table, tears flowing uncontrollably. "Oh, Zack!" I shook my head, my hands over my mouth to muffle my cries. "I'm so sorry." I cried.

The video was awful. They both looked as though they didn't know what they were doing. Matter of fact, they didn't know what they were doing. I can't believe that this happened in the span of, what? Less than 24 hours after I saw him Friday afternoon.

It is so funny how things can change just like that. In life we are always subjected to change, it has come to a point of not being shocked or surprised when it happens.

Maria must be devastated wherever she is. Of all things that could happen to her children, this has to it. This is statutory rape, and I won't be surprised if I find out that Zack has been arrested. "You should have seen the way she looked at me, the hatred in her eyes–" he choked out. "My mother hates me, Les, she hates me." He sighed and threw his head back, covering his face with his palms.

He sat straight and looked at me, looking defeated. "I just came to tell you what happened," he started, taking in a shaky breath. "I didn't want you to find out from someone else, I had the feeling that maybe you didn't know what happened." He gave me weak smile. "Lesego!" He sighed, fiddling with my fingers. "I know you have a lot going on in your life right now–" he stops mid-sentence and gulps as he looks at something behind me. He swallowed hard and let go of my hand. I frowned and looked behind, and I gulped audibly at the sight before me.

Police officers in blue uniform had just walked into the cafeteria. Silence settled the enclosed area as everyone held their breaths, waiting to see who they had come to arrest. The officer that was leading the troop scanned the cafeteria with his eyes, searching for the criminal in question. When his eyes landed on out table, Zack slowly but surely stood up, the screeching sound of the chair causing all heads to snap our way.

"Zack, no! What are you doing?" I asked, pulling at his wrist. "Lesego." He says quietly, sounding and looking all defeated. Zack shook my hand off and walked towards the officers. I stood up and pulled him back. "Zack, I know you feel like crap right now, and you blame yourself for everything, but..." I cried, and shook my head, looking anywhere but at him. "But this is not your fault. Officer–" I glanced over Zack's shoulder, and tried to defend him.

By now, a huge crowd had gathered around us. People had stopped queuing up for their food, and others had stopped eating. "Zack Stroom?" One of the officers asked, and Zack nodded. "I'm sorry, Sir, but you are going to have to come with us to the station." The officer said, stepping forward. "No!" I found myself standing in front of Zack, shielding him from the police. "Les, please don't make this harder than it already is." Zack whispered from behind me. "Miss, please let us do our job." The officer said politely.

I was about to protest, but my words died in my throat when I caught a glimpse of Zack's mother, Maria, walking into the cafeteria. "Mrs Bennett!" I exclaimed and shoved my way towards her. She stopped in her tracks as she saw me approaching. "Please don't do this." I pleaded with her. "Zack is not..." I trailed off when I caught her sight.

Like her son, Maria Bennett was a free-spirited soul, always happy even at worst. She was kind to everyone, too kind for her own good that people like her soon-to-be ex-husband, took advantage of her. Maria was currently in a divorce process with her husband of twenty years, after finding out that he had been seen her cousin all these years, and that they had three kids together. Even after finding out about the betrayal, she did not change. She did not lose herself in hurt and self-pity. If at all she was suffering, she did a great job at hiding it.

However, that is not the case right now. She looked so thin and pale. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot from crying, and they were accompanied by dark circle around them. She looked so fragile. Even the dress she wore, that would have tightened around her body, showing off every aspect of her body, was now hanging loose on her body.

I swallowed whatever words I wanted to say and gave her a small smile before I turned to look at Zack. I hauled at him and gave him a bone crashing hug. "I'll come and see you soon, don't hesitate to call me when you need anything." I said as I pulled away. He gave me one if his breath-taking smiles and kissed me on my head. "You are too good for your own good, Lesego Medupe." He said as the officers took him away. The crowd watched as they left, some of them following them out. Some people have no lives. I thought.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a soft voice. "I know it is not entirely his fault, but it doesn't change anything that happened." Maria said, tears piercing at the corner of her eyes. "Both my children are hurting, and all I want to do is comfort them and tell them that everything will be okay, but it won't." She shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know what to do." She gave a bitter laugh. "For the first time in my entire life, I actually have no clue at all. For the first time ever, I don't know how to comfort my children. I don't know how to comfort Zanele, she's just so broken."

She was trying her best to hold back her tears. "I know it seems wrong that I had my son arrested." She said. "But I can't just sit by and pretend like nothing happened." She sighed and turned to walk away. I had no words to say. For the first time ever, I didn't have anything to say. I understood her pain, I understood her frustrations, and I didn't blame her for what she did.

I would have done the same thing if I were in her shoes. She stopped at the entrance, and faced me with a half-smile, and her next words made my world rocky, "you are a very good girl, Lesego Medupe, your parents must be very proud of you. Stay true to yourself and never change for anyone." And just like that, she left. Leaving me in an emotional turmoil.

"Lesego?" A voice I wasn't ready to hear, called out and I groaned. "What do you want, Clay?"