HOW DO I TALK ABOUT MY ORDEAL?

New book by Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga

“Maiwe –mama - we –mama - we, can somebody please help me!,” she could not fight back anymore. All she could do was just kick and scream but to no avail. The monster grabbed her with his iron like, muscular hands. “If you continue making noise I am going to kill you. I can slaughter you even now, you hear me?” He looked her straight in the eyes, wearing a face of brutality with red eyes and she continued sobbing looking on the ground. She realized he meant what he said. In her heart she was just praying that he would just take whatever he wanted and leave her alive.

Maze was a pretty, intelligent, smart and innocent girl with a very bight future. She was the kind of girl who could not even kill an insect. Her mother always used to fight with her because she was scared even to slaughter a chicken. Her defense was that even though it was meat she always felt sorry to end its life.

Just sixteen years old, she was developing into a very beautiful woman like her mother. Having been raised in a strict family, she was determined to do well in her life. Her father was a pastor at a mission in the village and her mother was also teaching at the same mission. All she wanted in life was to become a nurse; surely she could make it because she was bright and committed to her school work. Even her mother agreed that, it was the best profession for her because she was very kind. In the near future she wanted to go and study her nursing in the city close to her one and only David.

David, her boyfriend was her senior at school. He was an intelligent young man but very short tempered. Everyone, even his teachers knew that he was a no nonsense young man. David passed his matric very well and went on to study medicine at the university. Even though he was far in the middle of the city he continued to communicate with his sweetheart. Maze was really the darling of his family, they all loved her. It was also the same situation at Maze’s family, they all loved David. They wished the two will get married and grow old together.

If only she knew what she was going to meet today she would have stayed home. But such is life; we never know what tomorrow brings. Maze spent the whole morning and afternoon at home. In the afternoon her best friend from school, Memory came to visit her. The two young friends spent the afternoon studying, gossiping and giggling. Memory was staying about two kilometers away from the mission. It was in the same village but there was a forest in between. When it was almost Sunset, Maze accompanied her friend to her place. “Maze my dear you have to go back home. I do not want your parents to panic for no reason.” The two friends hugged each other and went different directions.

Moses was a very talented footballer but very ill disciplined. His teachers told him to work hard and take football as a career but to no avail. He liked to drink and smoke. Some even suspected that he was a drug addict. He ran away from school without even finishing his matric. It is always like this - once a student starts drinking and smoking. It is not easy to concentrate on school work. Smoking is addictive and not all students have the money to buy cigarettes even though they like blow the smoke in the air. Moze, as he was known by his friends, joined a junior team. Sometimes he would go to training sometimes they would never see him even for more than a week. The coaches liked him very much but they could not do anything with his ill discipline.

One day his coach saw Moses’ picture in the paper. The police were looking for him in connection with house robbery. Moses ran away from the city to a small village where he knew people don’t see newspapers everyday. It was in this forest that he met helpless Maze coming from her friend’s place.

She never saw him coming. But judging by the way he grabbed her by the waist she knew she was in deep trouble. There was no way she could fight this monster. He was strong, muscular and evil. “Your chance to survive lies in doing what I want you to do. If you want to be stubborn I will show you that I can be stubborn too.’’, she could not reply, all she could do was sob.

Moses carried the poor sobbing girl away from the small road to the small shrubs far away. He laid her on the ground, tore her pants and forcibly opened her legs….

Read the rest of this short story, in the new book of stories: HOW DO I TALK ABOUT MY ORDEAL? by Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga. Those interested in the book can phone 071 0446879