Running around the house I knew he couldn't catch me, he hadn't caught me in forever but I couldn't help but be terrified. I ran like never before, out of the house and onto the street. I looked back and watched as he tripped on the stairs. I couldn't understand how the same trick kept working every single time, but I had no problem with it. As he crouched in an effort to get to his feet I caught a glimpse of the beast peeping through his eyes.I felt the ground shake, slowly feeling myself fall. IT was calling my name, the ground was shaking even more vigorously, panic filling my body, I began to cry, the beast was getting closer and...
"Aviwe! Aviwe! Vuka bruh! Wake up!"
"Daddy?"
"No its me, Viwe you have to see someone about this it's been 9 months and you're still having nightmares about that horrid man."
"No Luyanda, I'm okay. I need to focus on finals right now." He banged his hand on the table, grabbing my wrist "No! Listen to me Aviwe" he said through clenched teeth.
"Lu" I quiver "you're hurting me". "Vi, I...I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you" his face filled with guilt. " It's okay Luyanda" i begin to walk away. "No Viwe, tell me you forgive me" he pleads. I walk away "I'm going to make breakfast"
Luyanda was my best friend, my only friend but I couldn't help but fear him too. He'd never been like this in the past but recently he'd shown character traits of Nov... that beast.
"Hurry up Lu, we're going to be late for our exam!" I call to him, stuffing my face with half a slice of toast and washing it down with lukewarm tea. "Way ahead of you!" he said, rushing out of the room still fixing his tie. "Sometimes I think you don't know the meaning of the things you say" I chuckle whilst he struggles to lock the door trying to juggle the key, his school bag and his tea in one hand and his notes and toast in the other. He hands me the key and gets himself sorted. "Race you to school!" he shouted. "Seems like you love loosing to this girl, Lu" we ran freely, forgetting for a bit the state we were living in as black teenage activists in a white neighbourhood with no parents.
"Hey!" we continued to run
"Kaffir kids!" now our running was not to school but from danger, we weren't racing each other but racing death once again. "I HAVE TWO TEENAGE MONKEYS ON THE LOOSE, THEY'VE OBVIOUSLY DONE SOMETHING WRONG BECAUSE THEY ARE RUNNING FROM ME.static. YES, IT IS THEM" we heard the officer speak into the walkie in his hand.
There were two cop cars waiting at the end of the road. We had no where else to go, we were surrounded so we surrendered. An older, angry looking man stepped out of his car and went to the window of the other officer. he walked to us and began in Afrikaans "What are doing here!" his voice booming through the neighborhood "Well, officer, we're on our way to school and we will continue to be if you let us through si..." "Where do you imbeciles school!" 'The school right down the road officer" "It's boss to you to the two of you!" " Well officer.." I nudge Lu to stop.
he points a gun at each forehead.
"Where" he cocks the gun at Lu's head
"Do you" he cocks the gun at my head
"Go" he spits at our feet
"To school" he pushes the guns further into our foreheads
"Now" he grins "you two will tell me where in go to school in soweto or el..."BANG! I feel the sound of the gun shot, fearing the worst I turn to Lu, he has the same fearful expression on his face and then we're both confused. We look to where the officer previously stood but he is on the floor, dead.
"Officer Themba, at your service" a jolly chap catches our attention dressed in the same uniform as the man he'd just killed. "But..." Lu fades off. "But you are white". "And you are black yet you go to a white school, which, might I add, almost got you killed"
"But how come?"
"let's get in the car I'll tell you whilst I drive you to school." We hop in the car, confusion and shock still displayed on our young faces. " Well my birth name was Jacobus but I ran away from home at the age of 12, I had very racist parents and that's what enabled me to get into the police institution in one day. When I ran away from home I was reported as missing and they've been looking for me ever since, I came back and made it seem like I'd been kidnapped by black people and managed to escape after so many years. The truth is I was at the Mkhonto we Sizwe camp the whole time being raised by brave black men. They never let me out on the field because a white boy would stand out. I knew your father, you know" he nudged me "General Johnson, Good man he was. anyway, he gave me the name Themba because I always had hope that this would be over, and then shortly after his death I got an offer to be an informer for the ANC and that's why I'm working as a cop. Your story?"
"Well since you knew my father you should know the beginning of my story. Mother married soon after and... oh we're here" Lu jumped out the car and held the door open for me, we thanked officer Themba and told him we hoped to see him soon.
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.
