Beckoned Through The Dark

41 // Lesego // Fake Friends

"What are we doing here?" I asked in a shaky voice, closing my eyes as if I would be in a different space when I open them again.

Clay's silence was not helping either.

I couldn't believe he did this to me. When he said he had an idea, I didn't think he would bring me to a prison after everything I told him.

"I brought you here to see Zack," he said, and I stilled, remembering the last conversation I had with him the last time I visited him in prison.

'Lesego, there's something I need to tell you.' My heart dropped to my stomach as soon as the seriousness in his voice rang in my ears.

'What is it? What happened?' I asked in a panic. I could only hope nothing happened to him in here.

He tried to hold my hands again but stopped when he remembered what the officer said. 'You are probably going to hate me after this,' he muttered. 'Do you still remember how we met?'

I nodded with a soft smile. 'How could I forget?'

I still remembered that day like it was yesterday. It was after school during the June exams in Matric.

It was one exam after another, and I was a panicky mess. Mom would fetch me at 4:30p.m., and I had to make sure that I covered half the work after school.

That day, I'd been so occupied I barely noticed the time while at the library. It was exactly 4:45p.m., and mom had been trying to call me since four. If it wasn't for the librarian who knew what time I left, I don't know what would have happened to me. Mom would have killed me.

The school was approximately fifteen minutes away from the library, and my mother never allowed me to walk such a long distance alone.

She would kill me if she discovered that I'd been going to the library alone. I'd wanted to call her, but my phone died on me. As if that was not enough, it started to rain, and I'm not talking droplets, it poured, very hard.

Zack, a total stranger, came to my rescue when I told him my story. Not only did he save me from the rain by giving me a ride, but he also saved me from my mother's wrath by creating some story about how we had to work on a school assignment at the library and totally lost track of time. He literally apologised a million times just so my mother could believe him, and she did.

The next day he came to my school and laughed his ass off when he saw me.

'I'm sorry.' I looked up, smiling like an idiot. Was he apologising for running into me? 'Our meeting was not a coincidence.' My smile vanished in an instant. What?

'I don't...' I shook my head. 'What do you mean?'

'I knew you went to the library every day and that you were going to be there at that exact time.' My heart sank, and for a moment I felt like I couldn't breathe.

I tried to laugh it off, but it came out bitter. 'Who sent you? Was it my mother?'

'No!' He shook his head. 'Yes. You won't understand, just hear me out–'

I shook my head at him as I pushed my chair back. 'I think I've heard enough for the day.'

'Lesego, listen to me. Everything that's been happening in your life is not a coincidence,' he said and grabbed my hand, his eyes wide in panic. I'd never seen him like that before.

'Zack, let me go.' I tried to pull away. If it wasn't for the guard, he would have probably bruised my arm.

'Listen, you have a calling!' He shouted as the guard dragged him away. 'You have a calling, and if you don't act on it, things will only get worse from here! Your life is in danger!'

"Babe, are you alright? You look starstruck." I was pulled out of my thoughts by Clay as he squeezed my hand gently.

I nodded. "I just don't know what I'm going to say to him." I said.

I didn't want to tell Clay what happened the last time I visited Zack.

Zack had betrayed me. His revelation made me question everyone's presence in my life. Were they really in my life because they wanted to or because my mom had them befriend me?

What hurt the most was the fact that I really loved Zack. We clicked from the first time we met, and since then, we were inseparable.

Now it made me wonder if he had planned all of this, if he could plan how we met, surely, he was capable of so much more. Perhaps he even knew about Karabelo.

My blood ran cold at that thought, could he?

Wordlessly, I stepped out of the car. Clay had parked us in a private parking, our car was the only one there.

"I've asked one of my friends to help us out, he's going to let us in undetected. They could be watching Zack, so rather safe than sorry," Clay said as he led me through the underground parking, and I just nodded in response.

I didn't feel comfortable at all in this place, and I was scared to tell Clay, he would probably think I was crazy. I mean, how would you react if someone told you they were feeling watched in an empty parking lot?

I felt goosebumps on my skin and knew right there that we were not alone.

My steps came to a halt, and Clay turned to me with a scowl.

He opened his mouth to say something, but he did not get the chance to even voice out his thoughts when a voice came from around the corner.

I felt the ground beneath my feet pull me down as her voice hit my ears.