It was around 1:30 AM. I was sleeping on my bed, in my bedroom when I saw a silhouette of a man adjacent to me. It was at a second glance that it dawned on me “there was a stranger in my house” but unlike the famous musician Tamia, it did not take me a while to figure it out: I was in danger.
“Oh my gosh,” I said, followed by screaming that was an automated instinct to cry out for help as the strange man rushed to hush me with his hand. Before I knew it, there were two of them and one of them was armed. He went straight for my gadgets which were charging on my bed side and demanded to know where I kept the money.
I pointed sheepishly towards my purse while every part of me wanted to make them disappear. His partner in crime had another fantasy of making my sheets disappear when he suddenly hopped on top of my bed, yes, on top of my bed. The two of us wrestled with my sheets as I was horrified at the thought of him even looking at my body not to talk of touching me. He did, however, manage to grab my breasts and still I was not going to let the sheets reach my waist. The strength of a powerless damsel in distress frustrated the very intruder who resorted to using his weapon to point at me, threatening to shoot me for worrying him. Thanks be to his partner in crime who had to channel him to focus on the mission at hand – the money. “We did not come here for f*** we came here for money,” he said. And that part of my nightmare was over as he sprung off my bed to search for the money.
He could not keep his eyes off me for some reason. Every now and again he would cone back, flash a light to my eyes saying, “look at her, look at her eyes”, “ I don’t trust her there’s something about her, look at her”. His partner eventually suggested they tie me up and so that’s how my mouth was sealed with brown duck tape. At this point I had surrendered to the strange men, in a place that once was my haven, my space, my home, I was afraid, naked and ashamed. I felt violated, angry but I needed to have them leave without harming me and so I surrendered.
They had their way as one exported their newly acquired goods out of my big bedroom window while his partner stood besides me with his gun towards me just for control. You would think by now they knew they were in charge but for some reason I was still a threat unarmed, strapped and in tears. “Hey what are you doing!” a voice came from above? “Hey what you think you’re doing?” It was my neighbour upstairs, Emeline, she shouted with so much authority. A glimpse of relief popped inside of me, right then I knew help was on its way. I knew that they had been busted, their plans had been interrupted. “I go shoot you, I go shoot you!” He said and while listening to the dialogue between my saviour and my abductors I said a little prayer inside “please don’t come out Emeline, they’re armed and ready to kill,” “please Lord let them hurry out of here without harming anyone.”
“Let’s go chale, come out from there we need to go,” reluctantly he looked at me while the voice called from outside, “Let’s go”. He slowly moved away from my bedside where he had been keeping an eye on me and moved towards my window which had become an exit for their great escape.
He took one more glance at me, “did you hear that?” he said, repeating “did you hear what just happened?” He crept out of the window reluctantly leaving one leg behind. “I’ll be back,” he said. “So don’t try anything stupid.” You could swear he had metarphosised into a jealous obsessed lover over an hour, he couldn’t let go of his grip over me. Somehow the power he had over me gave him a kick, a high. I could tell by the smirk on his face. I bet he was on something that night, he seemed a little bit too all over the place for me unlike his partner in crime.
I hear the hot thick humid air beating my curtains through the window and I realised they were gone. They had fled and I was left alone, lips still silenced. He had left the scent of his body, his breath on me. They were gone but their presence had remained to ensure I was still terrified. The hip of mess they’d created through their search spree affirmed my discontent to the environment. This place did not feel like home anymore.
“Lerato! Oh my gosh, what did they do to you,” I could not respond. I just cried as my neighbour, my saviour took care of all the logistics (alerting the police, building manager, loved ones etc.) Immediately she took me to her apartment, I needed to get away and I’ve been away ever since.
Lerato Charlotte Letsoso/GhOne TV | Email: leratokayise@gmail.com
