A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Sekai’s hand found mine. Not out of fear but out of instinct. I had not expected it. My body stiffened. Before I could make sense of it, she let go. The moment slipped away.
“I am sorry,” Sekai stammered.
She walked closer behind me now. I grunted. I did not know what to make of it. The sooner I was rid of her, the better. I did not know what had become of Fatso. Too much had happened in the last few hours.
We walked in silence. Thick silence. The kind you could cut.
I wanted to be Musina before sunrise. About 15 kilometres stood between us and the town.
Headlights flared in the distance from time to time. We stayed in the woods, moving slowly. Patrol cars would be out hunting for border jumpers. Out here, the robbers hunted too. No place was safe.
I stayed alert. I did not want to walk into an ambush.
Then something felt wrong.
I turned. Sekai was gone.
A muffled sound came from the bushes behind me. There was a struggle. I stepped back carefully. The sounds grew clearer.
Then I saw them.
Sekai was pinned to the ground. A man fumbled with the zip of his trousers. His back was to me.
A thick branch lay nearby. I picked it up. It was heavy.
I struck him hard on the back of the head. He collapsed and I hit him again. He did not move.
I dropped the branch.
Sekai struggled to her feet. Her dress was torn. She swayed. I caught her before she fell.
“Take me away from here,” she said.
I glanced once more at the man. He lay still.
We moved. Stumbling through the bushes as the sky began to pale.
“I can’t go on,” Sekai said.
I paused. I did not want to ask, but I had to.
“Did he… do anything?”
I heard the anger in my own voice.
There were scratch marks across her neck.
She shoved herself away from me.
“You’re all the same,” she said.
There was more than pain in her eyes. Something deeper, something broken.
“Why me?” Her hands lifted helplessly, then fell.
“I am sorry… sorry,” she whispered.
This was my chance to leave her.
I felt it clearly.
Instead, I waited.
We had to reach Musina before daylight.
Sekai moaned softly as we moved. Sometimes I half-carried her. When my strength failed, I dragged her. We kept going. Her body grew heavier against mine.
By the time we reached Chinatown, the sun was already up.
Sekai sank to the ground.
Below us, Chinatown was alive. People moved with purpose. Traffic crawled. Shops opened, small cubicles packed with jewellery, clothes, cheap goods stacked on top of each other. On my last visit, I had bought perfume there. Later I realised it smelled like horse urine.
Sekai’s dress hung in torn strips. In daylight, her face looked swollen, her eyes sunken.
“There’s one more thing,” I said. “Wait here. Don’t move.”
I left quickly.
We were close to starving. I needed food.
On the pavement, no one noticed me. I walked with quiet confidence into the complex. A policeman stood inside the first shop I entered. My heart slammed against my ribs.
The policeman walked out without even looking at me. I exhaled.
I grabbed the first dress I saw. It was a floral dress. I bought fat cakes and coffee for two.
When I returned, Sekai was exactly where I had left her.
I handed her the dress.
“Put this on. You won’t attract attention.”
Why am I doing this? I asked myself.
She disappeared behind a tree to change.
I sat down. The coffee was hot. Good. I sipped slowly. I was hungry, but I did not touch the fat cakes yet.
Then she stepped out.
For a moment, I forgot everything.
The dress fell just below her knees. Simple. Clean. She looked different. Almost untouched by what had happened hours before.
She glanced at me, searching and I lowered my eyes.
Below us, life went on.
“I’ve made up my mind,” Sekai said. “I’ll stay in Musina. I’ll find work. Maybe as a maid.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure why. It had nothing to do with me.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
She didn’t answer immediately. She stared at the crowd, the noise, the movement, as if trying to enter that world.
“I don’t have many choices,” she said.
Silence settled between us.
Not the kind from the woods.
This one was heavier. It carried everything we had not said.
We avoided each other’s eyes. Soon, we would go our separate ways and never see each other again.
I reached for the fat cakes.
That’s when I noticed it.
Sekai was no longer looking at the crowd.
She was staring past me.
Her face had gone still.
“Don’t turn,” she whispered.
My hand froze halfway to my mouth.
“Why?” I asked quietly.
Her fingers tightened around my wrist.
“That man…” she said, her voice was hardly audible, “he’s standing behind you.” It was the rapist from the woods.
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