"Lindie, Lindie, her mother was calling and she ran quickly in the direction that she heard her voice, but could not find her. She saw a big tree in the bushes, maybe she is behind it, but as soon as she got to the tree, her mother called from another direction.
"Mom," she called, but there was no answer.
"Lindele," a man's voice cracked.
"Lindele," a boy called next to her - she opened her eyes. His face blurring in the sharp sunlight. "Can't you hear they're calling you?" he called, hovering over her. He smirked and pulled an ugly face.
She rubbed her eyes to get rid of the sleep. She did not want to wake up. In her dreams, her mother visited her, but when she was awake, it was pure torture with her mother's sister's family. She couln't understand why her mother died.
She got out of bed and went to the kitchen. The man sat at the table, ill smelling smoke curled around his head. His eyes were red and he looked at her as if she was a piece of dirt. She shuddered.
"You know uncle Bill's shop?" He asked. She nodded her head. She has been there a few times with her aunt.
"Okay, Michael will go with you to the corner of the road. Then you go in there and ask the man for a kilogram of sugar. The sugar is on the high shelf at the back of the store. He will have to fetch it for you.
Make sure you are alone with him in the store, then you go quickly around the counter and grab all the money you can get and run. He stores some notes underneath the counter for his orders. You just grab it and ran back here as quick as you can. Do you hear me?" He asked with a loud voice after he explained.
"She is only a child Dan, you can't let her do that." Her aunt cried.
"Shut up!" He shouted. "You know I need money for my smokes and you don't bring enough money home from that stupid job of yours. How must I survive?"
He looked at Lindie. "You go - and don't let him catch you. If you don't bring the money, you are going to sleep outside without food for a whole week. Do you understand?" He asked.
Her underlip quivered, it felt if an icy hand ran over her spine. She bit on her teeth not to cry. She just nodded her head and turned to leave. She had a really bad feeling about this.
YOU ARE READING
Cry, my beloved people
Teen FictionYoung people going through tough traumatic experiences to find their inner strength and discover that they can not only be supportive of each other, but can create systems to help others that are going through similar traumas.
