"All that chit chat is going to get you hurt, darlin'," a voice that I never thought that I would ever hear from again chirped into my ear so enthusiastically as if he hadn't filed out a threat. It was a wonder how he got my numbers because I wasn't one to give them out voluntarily to anybody other than my best friend and close family members.
"How did you get my number?" I managed to croak out after I managed to calm down my erratic beating heart. I was sure that there was no way he would get any information about me because we barely saw each other, nonetheless looked in each other's faces.
"I have my ways." I was afraid of his ways. What if his ways entailed of many others who were brutally killed. "You broke a promise, darlin'. I put my trust in you and you ended up going to the news," my hands shook in fear when his voice raised after each word, pressing into some words to let me know of its importance. "You're a very naughty girl but I see through your tricks. You've been thinking of me lately, thinking about that day and want to meet me again but fear not, I'll be there soon."
"I don't know what you're talking about." This man was out of his mind, never had I thought throughout our encounter of his looks or my interest in him. I was much too occupied with the murder to think of such trivial matters. "You need to leave me alone, I'm warning you. I'm going to tell the police about this call with you and I'm going to make sure that I have as much protection as possible. Leave me alone or else you will be behind bars, this is my last warning."
I was proud of my effort of sounding calm even though I was terrified. I had never met a gang member before this man but I've heard about them in the streets. I've heard of their possessive nature on their girlfriends, how they were trigger happy and enjoyed the suffering of others. My mother shielded me from watching the news because she was afraid that the gruesome images and stories that they told would taint me.
"I'm afraid that you've lost your chance, darlin'. The day that I made you make that oath, I had no plans to meet you afterwards because you were way too innocent to just kill. I never kill an innocent person, it is against everything that I stand for but you called for me and I never turn down a calling, darlin'."
I should've cut the call, I shouldn't have let him speak to me like he did but I continued either way. My mind screamed for me to cut all connection but my hand still held the phone tightly by my ear, listening intently to every word that he said like the dummy that I was. I kept repeating in my head that even though he said threats that I would be protected because I would tell the police and they would protect me through any means necessary.
"I never called out to you," my voice raised a pitch higher, gripping the telephone tighter to get the message sent across. I wanted to shut all of the thoughts that he conjured in his mind. "I never did, I was just afraid and I done the right thing to tell authorities. You're a sick man and you don't deserve to roam our streets freely. The police will lock you up if you continue with this, I promise you."
"You threatening me with the police is getting boring at this point. I don't know how you're going to complain to them anyways. What are you going to say? Are you going to say that there's a murderer that called you?" He taunted with a soft chuckle. I was starting to hate this man, I was afraid and he was busy making a joke out of it. "You don't have a name or any description which will get you nowhere, darlin'."
He was right, the investigation was taking longer than we expected since they hadn't had concrete grounds to start the search. The police only had my statement and the butchered body that was left in the alley, it wasn't enough to lead them straight to this man. If there was no lead in this case, the police would have no other choice but to sweep it under the rug as there was nothing more to do.
I quickly placed the telephone back onto its holder, immediately cutting off the man in the conversation. "Mama," I shouted out as I walked towards the kitchen, where I was sure that my mother was busy preparing for lunch. She hummed as she turned away from the pots and gave me her undivided attention, "he called me," I began as I sat on the counter, "the murderer called me and told me that he's coming for me."
~~~~~~~~~
"I want this man arrested. He is harassing my daughter," my mother scream at the lieutenant who was busy with our case, Mr Duduzane. He was a perfect description of the usual South African policemen, short, chubby and extremely disrespectful. He was my mother's biggest nuisance since he was always giving excuses as to how he couldn't move forward, gave the most slick responses and always told us to have a little more patience that my mother failed to have.
"I do understand your concerns but we can't do anything at this moment. We can't trace the call and we have no other lead towards this man." He rubbed his greased forehead tiredly whilst fixing the wrinkled uniform that was extremely tight on his body, "we have alot of people looking for anything incriminating and we are interviewing a lot of families who live nearby the scene for anything that would be of assistance."
I looked around at the plain police station in boredom. After my mother heard of the phonecall, she immediately grabbed me and rushed towards the police station to file her complaint. I have explained to her countless of times that there was nothing we could do except wait for the policemen to get to their lead.
"I think I could help," I began and licked my lips out of nervousness. I looked into Mr Duduzane's eyes with conviction hoping that whatever theory that I had was about to be helpful. "He said that the moment he heard the news, he felt that I called out for him so I think that we should do just that. Tell the news station about the phone call and make up some lies to make it more interesting to the townsmen so that they can have something to talk about. He will know that I'm trying to call out to him and then he will rush to me."
"That's ridiculous," my mother scoffed as she sat down on the chair infront of Mr Duduzane's table and took a sip of water from the bottle that was given to her to calm her down. "It's way too risky. There's more cons to that plan than pros. There's bound to be some tragic casualties. I want some police to patrol the area and to check up on my child regularly because I don't want her to end up like those bodies on the street, I refuse. "
My plan was fool proof and I knew it. I was the only one that was speaking to him, I knew more than both of them ever could. This broadcasting was the only way to release him into the public eye as soon as possible but I wasn't ever going to be taken seriously. I was a 17 year old, trying to give advice to two adults. I was never going to be heard and all I could do was wallow my fears and let them do what they planned to since they know best.
