Beckoned Through The Dark

26 // Lesego // Dead Alive

My head felt so heavy, I could have sworn I was hit by a train, and it hurt from the impact of Funeka’s push earlier. My eyes were heavy too due to the drug; I couldn’t fully open them. My body was painful from being pushed against the wall and sleeping on one side for too long. I tried to move, only to find that I was bound with chains. I opened my eyes in panic, only to find that I was surrounded by darkness, the rattling of chains was the only sound filling the loud silence.

I could hear my own heart beating in my ears, and my skin was bare and cold. I couldn’t even curl myself into a ball to shield myself from the cold air. My head still felt fuzzy from the effect of the drug, and I feared I would pass out again. “Hello!” I called out. “Is anybody there?” I was greeted by silence and I did not like it at all. I hated silence, I hated the dark, and I hated the coldness. It reminded me so much of the time that lady visited my room.

I froze at the memory. What if it was her? What if Funeka and all those guards worked for her? I closed my eyes tightly as tears rolled down my face. I didn’t want to die, but that woman’s presence spelled death. I was going to die, and no one was even going to know about it, because according to everyone; I was already dead. It took me a while to figure out what was happening in my prison cell, but now that I think about it; they staged my death in order to break me out of prison. But why? What if they want to kill me?

"No, no, no. Help! Somebody, please help me.” I yelled in fear, and the echo of my own voice shut me up. Where the hell am I? I thought. “Hello? Funeka, I know you are here. What do you want from me? Amanda?”

“Will you just calm down?” A cold chill went down my spine at the familiar voice.

“Barbara?” I quivered. “What have you done to me?”

“Nothing as of yet.” She said coldly. I knew from the first day I saw her, that she was not one of my biggest fans; I just didn’t know how deep her hatred for me went. I couldn’t understand why a total stranger would hate me; I had only met her once before today, and that was months ago.

“Why am I here? What do you want from me?” I asked; only to be greeted by silence. “The detective is going to notice that I disappeared from my cell.” I pulled at the last straws.

Barbara laughed maniacally. I clamped my mouth shut, my cheeks burning as if I had just said something embarrassing. “Why would he?” She asked between her muffled laughs. “He barely noticed your presence in the last three months.” She calmed down and sighed. “Nobody is going to notice your absence, Lesego, because I’m sure everyone has heard of your unexpected death by now.” My heart sank at that. My mother suffered so much after my arrest; this would tear her up. “Let me fill you in, a bit. From what I heard; your mother wants you to be cremated instead since your entire face is burned up.”

“They will realise that I’m alive once they do the post-mortem test, and they will look at the CCTV footage from that night and realise that the other woman is dead,” I said confidently.

“Pshhh…I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that stupid Abigail Daniels can explain everything to you,” She snarled.

“Excuse me?” A voice asked, and everything went quiet.

“Abigail, is that you?” I asked hopefully.

“Stupid Abigail Daniels, you say?” Abigail asked, ignoring my question. Footsteps resounded as her silhouette appeared in the darkness. “You should thank your ancestors, because I am not going to kill you just yet,” She said coldly. “Now, get out of here.” Barbara’s figure left the room in a flicker, and then Abigail turned on the light.

I closed my eyes as the brightness blinded me momentarily. When I opened them again, Abigail was kneeling in front of me in her nurse uniform, navy-blue long pants with a white top. Her long, fluffy curls were tied in a bun and she was wearing a red lipstick. “What is going on here?” I asked.

“The last time I saw you, you had a long bandage wrapped around your head,” She said. “How are you?”

“I would have been much better if I was dead.”

Abigail nodded. “Too bad, we can’t allow that just yet.” She stood up and stepped away from me. “We had to get you out of there; things haven’t been the same since you got arrested.”

“Did something happen?” I asked, but before she could answer; someone started screaming from another room.

“HELP! PLEASE HELP ME. I WILL GIVE YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST LET ME GO, PLEASE!” I tried to listen carefully to the voice, but I couldn’t recognise it.

“Who’s that?” I asked, and Abigail’s entire demeanour changed.

“It would do you good if you stopped asking so many questions. I may be nice, but it doesn’t mean everyone else is.” She said and tried to walk away, but Lwandle walked in before she could leave.

Lwandle looked distressed “Do you see what you two have done? Are you happy now?” She asked Abigail who looked a bit surprised.

“Lwandle, calm down,” Abigail said.

“Calm down? How can I calm down when you guys are messing things up?” She yelled. She was hysterical and she looked frightened. “I don’t know about you, Abigail. But I don’t want to die.” She quivered. “She’s coming, and I can already feel her anger.” She hugged herself and looked around the room as if expecting something to pop out of the walls. Her dark skin looked ashen, her lips were dry and white, and her body shook in untamed fear. Whatever she feared had to be dangerous, because even I was scared by just looking at her.