"Aviwe! Aviwe, wake up!" Bab' Novalo roared, banging on my bedroom door profusely. "You will not lock doors in my house, Wake up, you excuse of a child!" "But it's my fathers house" I thought. I got out of bed, terrified, to unlock the door. I was on the floor as soon as I unlocked that door, attacked with pure evil, I felt he'd ripped my cheek clean off, i watched as the blood dripped down my face and in a flash I ran to my mother but he was too fast.He dragged me by the neck back to my bedroom, he spat in my face and threw me on the bed. I was suffocated by his entire weight on top of me and I blacked out
I woke up with tears of joy, It was just a dream,Like every night since he'd broke his leg, it never happened,it was only just a dream. Today my tears were joyful because it's the last time I'll ever lie in these cursed sheets, the last time I'll see his face, Novalo Nxumalo, evil is a generous description of him.
I got up extremely early to clean my room and pack anything left of my father, my father, would he still love me the same if he knew how dirty of a person I'd become. Would he ever look at me in the eye again, I'd become such an appalling human being,the things I'd done to this man, Novalo Nxumalo
I had to be very early for school because it was Friday and on Fridays, us prefects had a meeting before the school assembly. We made eye contact all through the meeting, Lwandle my best-friend that is, his eyes sending me rapid messages "Are you ready", "Are you sure you want to do this", my eyes sending back only one message "I'm ready". I didn't know if I was ready to take on the world, but from the day I met Bab' Novalo, I was ready to escape the clutches of this monster.
The day took a decade to be end and when Mr Monyane announced that the school term was finally over everybody ran home in excitement. I strolled home filled with dread and excitement for what was ahead of my journey. My life could end before my journey starts.
I opened the door with dread and made my way to my room. I slowly opened my bedroom door wishing that today it would be different, but I was wrong. Like any other day, Novalo sat at the head of my bed feasting his beady eyes on the opening door, but today, today would not be the same. Lwandle was parked right next to the house with his truck ready to load all of my belongings, but first, we had to undertake our plan. I switched on the walkie in my blazer pocket and made my way to Novalo and uttered 2 words "not today". He was on top of me in the blink of an eye shouting and spitting and cursing at me but before he could get any further there was a knock on the door and he slapped me one last time before he answered the door. It was Lwandle.
"Good afternoon sir, I'm Lwandle, Aviwe's friend." my heart was beating unnaturally fast, "And what business do you have coming to my house?" I packed the last of my belongings together, "Oh, uhm, there's an end of term get together at the park and I'd like to know if she would like to come" I was ready.
"She's not here, she's gone to her grandmother's for the holiday" I heard Novalo, my step-father lie one last time. I thought I heard him shut the down but soon after that I heard a struggle. I ran into the kitchen and saw Novalo strangling Lwandle and all I could think of was to grab a pan like I'd seen a lady do in a movie I once watched with father. I hit him hard against the head and was afraid I'd killed him. Lwandle assured me that he's not dead so we had to work fast, we packed all of my stuff into the truck and came back to the house to cherish the memory of my father's house one last time.
I had a rush of Nostalgia, but this was it. The end of my suffering, or so I thought.
YOU ARE READING
The Long MisWalk To Final Freedom
AdventureTLMTFF is narrated by a women who's lived through an alternate Apartheid South Africa, and ran away from home. Her struggle was not based on race but on gender and unpolitical power.
