Beckoned Through The Dark

28 // Lesego // Run For Your Life

“How did they manage to convince everyone that I was dead?” I asked to divert my thoughts from the mysterious woman.

“From what Barbara told me, they found a girl that matched your description inside the prison and found another girl from outside that looked like her. They killed the girl inside, you know what happened after that; they burned her face with acid so that no one could recognise her, and then they put her in your place. They put you in that body bag and got you out of the prison through a trash truck. After delivering you here, they picked up the dead girl’s doppelganger on their way and put her in the girl’s place, and then she was released this morning. The dead girl was reported as you.” She explained.

I frowned at her last statement. “What about the DNA results? Surely they prove that I am not dead.” 

“The test results prove that you are dead.” She deadpanned. “They have the doctors at the prison in their pocket, and the guards made sure that there was no evidence proving otherwise. All the cameras were off at the time.”

I leaned my head against the wall and sighed. It was really happening; I was officially dead, and they were already planning my funeral, and in a few days; they were going to bury me. There would be a grave and a headstone with my name on it. I was dead and would forever be remembered as the girl who set the school on fire and killed several people.

“So, what does this exactly mean for me?” I asked.

Mrs Martins opened her mouth to answer, but someone else beat her to it. “You are invincible and untouchable; you are only a memory.” Abigail said while standing against the doorframe with her arms crossed. She had changed into black skinny-jeans, a white bottleneck with a fluffy grey half-jersey, and black high-heeled boots. Her hair was now braided into cornrows. “Come on, Mrs V; time to get to your room.” She said to Mrs Martins.

“Okay, dearie.” Mrs Martins tried to stand up but struggled. I stood up and helped her to her feet. “Thank you.” She said warmly. We shared a brief hug before she left with Barbara on her tail while Abigail remained rooted on the spot.

She walked into the room and sat down on the mattress. “I’m sure you must have a lot of questions you want to ask.” She said.

“Yes.” I said.

“Well, me too.” She said tiredly and threw her head back. “There’s just so much happening right now, I am so exhausted. I just want all of this to come to an end.” You can say that again! I thought. “I see your head healed while you were in prison.” She smirked.

I didn’t answer her at all. That accident was a reminder that something was going on in my life, something that kept putting my life at risk. Until this day, I didn’t know what happened the night my mother went out to drink; it was as if there was something preventing me from remembering the events of that night. The thought of me trying to kill myself, left me troubled, sometimes I even sought the possibility of that mysterious woman being involved.

“I don’t remember thanking you for helping me out that night, if I didn’t know better; I would say that Barbara was trying to kill me.” I said, remembering how tight that bandage was around my head.

Abigail scoffed. “I wouldn’t put that past her. She’s a real leech.” She said begrudgingly and smiled at me. “Besides, you thanked me before we went to your room. I really needed to get away from my mother before things got out of control. Our fights tend to get out of hand now and then.” She smiled sadly.

I still couldn’t believe she was related to the Dubes, she looked nothing like them. They were all dark-skinned, while she had fair skin. “Abigail, can I ask you something?” I asked after several minutes of silence.

“Sure.”

“How was my mother after they took me away?” Abigail stilled as if I’d just asked her why she was using Daniels instead of Dube.

She shrugged nonchalantly and stood up. “I don’t know. I didn’t stay to find out.” She said, rather quickly.

“Oh.” I sighed in defeat.

Abigail gave me a worried look while fidgeting with her hands. “She went hysterical and started saying crazy things. I had to get my family out of there before anything bad could happen. I’m sorry.” She said and turned to walk away; she had only taken a few steps when a commotion from the other room, stopped her on her tracks.

“I WANT TO SEE MY DAUGHTER.” Abigail literally went still and fisted her hands to stop her shaking fingers. “I WARNED YOU NOT TO GET CLOSE TO MY DAUGHTER, BUT YOU REFUSED TO LISTEN!”  A booming voice shouted; and for a second, I felt the ground beneath me, shake.

“What was that?” I asked Abigail who was rooted on her feet.

“SHE WAS HAVING A NIGHTMARE AND WOULDN’T WAKE UP.” I heard Mrs Martins say. What? “AND SHE IS NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!” She yelled, and cold deadly silence settled over the house. “YOU ARE ONLY PUTTING HER LIFE AT RISK BY KEEPING HER HERE.”

Abigail turned to look at me with fear-stricken eyes. I frowned, confused by the sudden change; she looked at me as if she wanted to tell me something she was sure she wouldn’t be able to tell me in the future. Her eyes moved to my chained hand, and she gulped. She looked at the entrance, hugged herself, and cleared her throat as if waking up from a stupor.

She grunted and rushed to where I was before removing my chains. “I need you to get out of here, run as fast as you can, and don’t look back.” She said hurriedly. “Find somewhere safe and look for a cell phone, and then call Clay. You will understand everything from there.” She helped me up and led me towards the broken window. There was a burglar, but it was wide enough for me to climb out.

I held on to the burglar gate and climbed up the window, and then I jumped out into the cold night. “What about Mrs Martins?” I asked.

Abigail looked over her shoulder in panic as the voices got louder. “All I know is that if you stay here, we are all going to die. Now go!” She didn’t wait for me to ask her any more questions, she ran out of the room.

I also ran out of there into the jungle without looking back.